I

NTRODUCTI
ONTOCOMPUTERS

Chapt
erout
li
ne

1.1I
ntroduction.
1.2Partsofacomput er
.
1.3Cl
assificati
onofcomputers.
1.4Developmentofcomputer s.
1.5Areaswher ecomputer
sar eused.
1.6Thecomput erl
abor
atory.1.
7Practi
calhandsonski
l
ls.

1.
1

I
nt r
oduct i
on
I
nt hepast ,peoplehav eusedslow andunr el
iablemethods
togener ate,send,r ecei
veandst or
ei nformation.Howev er
,
todaymi ll
ionsofpeopl eareusingdev i
cescalledcomput ers
topr oduce,shar eandst orei
nformation.Beforeembar king
ont aki
ngComput erStudi
esasacour se, i
twil
lbenecessar y
toaskt hequest i
on: Whatisacomput er?

Defi
nit
ionofacomput er
Acomput eri
sanel ectr
onicdevicethatacceptsuseri
nput
alsor
eferr
edt oasdataandt ransformsitunderthei
nfl
uence
ofsetsofspeci ali
nstruct
ionscal edpr
l ogramstoproduce
thedesi
redout putr
eferr
edtoasi nformation.

Datacanbedef inedasr aw f
actst hatdonothavemuch
meaningtotheuserandmayi ncl
ude:numbers,l
ett
ersand
symbols. I
nformat i
on is the processed data that is
meaningf
ultotheuser .Thecomputerissai
dtobeelectr
onic
because i
t uti
lizes smallelectr
icalsignal
st o process
i
nformati
on.

Befor
e20thcent
ury
,mosti
nfor
mati
onprocessi
ngwasdone
manuall
yorbyuseofsimplemachi
nes.Today,mi
l
li
onsof
peopl
eareusi
ngcomput
ers
1
Inof f
icesandathomet opr oduceandst oreusef ul
i
nf ormat i
onaboutal lAspect sofbusi ness,scientifi
c
research, governmentact i
viti
esandPer sonal detail
s.
Toget herwi thothert
elecommuni cat i
onfacil
ities,comput ers
hav ealsobecomet hef ast
estandmostr eli
abl emeansof
communi cat i
on.Theintegrationofcomput ersand,
tel
ecommuni cati
onfacili
tesf
i orthepur poseof
communi cat i
oniswhati sreferredt oasinformat ionand
communi cat i
ontechnology( l
CT) .
Comput er
scomei n
differ
entsi zesanddesi gnsbutt hemostcommoni sa
comput erreferr
edtoasaper sonalcomput er( PC).Per sonal
comput ersaremost l
yusedi nof f
ices,schools, business
premi sesandathome.

1.
2

Partsofacomput er
A comput eri smadeup ofacol lecti
onof
dif
ferentcomponent sthatar
ei nterconnect ed
togetheri
nor dertof unct
ionasasi ngl eentity
.
Acomput eri
sbasi callymadeupofasy stem
unit and ot her dev i
ces conv i
cted t ot he
system uni t cal led per i
pheral dev ices.
Exampl esofper i
pher aldevicesi nclude;t he
moni
tor
,thekeyboardandt hemouse.

Thesy stem unit

Thisi
st hepar hathousest
tt hebrainofthecomput ercall
ed
thecentralprocessinguni
t(CPU).Thesystem uni
talso
housesot herdevicescaleddr
l i
ves.Dri
vesareusedt ostore,
recor
dandr eaddat a.
2
 Fi
gur 2showsat
e1. owerst
ylesy
stem uni
t.

Peri
pheraldev i
ces
Peri
pheraldev i
cesareconnectedtothesy st
em unitusi
ng
speci
alcablescalleddatai
nterfacecablesthatcarr
ydata
andinf
ormat iontoandfrom thedevices.Thecablesare
att
achedtot hesystem uni
tusingconnect or
scalledpor
ts..

Peri
pheral
.Devi
cesmaybear r
angedasshowninFigur
e1.1
wit
ht he moni t
or r
est
ing on top of t
he sy
stem unit
.
Sometimes,thesyst
em uni
tmaybemadet ostandalone
(t
owerstyl
e)astheonei
nFigure1.2.

Thekeyboar
d
I
tisthemostcommondevicet
hatenablestheusertoenter
dat
aandinstr
uct
ionsi
nthecomputerbypressi
ngitskeys.

Themouse
Iti
sadev i
cethatenabl
estheusertoissuei
nstr
uct
ionsto
thecomputer
Bycontrol
l
ingaspecialmousepoint
erdispl
ayedonthe
screen.

Themonitor
Thecomputermonit
ororsimpl
ythescreenisatel
evi
sion
l
ikedevi
ceusedfordi
spl
ayingout
put.I
tiscaledamoni
l t
or
becausei
tenabl
estheusertomonit
ororseewhatisgoing
oninthecomput
er.

1.
3

Classi
fi
cat i
onofcomputers
Comput erscanbecategori
sedaccordi
ngto:
1.Physicalsi
zeandprocessingpower.
2.Purpose.
3.Functional
it
y.
Classi
fi
cat i
onaccor
dingtophy si
calsi
zeandpr
ocessi
ng
3
power
Comput er
scanbecl
assif
iedi
ntof
ourmaingr
oupsnamely
supercomput
ers,
mainf
ramecomputer
s,mini
comput
ersand
microcomput
ers.

Supercomput ers
Theyar ethef astest,largest,mostexpensiveandpower ful
comput ers avail
able.They ar e abl
et o per
form many
complexcal culat
ionsi naf ractionofasecond.Becauseof
thei
rext r
emewei ght,asuper computeri
skepti naspeci al
room.Duet otheirhugepr ocessingpowersupercomput ers
generatealotofheat .Specialcooli
ngsystemsaret her
efore
requi
red.Somet i
mes t he whol e CPU i
si mmer sed i
n an
aquari
um l i
ketankcont aini
ngl i
quidfl
uorocar
bont oprovide

cool
i
ng.
Supercomput er
s are mai nlyused f orscient
if
icr esear
ch,
which requir
es enor mous cal culati
ons.Appl i
cat
ions that
j
ustif
yuseofsuper comput ersincludeaerodynamicdesi gn
andsi mulati
on,pet roleum research,defenseandweapon
analy
sisamongot her s.Supercomput er
saremai nl
yf oundin
devel
opedcount riessuchasi nUSAwher etheyareusedf or
advanced
Sci
entif
icr esearch such as nucl earphysics.Figure 1.3
showsanexampl eofsuper computer.

Mainframecomput ers
They ar eless power fuland less expensivet han t he
supercomputers.Whi l
esupercomputersmaybedescr ibed
asgiantcomput ers,themainframesar esaidtobebi gi n
si
ze.Theyar eused f orpr
ocessing data and perf
ormi ng
compl ex mathematicalcal
culati
ons.They hav eal arge
stor
agecapacityandcansuppor tavari
etyofperi
pherals.
4
Mainfr
amecomput ershandleallkindsofprobl
emswhet her
sci
enti
fi
c or commer ci
al. They ar e mostl
y f ound i n
gover
nmentagenci es,big organizat
ions and compani es
such asbanks,hospital
s,airport
set c.which Havel arge
i
nformationpr
ocessingneeds.Figure1.4showsapi ct
ureof
amainframecomput er
.

Mi ni
comput ers
A mi nicomput err esembl esthemai nframebuti ssl ightl
y
smal ler
.Thusi ti sr efer
redt oasasmal l-scalemai nframe
comput er.Al t
houghi tsuppor t
sfewerper i
pher aldevi
cesand
i
snotaspower fulandf astast hemai nf
ramecomput er,i
t
wasdev elopedasacheaperal t
ernati
vetot hemai nframes
forsmal l
eror gani zations.Theyar eusedmai nlyinscientifi
c
l
abor atories,r esear ch insti
tuti
ons,engineering plantsand
placeswher epr ocessi ngaut omationisr equired.Theyar e
wel ladapt ed f or f unctions such as account ing,wor d
processi ng,dat abase managementand speci fi
ci ndust r
y
applications.Fi gure1. 5showsapi ct
ureofami ni
comput er.

Microcomputer
A mi cr
ocomput eristhesmallest
,cheapestandr elati
vely
l
east power ful t ype of computer.I t is called a
microcomputerbecause;it
sCPUi scal
ledamicroprocessor,
whichisver
ysmal lcompar
edtothatofamini,
mai nfr
ameor
supercomputers.Mi cr
ocomput
ersarealsocalledper sonal
5
comput
ers(PC)becauset
heyar
edesi
gnedt
obeusedby
oneper
sonatati
me.

Mi crocomput ersar ecommonl yusedi ntrai

ningandl earning
i
nst i
t uti
ons,smal lbusinessent er
prises,andcommuni cation
cent ersamongot her s.Today ,t hepowerofmi cr ocomput ers
has gr own t remendousl y cl osing the gap t hatf ormer l
y
existed and r eser ved f or t he mi nicomput ers and t he
mai nf r
ames.
Technol ogicaladv ancementhasseent hedev elopmentof
smal lerandsmal lermi crocomput ers.Thef oll
owi ngar et he
various t ypes of mi cr
ocomput ers i n oper ation today
arrangedi ndescendi ngor deraccor dingtosize.
1.Thedeskt opcomput er
-Notpor table.Itisdesi gnedt obepl acedonTopofanof fice
desk.
2.Thel aptopcomput er
-Portabl eli
keabr iefcase.Itisdesi gnedt obeusedby
placingi tont helaphencei tsname.
3.Thepal mt ope. g.per sonaldi git
alassistant(PDA)
-Smal lenought of i
tint hepocketandcanhehel di nt he
palm whenbei ngused.

Classi
ficati
onaccordi
ngtopurpose
Comput erscanbeclassi
fi
edaccordi
ngtothet
askst
hey
perfor
m eitherasgener
alorspeci
alpur
posecomput
ers.

General-
purposecomput ers
General-
purposecomput ershavebeendesignedtobeable
toperform av ari
etyoftaskswhenloadedwi t
happr
opriat
e
progr
ams.Theyar ethemostcommont ypesofcomputer
sin
usetoday .Theirfl
exibi
l
ityenabl
esthem tobeappli
edina
6
wide range of appl
icat
ions l
ike document pr
ocessi
ng,
perf
ormingcalcul
ati
ons,accounti
ng,dataandinfor
mati
on
managementamongot hers.

Specialpurposecomput ers
Specialpurposecomput er saredesignedt oser v
easpeci f
ic
purpose or t o accompl i
sh one par t
icular task. Such
comput erscanper f
or m noot hertaskexceptt heonet hey
weremeantt odo.Thi smeanst hatthesetofi nstructi
ons,
which drive a specialpur pose comput er,ar elimited in
numberatt he t
ime ofmanuf act
ure.Exampl es ofsuch
comput ersincl
ude,robot susedinamanuf actur
ingindustry
producti
onl i
ne,mobi l
ephonesf orcommuni cati
ononl yand
el
ectroniccalcul
ator
st hatcarryoutcalcul
ationsonl y
.

Sincespeci
alpur
posecomputer
sar ededi
cat
edtoasi ngl
e
task,
theycanper
for
mthetaskquickl
yandver
yef
fi
cient
ly.

Classifi
cati
onaccordingt ofunct
ionalit
y
Comput erscanbecl assi
fiedaccordingtot het ypeofdat a
they can pr ocess.Dat a can either be i n discrete or
continuousform.Di scret
edat awhichi sal socal eddi
l gi
tal
dataisonet hatcanber epresent
edasdi sti
nctv aluest hatdo
nothav eanyt r
ansit
ionalstagesovert i
mee. g.ei
ther1orO.
Cont i
nuousdat awhi chisal socalled analog datacanbe
represented as progressivel
y changing v alues ov erti
me.
Comput erscanbecl assif
iedasdigit
al,analogorhy br
id.

Digi t
alcomputers
Digi t
alcomput ersprocessdi gitaldataonl y.Anydatat obe
mani pulat
edbyadi gitalcomput ermustf ir
stbeconv ert
edto
digitalf or
m.Mosthomeappl iancest odayar ealsodigi
tali
n
nat ure.Forexampl et oi ncrease t he volume ofa di gi
tal
televisionyousimplypr essabut tonandi tchangesfrom 1to
2,3I ft hesamet el
evisionisanal og, i
twouldhav eaknob
thaty oucancont inuouslyt ur nr oundorsl ideinasl otto
i
ncr easeordecr easet hevolume.

7
Analogcomput ers
Thisref erstocomput ersthatprocessdat athatisanal ogi n
nature.Anal ogcomput erssolveproblemsbymeasur i
ngt he
amountofchange t hatoccur sin quant i
ties li
ke speed,
temper atureandpr essure.Ananal ogmachi neisusual lya
specialpur posedev i
cet hatisdedi catedt oasi nglet ask.
Analog comput ers are used i n manuf acturi
ng pr ocess
controllikemoni tori
ngandr egulati
ngf urnace, t
emper atures,
andpr essures.Theyar ealsousedi not herappl icati
onsl ike
i
nweat herst at
ionstor ecord and pr ocess physical
quantit
iese. g.wind,cloudspeed, t
emper atureetc.

Hy bridcomput er
s
Hy bridcomput er
sar edesi gnedt oprocessbot hanalogand
digitaldata.
1.4Dev elopmentofcomput ers
Bef ore 1900,mostdat a pr ocessi
ng was done manual l
y
usingsi mpl etoolsl i
kest onesandst ickst ocountandkeep
recor ds.Around2000y ear sago,Asi anmer chantscameup
withaspeci alcalculati
ngt oolcal edabacust
l hatcouldbe
usedt ocal cul
atel argefigur es.Abacii,arest i
lli
nuseev en
today .Anabacusi smadeupofar ect angularframeanda
crossbaratt hemi ddle.I tisf i
tt
ed wi th wir
esorst ri
ngs
runni ngacr ossfrom t hef r
amet othecr ossbarasshowni n
Figur e1.8.

,1+5=6
Eachbeadhasav alueof5
Cr ossbar
Eachbeadhasav alueof14+5=90+0=0
3+5=8
Fig.1.8:Repr
esent
ingnumbersusinganabacus

8
8Howt orepresentanumberusi nganabacus
Eachbeadi nt helowerr owr epresent
suni t
aryval
ueswhi l
e
theupperonesr epresentfives.Torepresentanumber ,t
he
beadi smov edtot hecr ossbar.Thosebeadsawayf r
om the
crossbarrepresentzer os.Theabacusi nFigure1.8
represent
st henumber6908( si
xthousandni nehundredand
eight).

Thefirstmachi neaftertheabacust hati

susual lyregarded
asthef orerunnerofmodem comput erswasdev elopedbyan
Engli
sh mat hemat i
cian caled Char
l l
es Babbage and was
namedt heanal yti
calengine.Af terthedeathofBabbagei n
1871 ther ewasl it
tleimpr ovementon hi swor kuntilthe
1930s. The f irst comput er
-li
ke machi ne Mar k 1 was
desi
gnedbyPr ofessorHowar dAkenofHor rar
dUni versi
tyin
1939.Mar k1becameoper ati
onali n1943.Itwei ghed5t ons
and was16 m l ong.Since t hen,r api
d advancement si n
comput inghav ebeenr eal
izedandcanbecat egor i
sedinto
fi
vegener ations.

Firstgener ationcomput ers(1940st o1958)

Thesecomput erswer everylargeinphysi
calsi
zeandused
thousandsof
electronicgadget scaledv
l acuum tubesorther
mi oni
cvalv
es.
Theset ypesofcomput ersconsumedal otofpowerhence
they const antly broke down due t othe excessi
ve heat
gener ated.Exampl esofsuchcomput ersaretheelectr
onic
numer i
cint egratorandcalcul ator(
ENIAC)andtheelectr
onic
discretev ariableautomat i
ccomput er(
EDVAC) .

Secondgener at
ioncomput er
s( 1958- 1964)
Comput ersinthisgenerationoper atedusi ngti
ny,sol
id-
state
elect
ronicdevicescalledtransistorsthatwer emuchsmal l
er
thant hev acuum t ubes.Thesecomput ersproduced less
heat,weremuchf aster,smalleri nsi zeandmor erel
iable
thanthosemadewi thv acuum t ubes.Exampl esofsecond-
generati
oncomput ersincludeI BM 1401and7070,UNI VAC
1107,ATLASLEOMar kII
IandHoney wel l200.
9
Thirdgener ationcomput ers( 1964- 1970)
The third gener ati
on comput ers used electronic devi
ces
caled i
l ntegrated circuit
s( ICs)i nstead oft r
ansist
ors.An
i
ntegratedci rcuitconsistsoft housandsofsmal ltr
ansist
or
ci
rcuitsetchedonasemi conductorcal edasi
l l
i
conchi p.The
useofi nt
egr atedci r
cuitimprov edthepr ocessi
ngspeedand
stor
agecapaci tyofcomput ers.Exampl esofthirdgenerati
on
comput ers i ncluded smal l
er and l ess expensi ve
minicomput erssuchasI BM 360andI LL19000ser i
es.

Four thgener ationcomput ers( 1970t opr esent )

51Fr om 1970, furt
hertechnological improv ementwasdone
ont hesi l
iconchi pdesignbycompr essing
mor et i
nyci r
cuitsandt ransistorsi ntoev ensmal l
erspace.
Thisdesi gnpr oducedwhati scal ledlargescal eintegrat
ed
(LS1)andv eryl ar
gescal eintegrated( VLS1)ci r
cuitswhich
wer eusedi nt heinnovati
onandt echnologi caldevelopment
oft hebr ainoft hecomput ercal ledt hemi croprocessor.A
micr oprocessor i s a compl ete cent ralpr ocessing unit
(Processor ) used in mi crocomput ers. The r esult was
devel opment of v ery smal lcomput ers wi thv ery hi
gh
processi ngspeed.Thef i
rstmi crocomput erwascal ledApple
11Ot herf ourt
hgener ati
oncomput ersincludedI BM 370and
4300, Honey wellDPS-88andBur roughs7700.

Fif
thgener at
ioncomput ers
Inthisgenerati
onfall
st oday'
scomput ersthathav everyhi
gh
processingpowerandspeedst hantheirpredecessor s,
and
whosesi zeisincr
easinglybecomingsmal l
er.These
comput ershavespecial i
nstr
ucti
onsetst hatall
owt hem to
supportcompl exprogramst hatmimichumani ntell
i
gence
oftenreferr
edtoasar ti
fici
ali
ntel
li
gence.

Al otofr
esearchi
sbeingdonet otryandcomeupwi t
ha
machinethatcanworkwi t
houthumaninterv
enti
on.Oneof
themostsuccessf
uldevel
opmentsinthi
sfiel
distheadv
ent
ofcomputerst
hatcanhelpmanagerstomakedecisi
onsand
10
thosethatcanof
fercr
it
icalexpertser
vicest
ouser
sinst
ead
ofrel
yi
ngonhumanpr ofessi
onals.

Areaswher ecomputer
sareused
Comput er
shav emanyadvant
agesoverot
hert
ypesofoff
ice
andbusinessequipment
sthatar
eusedfordat
aprocessi
ng
funct
ions.Threeoft
headvant
agesar
e:
1.Computer
sprocessdatafaster.Theprocessingspeedof
acomputermeasuredagainstotherdevi
cesliketypewri
ter
s
andcal
culat
orsi
sfarmuchhi gher.
2.Comput ersar
emor eaccur
ate.Asl ongast hecorrect
i
nstr
ucti
onsand dat aareentered,comput er
sW pr oduce
more accurateresul
ts.They havet he abil
i
tyt o handle
numbersupt omanydecimalpl
aceswithoutroundingoff
.
3.Comput ers are mor e ef f
ici
ent .A computer uti
li
zes
minimum resources,topr ocessdat aascompar
edtohuman
beingsorot hermachi nes.Forexampl ecomputer
sr equi
re
l
essef f
orttopr ocessr epeti
ti
v etasks.Inourdayt oday
activ
iti
es,weusecomput ersinal mostever
yaspectofour
l
ives.Thef ol
lowi
ngar esomeoft heareaswher
ecomput ers
areused.

Supermar ket
s
Mostr etai
lstor
esusecomput erstohelpinthemanagement
ofdai ly act
ivi
ti
es l
ike stock cont
rol.The st ock contr
ol
system keepsaccountofwhati sinstore,
whati st obesold
andwhati soutofstock.Themanagementi saut omati
cal
ly
al
ertedwhenapar ti
cularitem orit
emsar er unningoutof
stockandneedr eor
dering.

Offi
ces
Comput ershav
eincreasedeffi
ciencyinoffi
cesbyr
educing
the time and effort needed t o access and recei
ve
i
nformation.Most moder n off
ice functi
ons hav
e been
automatedforfast
ermessagedi str
ibut
ionanddocument
processi
ng.

11
Banks
Specialcashdispensingmachi nescaledaut
l omatedtell
er
machi nes(ATM s)hav eenabledautomati
onofcashdeposit
andwi thdr
awal ser
vices.Ef
ficiencyhasal
sobeenincr
eased
duetobet terr
ecordkeepinganddocumentpr ocessi
ng
broughtaboutbycomput er
s.

I
ndust r
ies
Comput ersar ebeingusedtomoni t
orandcontr
ol.I
ndust
rial
processes.Thecomput eragehasseenthewideuseof
remotecontr oll
eddev i
cescal
ledrobot
s.Arobotismachine
thatwor ksl
ikeahumanbei ngbutperf
ormstasksthatar
e
toounpleasant ,danger
ous,orcomplexandtedi
oustoassign
tohumanbei ngs.

Hospital
s
Comput er
sar eusedt okeeppat i
entsrecordsinorderto
provi
deeasyaccesst oapat i
entstreatmentanddi agnosis
hist
ory.Comput er
izedmedi caldevi
cesar enowbei ngused
togetacr osssectionalv
iewoft hePatientsbodyt hat
enablesphysici
anst ogetproper.Di
agnosi softheaffected
partofthebodywi thhighlevel
sofaccur acy.Comput er
s
alsocontr
ol l
if
esuppor tmachinesinintensivecareunits
(l
CU).

Transport
Comput er
sareusedtomoni
torv
ehicl
etr
affi
cinabusyt
own,
ai
rcraf
tnavigat
ionandt
omakereserv
ati
ons.

Communi cat i
on
Integrat
ionofcomput ersandt elecommuni cati
onf aci
l
iti
es
hasmademessaget ransmi ssionandreceptiontobev ery
fastandef f
ici
ent.Becauseoft hespeedwi t
hwhi ch
i
nfor mationcanbet r
ansmi ttedaroundinthewor ldusing
comput erst hewor l
dissaidt ohav ebecomeagl obalvi
ll
age.
Lawenf or cementagenci es
Informationhel dincomput erssuchasf ingerpr
ints,
phot ogr
aphsandot heridentifi
cati
ondetailshelpslaw
12
enf
orcer
stocar
ryoutcr
imi
nal
inv
est
igat
ionsspeedi
l
y.

Educat i
on
Comput ersar ewi del yused i nt het eachi
ng and learning
process.Lear ningandt eachingusi ngcomput ersisr ef
erred
toas comput er-ai
dedl earning( CAL)and comput erai ded
teaching(CAT) .Forexampl eexper i
mentsinsubj ectsl i
ke
Chemi str
yorPhy sicsmaybedemonst r
atedusingaspeci al
comput erpr ogr amst hatcan depi ctthem on thescr een
throughapr ocesscal ledsi mul ati
on.
Domest icandent ertainment
Comput erscanbeusedathomef orrecr
eati
onalactivi
ti
es
suchaswat chingmov ies,playingmusi candcomput er
games.Theycanal sobeusedi nstori
ngpersonal
i
nf or
mat i
on, calculating,keepi nghomebudget sandf or
researchinv ariousf i
elds.

Li
braryserv
ices
In a comput eri
zed li
brar
y,a comput er enabl
es l ibr
ary
personnelto easi
lyaccessandkeepupdat ed recordsof
booksandot herli
brar
ymat eri
als.Libr
aryuserscanal souse
comput er
stosear chforti
tlesinsteadofusi ngthemanual
car
dcat al
ogue.

1.6Thecomput erl
abor atory
Acomput erlaborator
yisar oom thathasbeenspeci all
y
preparedt ofaci
lit
ateinstallat
ionofcomput ersandto
provi
deasaf econduci v
eenv ir
onmentf orteachingand
l
earningofcomput erstudi es.Thefoll
owi ngfactorsmustbe
consideredwhenpr eparingacomput erlaboratory.
1.Secur i
tyofcomput ers, programsandot herresources.
2.Reliabi
li
tyoft hesourceofpower .
3.Thenumberofcomput erstobeinstall
edandt heavail
abl
e
fl
oorspace.
4.Themaxi mum numberofuser sthatthel aborator
ycan
accommodat e.

Saf
etypr
ecaut
ionsandpr
act
icesi
nthecomput
er
13
Labor atory
Aftertheest abl i
shmentoft hecomput erlaborat ory,a
numberofsaf etypr ecautions,rulesandpr acticesneedt obe
obser vedi nor dert oav oi
d' accident ali
njurytot heuser s,
damageofcomput ersorl ackofaconduci veenv ir
onment
forteachi ngandl ear ni
ng.Thesaf etyprecaut i
onsand
practicesi ncl ude:
Behavi orint hecomput erl aborator y
Thef ollowi ngr ulesmustbef oll
owedi nandar ounda
comput erlabor at ory .
1.Av oidsmoki ngorexposi ngcomput erstodust .Thisis
becausesmokeanddustcont ainsmal l
abr asivepar ti
cles
thatcandamagecomput ercomponent sandcausewear i
ng
ofmov ingpar ts.
2.Av oidcar ryingf oodandbev eragest ot hecomput err
oom.
Foodmayf all i
nt ot hemov i
ngpar t softhecomput erand
damaget hem.Li qui dsmayspi l
lintocomput erpar tscausing
rusti
ngorel ect ri
cal defaults.
3.Av oidunnecessar ymov ement sbecausey oumay
accident all
yknockdownper i
pheral devices.
4.Atallt
imesf
oll
ow thecor r
ectpr
ocedur
eforstar
ti
ngand
shut
ti
ng down t
he comput erto avoi
dloss ofdata and
damagetocomputerProgr
ams.
5.Do notopen up the met
all
i
ccov er
sofcomput er
sor
peri
pher
aldevi
ceswit
houtpermissi
onandpar
ti
cul
arl
ywhen
thecomputer
spoweri
sstil
lon.

Protect
ionagainstfi
re
Acomput err
oom shouldhavegaseousfi
reext
ingui
sher
s
l
ikethosef i
ll
edwithcarbondi
oxide.Wat
erbasedorpowder
exti
nguishersshoul
dbeav oi
dedbecausetheycancause
damaget ocomput ercomponents.

Cabl
esinsul
ati
on
Al
lpowercabl
esint
hecomputerroom mustbeproper
ly
i
nsul
atedandlai
dawayf
rom busypathwaysi
ntheroom.Lay
14
them pr
efer
ablyal
ongthewalli
ntrunks.Thisav
oidst
he
dangerofexposi
ngtheusert
oelectri
cshockandpower
i
nterr
upti
onscausedbystumbli
ngoncabl es.

Stabl
epowersuppl y
Comput ersaredelicat
edev i
cest hatrequireast ablesour ce
ofpower .Powerf r
om mai nssupplyisnotal way sst ableand
maysomet imesexper i
encepowersur gesorunderv olt
age
sometimesr eferr
edtoasbr ownout .Toprotectt hecomput er
from bei ng damaged due t o poweri nstabili
ties,av oid
connectingitdir
ectl
ytothemai nssuppl y.I
nst ead,connecti t
toaspeci aldevi
cecaledun-
l i
nterr
uptibl
epowersuppl y(UPS)
thenconnectt heUPSt othemai nsasshownbel ow

TheUPSchar geswhenmai nspowerisonandhaspower

surgeand.brownoutprotect
ioncapabi
l
iti
es.Whenthemai
ns
powergoesof f
,itgi
vessomesoundalert(usual
l
yabeepi
ng
sound)toalerttheuser
.

TheUPSpser f
ormst
womai
n
funct
ionsnamel
y:
1.Itregul atespowerf rom an
unstabl epowersour cetothe
requiredCl eanst ablev ol
tage
byel i
mi natingsur gesand
brownout s.
2.Ittempor ar
il
yprovidespowert ot hecomput erincaseofa
suddenpowerf ai
lurehenceall
owi ngt heusert ost ore
his/herwor kandshutdownt hecomput erusi ngt hecor r
ect
procedure
Toenabl econtinuit
yofwor kev enint heabsenceofmai ns
power ,organi
zati
onst hatgi
vecr i
ticalser vicesli
kebanks,
schoolsandhospi talsusual
lyinstallast andbygener ator
thatautomat i
call
ycomesoni ncaseofapowerf ailure.
Powerf rom thegener ormustpasst
at hroughaUPSbef ore
beingfedt othecomput erbecausei tisal sonotst able.

15
NB:General
l
y speaki
ng,devi
ces t
hatprovi
de alt
ernat
ive
sour
ceofpowerar
eusuall
yref
err
edtoaspowerbackups.

Burglarproofi
ng
Todet erunauthor i
zedaccesstothecomput erroom,iti
s
i
mpor t
anttoimpl ementthefoll
owingcontrol
s.
1.Fitstrongmet all
icgri
ll
sandlocksondoor s,windowsand
roofinCaset her oofi
ngisweak.
2.Donotwel comest ranger
sintothecomput erroom.
3.Consi deri
nstalli
ngsecuri
tyalar
msatst r
ategicaccess
pointsthatwouldal er
tthesecurit
ypersonnelincaseofa
breakin.

Vent i
lation
Theremustbegoodai rcirculati
oni nthecomput erroom to
avoid suf focati
on and ov erheating.Remembert hatbot h
comput ersand human bei ngsemi theatener gyi ntothe
envir
onment .Pr operv enti
lati
on enabl es t he comput erto
coolandhence,av oi
dsdamaget oel ectronicpar t
st hatcan
becausedByov er
heating.Properv enti
lationcanbeensur ed
by:
1.Ensur ingthattheroom hasenoughv ent i
lati
onpoi ntsli
ke
windows.
2.Installi
nganai r-
conditi
oningsy stem.
3.Av oidingov er
crowdingofei thermachi nesorpeopl einthe
room.

Dustanddumpcont r
ol
acomput erl
aboratoryshoul dbel ocatedawayf rom
excessi
v edust.Theroom shoul dalsobefitt
edwi thspeci
al
curt
ainsthatwoul dreduceent ryofdustparti
cles.
Comput ersmustr emai ncov eredusingdustcov erswhennot
i
nuse.
Humi di
tyshoul dbeatanopt i
mum of50%.Humi di
tyl
ower
thanthi
sal l
owsst ati
cel ectr
icitytobui
ldupandcauses
damaget osensi t
iveelectroniccomponent s.alsohigh
16
humidit
yofover70%causerusti
ngofthemetal
l
icpar
tsof
thecomputersyst
em.Topreventbot
hhighandlowhumidi
ty
placehumi
difi
ersi
ntheroom

Lighti
ng
awel ll
itcomput erroom pr eventseyestr
ainthateventuall
y
l
eadst oheadaches, stressandf at
igue.Iti
simpor t
antto
adjustthebright nessoft hecomput ermonitorunti
ltheeyes
feelcomf ort
abl ebef oreusingacomput ertoavoiddamagi ng
yourey es:
ftr
i adiationfi
lterscreens.Whi charespecialyt
l int
edt o
reducet heli
ghtt hatr eachest heeye.Avoidusingaf l
icker
ing
moni t
orbecauset hi
scancauseext r
emeey estrai
nthatcan
damageey esight .

Standardfurnit
ure
Thetableonwhi chacomput erisplacedmustbest rongand
wideenought obeartheweightandaccommodat eal l
the
peri
pheraldev i
ces.Thechairfortheusermustbe
comf or
table,andhaveast r
aightbackrestforonetosi t
upri
ghtasi ll
ustr
atedbelowtoav oidmuscl epai
nsand
backachescausedbypoorpost ure.Theseatmustbehi gh
enoughr el
ativetothetabl
ef orcomf or
tabl
euseoft hehands
onthekey boardandt heeyesmustbet hesamel ev
el asthe
topofthescr eenwhent heuserisseat ed

Practi
cal handsonski l
ls
Start
ing-up(Booting)acomput er
1.makesur ethatallt
hecomponents
areproper l
yconnected.Thecomputer
mustbeconnect edtoanact i
vepower
source.
2.Swi t
chont hemoni torfi
rst
,
3.Swi
tchont
hesy
stem unit

Whent hepowerison,thecomputerautomati
call
ygoes
throughaprocessofself
-t
estandpreparat
ionforuse.This
processiscal
ledboot
ing.Ther
earetwot ypesofbooting
17
namel y :
* col dboot ing
* war m boot i
ng.
Coldboot ing
Thishappenswhent hecomput er,ori
ginallyoff,isswitched
onbypr essingt hepowerbut tonoft hesy st em unit.
Thecomput erstartsbychecki ngal li
tscomponent sto
determi newhet hert heyar efunct ioningcor rectlyand
whet hert heyareav ailabl
ef oruse.Thi spr ocessi scalledthe
power -on- self
-test(POST) .Dur ingthisprocess, themoni t
or
willdispl ayinformat i
onshowi ngt hest at
usofeachdev i
ce
beingt est ed.Incaseoneoft hedev i
cesi sf aul
tyormi ssi
ng,
thispr ocesswi l
l hal
tandamessageal er
tingt heuseri s
display edont hescr een.Thespeci alprogram t hatdirects
thePOSTpr ocessi scal l
edt hebasi cinputout putsy stem
(BIOS) .

WhenthePOSTpr ocessi sover,thecomput erdi spl

aysa
promptmessager equestingonet ostartusi
ngi t.
Somecomput er
shav epr ogramst hatrequireaper sonto
i
denti
fythem sel
vesbypr ovi
dingausernameanda
passwor
d( asecretwor dgivent otheuser )beforeitcan
al
lowonet ousethem.Thepr ocessofpr ovi
dingsuch
i
nformat
ioniscalledloggingonandi tisasecur itymeasure
meanttodeterunauthorizeduser sfrom usingt hecomputer.

War m booting(
restarti
ng)
Thishappenswhent hecomputer,ori
ginallyon,i
sf orcedto
rest
ar tbypr
essi
ngt herest
artbuttonont hesy stem unitor
bypr essi
ngacombi nati
onofkey sonthekey board.Iti
salso
possibletowarm bootacomput erbyusi ngt herestart
commandf oundinaspecialprogram calledanoper ating
system.

Shutt
ingdownacomput er
Iti
simportantt
hatt
heuserfol
lowsthecorrectpr
ocedureof
shutt
ingdownthecomputeratall
times.I
ftheprocedur
eis
18
notf
oll
owedt henl
ossofdat
a,damageofpr
ogr
amsand
computercomponent
smayoccur.

Procedur ef orshut tingdownacomput er

1.Ensur ethatal lthewor khasbeenpr operlystored.Thi
s
processi scal ledsav ing.
2.Closeal lprogr amst hatmaybecur rentlyrunning.
3.Ify ourcomput erisr unni
ngonMi crosoftWi ndows98
orlaterver sionst hen:
(a)Clickthest ar
tbut tonont hescreen.
(b)Selectt heshutdowncommandf rom t
hemenul i
st.
(c)Inthecomput erpr omptt hatappear
s,selectshutdown
thenpr esst heent erkeyont hekeyboar
d.(d)Af terafew
secondst hemessageI TI SNOW SAVETOTURNOFFTHE
COMPUTERappear sont hescreen.Swit
choft hesy stem
unitthent hemoni tor.

NB:Somesyst
em uni
tsswit
chthemselv
esof
faut
omat
ical
l
y
whenyoudost
eps3(a),
(b)and(c)abov
e.

Keyboardl
ayout
Thekeysonthekeyboardcanbecat
egor
izedi
ntof
ive
groupsasshowninFigur
e1.11.

Alphanumer ickey s
Key sar elabeledwi t
hal phabeti
clett
ersA- Z,numbers
arrangedi nal ine1,2,……..0respecti
velyandsy mbolsli
ke:?,]
,
%et c.Thisgr oupal soincl
udest hefol
lowi ngkeys:
capl ock,
entert ab.spacebarandbackspace.
Capsl ockkey :Pressingthiskeylet'
stheusert ypei
nupper
case- l
etters,
(capital
s)Toswi tchbackt olowercasel et
ters
si
mpl ypresst hesamekeyagai n.
19
Enterkey( returnkey )
:Pressingt hiskeyf orcest het ext
cursortomov etothebeginni ngoft henextline.Acur sorisa
bli
nkingunder score(-)orav erti
cal beam ( I
)thatshows
wher e,t
henextchar actertobet y pedwi llappear .Theent er
keyi salsousedt oinstr
uct.thecomput ertoexecut ea
commandt hathasbeensel ectedont hescr een.
Tabkey :Thi skeyi susedtomov et hetextcur soratset
i
nter val
sont hesamel i
nee.g.10mm, 20mm et c.
Thespacebar :Thisbarcreat esaspacebet weenwor ds
duringty pi
ng.
Thebackspacekey :Thiskeydel et eschar actersf r
om r i
ghtto
l
eftont hesamel i
ne.

Functi
onkey s
Functi
onkey sareusuall
ylocat
edal ongthetopofthe
keyboard.Theyarelabel
edFI,F2upt oFI2.Theyareusedfor
tasksthatoccurfr
equentl
yinv ar
iousprograms.Forexample
pressi
ngFIkeyi nJmostpr ogramsst ar
tstheHELPMENU.

Cursormovementandedi t
ingkey s
Cursormov ementkey sareusedt omov ethecur soront he
screen.Thesekey sar e:
Arrowkey s:Pr essi ngther i
ghtorl eftarrowkeymov esthe
cursoronechar actertor i
ghtorl eftr especti
vely.Pressing
theupwar dordownwar darrowkeymov esthet extcursor
onelineupordownr espectiv el
y.
Pageupandpagedownkey s:Pr essingpageupkeymov es
thecur soruponepagei ncaset hedocumenthasmany
pages.Pr essingpagedownkeymov esthecur sordownone
pagei ncaset hedocumenthasmanypages.
Homeandendkey s:Pressinghomekeymov est hecursort o
thebegi nni ngoft hecur r
entl ine.Pr essi
ngendkeymov esthe
cursort ot heendoft hecur rentline.
Editi
ngkey sar eusedt odelet eori nsertcharactersina
document .Thesear e:
Insertkey :Thi skeyhel pstheusert oinsertorreplacea
charact eratt hecur sorposition.
Delete( Del )key :Thiskeydel eteschar actersatt hecursor
20
posit
ionfrom l
efttori
ght.
SpecialPCoper at
ionkeys
Thesekey sarerar
elyusedsinglybuti
ncombinat
ionwit
h
otherkeystogivespecial
instr
ucti
onstothecomputer
.They
i
ncludeSHI FT,CTRL,ALTandESCkey s.
Numer i
ckey padkey s
Thenumer i
ckey padconsistsofasetofnumber s0to9and
theari
thmeticsignsli
ke+( addit
ion),¬(
minus),*
(mult
ipl
icat
ion)and/( div
isi
on).Theyarelocat
edont heright
handsideoft hekeyboard.Thekey padi
smeantt ohelpthe
usertorapi
dlyenternumer i
cdata.Thenumber sont he
numerickeypadcanonl ybeusedwhent he,si
tuatedonthe
numerickeypad, i
sturnedon.

Otherwise,t
heycanbeusedascur sormovementandedi ti
ng
keyswhennum l ockkeyi
st ur
nedoff
.Iti
simpor t
anttonote
thatnotallkeyboardshav
et henumer
ickeypad.Forexample
portabl
ecomput ersmayl ackaseparatenumer ickeypad
duet osizeli
mitati
ons.

Pract i
calkey boar dski l
ls
TYPI NGRULES:
1.Si tupri
ghtwi t
hbot hf eetfir
ml yont hegr oundmai nt
aining
anal ertPostur e.
2.Pl acethemat erial t
obet ypedony ourlefti naposi t
ion
youcanr eadWi thoutst rain.
3.Restbot hhandsont hekey boardwi thfinger sr
est i
ngon
thehomekey s.Thesear ekey sonwhi chfinger srestduring
typingi nreadinesst opr essot herkeys.Thehomekey sfor
thel efthandst arti
ngwi tht hesmal lfi
ngerar eA,S, D,Fwi th
thet humbonspacebarwhi lethoseoft her ighthandar et he
apost rophe(')semi colon( ;
) ,
L, Kwiththet humbont he
spacebar .
4.St arttypi
ngt het extsl owl yatfir
st,makingsur ey ouare
usingal ltheTenf i
nger sandt hatyoupr esst hekeynear est
tothehomekey swi tht hecl osestfi
nger ,
e. g.topr essQ, use
thesmal lfi
ngeront hel efthandwhi l
et opr essJ, usethe
21
i
ndexf i
ngerontherighthand.
Mouseski l
ls
Mi ce(theplur
alofmouse)comesi nvari
ousshapes,col
ors
anddesi gns.Todayonecanev engetamousethatuses
wirelesstechnol
ogyt hati
s,i
tdoesnothaveaconnecti
on
cable.Mostmi cehav etwobutt
onsbutsomemayhav ethr
ee.
Figure1.12isanill
ust r
ati
onofamouse.

Usi
ngt hemouse
Whent hemousei smadet oslideonaf l
at
sur
face,itcontrol
sapoint
eront hescreen,
whi
chi scaledamousepoi
l nteroracur sor
.
Tomakeasel ecti
on,t
hepointermustbe
onthei
tem t
hati
stobesel ected.Aft
ersel
ecti
ng, t
heuser
canmanipul
atet
heit
em bypr essingamousebut t
on

USINGTHEMOUSE:
1.Placethemouseonaf l
atsmoot hsur f
ace.
2.Gentlyholdthemousewi thy ourrighthand,usingthe
thumbandt hetwori
ght -
mostf i
ngers.
3.Thei ndexf i
ngershouldr estont heleftbuttonwhi l
ethe
middlefingerrest
sont heri
ghtbut t
on.
NB:Forl efthandedpeopl e,itispossi bleto changet he
mouseset t
ingsinordertocomf ortablyholdi
tusi ngthelef
t
hand.

Ter minologiesassoci atedwi ththeuseofamouse

Clicki
ng:Thi smeanspr essingandr el
easi
ngt heleftmouse
but t
ononce.Acl ickoft
ensel ectsanobject.
Doubl eclicking:Thismeanspr essingtheleftbutt
ont wicein
quicksuccessi on.Doubl ecli
ckingusuall
yopensaf il
eor
startsapr ogr am
Rightclicking:Pr essi
ngt heri
ghthandsi demousebut ton
oncedi splaysal i
stofcommandsf rom whichtheusercan
makeasel ection.Thisli
stofcommandsi scaledashor
l t
cut
menuorcont extsensi t
ivemenu.I tiscall
edacont ext
sensitiv
emenubecauset hecommandsoni tapplytothe
ri
ghtcl i
ckedi tem.
22
Draganddrop:Thi
siswher ebyt
heuserdragsani
tem f
rom
onelocati
onont hescreent oanother
.Theprocedur
eto
accompli
shthi
soperat
ionisasfol
lows:

1.Poi nttot heitem youwanttodrag.

2.Presst helefthandsidemousebut tonandholditdown
3.Slidet hemouseunt i
lthepoi
nterreachesthedesir
ed
positionont hescreen.
4.Finallyr el
easethemousebut t
onandt hei
tem wil
lbe
droppedi nthenewl ocati
on.

COMPUTERSYSTEMS

Chapt
erout
li
ne

1I
2. ntr
oduction
2I
2. nputdevices
3Thecent
2. ralprocessingunit(
CPU)
4Out
2. putdev ices
5Secondar
2. y(auxil
iary)st
oragedev i
cesandmedi
a2.
6
Powerandinter f
acecabl es
7Basi
2. ccomput ersetupandcabl i
ng
8Comput
2. ersof tware
9Cr
2. it
eri
af orselectingacomput ersyst
em

Int
roduct i
on
Inthepr evi
ouschapt er,youwereintroducedtosomeoft he
parts ordev ices thatmake up a comput er
.Howev er
,a
comput ersy stem requiresmor ethanj ustacollecti
onof
devices.Thet erm system canbedef inedasacol l
ecti
onof
i
ndependent ent i
ti
es t hat col
l
ecti
vely workt ogether to
achieveadesi redgoal.

Thesystemsappr oachtocomput i
ngwasbor r
owedfrom the
soci
alscienti
stswhobel i
evethatal
lthi
ngscanbeviewedas
bei
ng made up of smal
l i
ndependent
component s(
subsystems)t hatcome toget
hertof orm a
23
biggermor ecompl exsy st
em.Forexampl e,aschoolcanbe
seen asa sy st
em wi tht hest udents,t eacher s,account s
departmentand t he admi nistrati
on as subsy stems.The
schoolsy stem itselfi s a subsy stem oft he mi nistr
yof
educati
on!Ther ef
or e,thet erm comput ersy st em referstoa
coll
ecti
on ofent iti
es t hatwor kt ogethert o pr ocess and
managei nformati
onusi ngcomput ers.Itisimpor t
antt onote
that,sy stems exi st whet her comput eri
zed or manual .
Howev er, t
hecomput eri sreplaci ngmanymanualpr ocesses
hencet heneedt ost udyt hei deaofacomput ersystem.For
example,adocumentpr ocessi ngsy stem int hesecr etar
ys
offi
cecanbemademor eefficientbycomput er i
zi
ngi t.

A comput ersy stem consi stsoft hree mai n component s

namel yt hehar dwar e,t hesoftwareandt hecomput eruser
(l
i
vewar e) .Allt
hephy sicalcomponent sbot hmechani caland
el
ectronict hatmakeupacomput ersy stem suchast he
moni tor
, thesyst em uni t,keyboar
dandmouseet c.arecalled
hardwar e.Sof twar ei sa setofcomput erpr ogramst hat
guidest hecomput eri neachandev eryact ivit
ythathappens
i
nside t he comput erdur i
ng data pr ocessi ng oper at
ions.
Humanbei ngsbyt hemsel veshavetheabi litythoughl i
mited,
topr ocessdat aandmanagei nf
ormat ion.Comput er
shav e
been desi gned t o hel p human bei ngs t o enhance t he
eff
iciencyofpr ocessi ngandmanagi ngi nformat i
on.Itist he
human bei ng who i ssues commands t o a comput er
dependingonhi sorherneeds.

Thehar dwareel
ementsofacomput eraregener
all
ygrouped
i
ntof ourmaj orcategori
es namel
yi nputdevi
ces,central
processinguni
t,out
putdevi
cesandstoragedevi
ces.

Inputdevi
ces
'
Datamaybeent eredintoacomput erusingkeyingdevices
suchast hekeyboar d,orusi ngpoi nti
ngdev i
cessucht he
mouse,orbydev i
cest hataut omatical
lycaptur
edat afrom
thesourceref
err
edt oasdat acapt uredev i
cese.g.scanners
anddigit
alcameras,orbyv oicer ecognit
iondevi
cessuchas
24
microphones.The main purpose of input
devices i s t o conv
ert t he human
readabl
edat ai
nto el
ectr
oni
c or machi ne
readabl
eform.

I
nputdev icescanbecl assif
iedaccor dingtohow t
heyar
e
usedtoent erdata.Thisi
ncludes:
1.Keyingdev i
cessuchast hekey boar d,keypadet
c.
2.Pointi
ngdev i
cessuchasmouse, t
r ackballet
c.
3.Scanningandot herdatacapturedev i
ces.
4.Speechr ecognit
ionorvoiceinputdev i
ces.
5.Touchscr een,digi
ti
zeranddigitalcamer as.

Key
ingdev
ices

Keyboar dandkey pad

Thesear et hemostcommoni nputdev i
ces.Thesedev i
ces
enterdat ai nt
o acomput erbyt yping.Apar tfrom af ew
dif
ferences,acomput erkeyboardissimilartothetypewr
iter
keyboard.Akey padi
sami niat
ure(tiny)keyboardwhichi s
most l
yusedonsmal lportabl
ecomput ers,cal
cul
atorspalm
notes,mobilephonesetc.

Point
ingdevi
ces
Thesearetheinputdevi
cesthatent erdataori
nstr
uct
ionsby
contr
oll
ingapointeronthescreen.Apartfrom t
hemouse,
theotherpoi
nti
ngdev i
cesincl
udet hetrackbal
l
,joy
sti
ckand
l
ightpen.

Trackbal l
At rackballworksjustlikethemousebuti nst
eadofmov ing
i
tonaf latsurf
ace,abal lfi
xedoni t
st opisrolledusingt he
i
ndexf inger.Asthebal lrotat
es,itmov esapoi nt
eront he
screen;onecant henclickit
sbut t
ontoexecut et heselected
command.Fi gur
e2. 1showsadr awingofat rackball
.The
advant ageofat rackballoverthemousei st hatitneither
requiresanext r
aspacenoraf l
atsur f
acef ormov ement.
Todaysomecomput ersarecomi ngwi thatrackbal lont op
25
ofakey
boar
dandamouse.

Joy
stick
Ajoysti
cki
sani
nput dev
icet
hatl
ooksl
i
keacar

gearleverwhich can be mov ed sideways,upwards or

downwardstocont
rolt
hepositi
onoft hecursor
.Justl
i
kethe
mouse,i
thasabuttonwhichisusedf orsel
ecti
nganitem.It
i
scommonl yusedi
nplayi
ngvideogames.

Lightpen
Al i
ghtpenisahandhel dpen-l
ikedevi
cet hathasal i
ght
sensiti
vepoint.Alightpencanmakesel ect i
ons,pl
ace
i
mages, dr
awandi ndi
catedimensionsbysi mplytouchi
ng
thescreen.Al i
ghtpendoesnotemi tl
ight'buti
nstead,i
t
reactstothelightemittedbythedispl
ayusi nga
photosensit
ive.detectorati
tsbase.

Scanningdev i
ces
Thesear edevicesthatenter(
capture)dataint
othe
comput erdir
ectly
.Scannerscanbecl assif
iedaccor
dingto
thetechnologytheyuset ocaptur
edat a.Theseareopti
cal
scannersandmagnet i
cinkscanners.

Opti
calscanner
s
Thesetypesofscannerscapturedatausingli
ght.Aspeci al
ty
peofconcentrat
edbeam oflighti
spassedov ertheobject,
i
mageort extwhichneedstobeent eredint
ot hecomput er.
Thescannerconv er
tsthedat aintodigi
talform andt hen
passesittothecomput erforprocessi
ng.Therear ethree
ty
pesofoptical
scanner
s:

Opti
calmarkrecognit
ion(OMR)
Thesetypesofscanner sdet
ectmar ksmadeonapi eceof
paperusi
ngasof tpenorpencil
.Ther eaderscansthemar ks
wit
haspecialtypeofl i
ghtcal
ledinf
raredlight.Wherethere
26
 arenomar ks,astr
onglightisr ef
lected
thanwher eoneexist
s.Theset ypesof
scannersareusedi nmar ki
ngmul ti
ple
choice quest i
ons, quest ionnair
es,
select
ingnumber
sinlott
eryticketsetc.

Opti
calbarr ecognition(OBR)
Barcodesar el i
nesofdi f
ferentt
hicknesst hatholdit
em
i
nformat ionsuchas,count ryofmanuf acture,nameoft he
manuf acturer
,andi t em code.Thetypeofscannerusedt o
readt hesebar si scal edawandoral
l aserscanner.The
i
nterpretati
oni sbasedont hewi dt
hoft hebar srat
herthan
thei
rlocat i
on.Figure2.3showsbarcodes.

Opticalcharacterrecogniti
on(OCR)/imagescanners
Thisi sthemostsophi sti
cat
edtypeofscannerthatoperat
es
l
iket hehumaney e.Itnotonlyscanscharact
ersbutalsocan
scanr ealobjects,
picturesanddrawings.

The mostcommon t ype ofthis scanneri sthe fl

atbed
scanner,Usi
ngthi
sscanner ,onecanscant ext,arealobj
ect
orapi ctur
ebypl acingitonagl assplateexactlytheway
photocopymachinewor ks.Thetextorapi cturescannedis
displ
ayedonthescr eenorsavedsothatonecanedi torpri
nt
i
t.

Magnet icscanners
Theset y pesofscannerscapturedatabyusi ngmagnet
ic
technology .Thedatabeingreadcanei therbeinf
orm of
specialmagnet icchar
act
ersoracontinuousmagnet
icst
ri
p.
The f ol
lowi ng ar
e some oft he common examples of
magnet icscanners.

Magnetic-
inkcharacterrecogniti
on(MICR)
MICRwasdev el
opedt ohel pbanksprocesscheques.MICR
all
owsspecialdevicest oreadmagneticcharact
erswrit
tenin
aspecialf
ormat.Anex ampl eofMICRdev i
ceisacheque
readert
hatreadsthechequenumber ,andsendst hedetai
l
s
27
tothecomput ertobeusedi nupdatingt hecustomers
account.
Magneticst
riper ecogniti
on
Amagnet i
cst ri
pei sat hinmagnet i
ct ape,oftenfoundatthe
backofaplast i
ccar de. g.anautomat edt el
lermachinecard
(ATM)andacr editcard.AnATM car disusedt ogetbanking
servi
ceswithoutnecessar il
ygoi ngtot hecounter,whi
lea
credi
tcardal l
owst hehol dertogetser vi
cesi nanycentre
wherethecardi saccept able.Theamountspenti sdeducted
from t
heholder'sbankaccount .

Speechr ecognit
ionorvoiceinput
Voice recognit
ion isat ype ofi nputmet hod wher ea
microphonei susedt oenterdatainf or
m ofspokenwor ds
i
ntot hecomput er
.Thismet hodi smost l
ysuitabl
ef orthe
handicappedespeciall
ythosewi thi
mpairedhands.Alt
hough
thi
sisaf astandeasiermethod, i
thassomedi sadvant
ages.
Iti
scompl extodevelopandi tdoesnottakecareofspeech
rel
atedpr obl
em'suchasaccent s,i
nfl
ecti
onsandt one.This
i
mpl i
est hatthedev i
cemustl earntheuniquespeechofan
i
ndividual.

Touchscr
een,
digi
ti
zer
sanddi
git
alcamer
as

TouchScreen
Touch scr
een inputmet hod uti
l
isesthe technologyofa
touchsensi
tiv
escr een.Whent heusertouchest hescr een,
thecomputerdetectstheposit
ionofthefingerandr esponds
accordi
ngl
y.Touchscr eensaremost l
yusedi npublicplaces
l
ikeinbankinghalls,hotel
s,i
nai r
port
s(topr ovi
degui dance
i
nformati
on)etc.

Digi
tiser s
Adigitiseroragraphi
ctabletisal
mostsi mil
art
oal i
ghtpen
butinst eadithasagraphi
ct abl
etonwhi chtheuserwr i
tes
onusi ngadev i
cesimil
artoapen,cal ledastylus.(Figure
2.
6).Ast hestyl
usmov eson t hetablet,itsdr awing is
di
rectlyr efl
ect
edont hescreen.Di
git
isersaremost lyused
28
f
orar
chi
tect
ural
andengi
neer
ingdesi
gns.

Digital cameras
A di git
al camerast or
esi tsimagesi n
digi
tal for
m.Thesei magescant hen
be str
eamed ( entered) di
rectly
i
nt oacomput erforedit
ingorpr i
nti
ngbyconnect i
ngt he
camer atoacomput erusingaspeci alcable.Aswi t
ht he
ordinarycamera,ther
ear etwot ypesofdi git
alscamer as:
Onet hatcant
akessti
lli
magesi .
e.photogr
aphsandanot her
thattakesmotionpict
ures(vi
deo).

Thecent r
alprocessinguni t(CPU)
The cent ralpr ocessing unit( CPU)al so known as t he
Processor i s t he most i mpor tant component of t he
comput er
.Iti s act uallyregarded as t he br ain oft he
comput er
.Thisissobecauseal ldatapr ocessingandcont rol
operations are coordinated here.I n mi crocomput ers,the
CPUi shousedi nsi
det hesystem uni t
.Iti smount edona
ci
rcuitboar d known as,t he mot herboar d ort he sy st
em
board.The f igure bel ow shows t he l ocati
on wher ea
processorcalledCy ri
xi smount edont hemot herboard.
The CPU has t hree di ff
erent funct i
onal uni ts called
arit
hmet i
candl ogicunit,
control unit and t he mai n
memor y.

Ari
thmeticandlogicuni t(
ALU)
Thearit
hmeticandl ogi
cunitisauni tofcent r
alprocessi
ng
uni
twher eallari
thmet icandlogicaloperati
onsar ecarri
ed
out.The basic ar i
thmetic oper
ations includes;additi
on,
subtr
acti
on,multi
plicati
onanddi v
ision.Logicoperati
onsar e
basedont hecomput erscapacit
yt ocompar etwoormor e
val
ues.Forexampl e,itmaycompar ewhet herapieceofdat a
29
i
sgr eaterthanorl
essthan,equaltoornotequal t
oetc.
I
nor derfortheALUt obeabletopr ocessdata,
ithasspecial
temporar ystor
agel
ocati
onscal edr
l egist
ers,
whichholdsthe
datajustbef orepr
ocessing.Italsoholdsther esul
tsaft
er
processing.

Cont r
oluni t
Cont r
ol unitcoordinat esallprocessingactivi
tiesintheCPU
aswel l asi nput,st
or ageandout putoperat
ions.It
determi neswhi choper at
ionori nstruct
ionistobeexecut ed
next.Tocoor dinat
et heseact i
vi
ties,thecontrolunitusesa
system cl ock.Thesy stem clocksendsel ectri
csignalsasits
meansofcommuni cat i
on,justli
ket hewayt hetraffi
csignal
s
orat raf fi
cof fcerdoesi
i nar oundaboutorj unct i
ont odir
ect
mot orist sandot herr oaduser s.Thenumberofpul sesper
seconddet erminest hespeedofami cropr
ocessor .The
fastert hecl ockpulses, t
hef ast
ert heCPUhencet hef ast
er
thecomput ercanpr ocessdat a.

Mai nmemor y(pri

marystorageorwor kingstorage)
Main memor so known as pr
y al imar y stor
age prov
ides
storagelocati
onfordataandi nst
ructionsaccessedbyt he
controlunit
.Computermemor ycanbecl assi
fiedi
ntoread
onlymemor y(ROM)andr andom accessmemor y(RAM).

Readonl ymemor y(
ROM)
Readonlymemor yi
susedtost
oreprogr
ammedi nstruct
ions
and data permanentl
y orsemiper manently.Dat a and
i
nstructi
onsstored i
nROM aret hoserequir
ed tor emain
unchangedforlongperi
odsoft
imee.g.boot
inginstr
ucti
ons,
specialpur
posecomput er
sandcomput eri
zedf uelpumps
i
nstructi
onset
c.

Dependingonpermanenceofthei
nstr
uct
ionsordat
awr i
tt
en
onit
,therear
efourty
pesofreadonlymemorynamely;
Maskr
eadonlymemor y:Oncethecontenti
swr
it
tenoni
tby
t
hemanufact
urer
,itcannotbechanged.
30
Progr ammabl er eadonlymemor y( PROM) :Thisal l
owst he
usert oalteritonlyonceaf terthecont enti swr i
tt
enoni t
.
Erasabl eprogrammabl ereadonlymemor y(EPROM) :This
hasat ransparentquar t
zwi ndowt hroughwhi chit scontents,
canbeer asedbyexposi ngittoultraviolet( UV)li
ght ,and
thenr eprogrammedf oranot heruse.
Electrical
ly erasable pr ogrammabl e r ead onl y memor y
(EEPROM) : Thi s type of ROM can be er ased and
reprogr ammedusi ngel ect
rici
ty.Anexampl eofEEPROM i s
the memor yt hatst ores the basi ci nput /outputsy stem
(BIOS) .
Char acteri
sti
csofr eadonl ymemor y(ROM)ar e;
1.Onecanonlyreadi tscont
entbuty oucannotwr i
teonit
unl
essitis
aspecial
typeofROM.
2.Itisnon- v
olati
lei .
e.itscontenti snotl ostwhen the
computerisswit
chedof f
3.Stor
esper manentorsemiper manenti nstruct
ionsfr
om
the manufacturer caled f
l ir
mwar e. It can store semi
permanentinstr
uctionsbecausesomev ariati
onsofROM
chi
ps can be pr ogrammed accor di
ng to t he user s
speci
fi
cati
on.

Random accessmemor y( RAM)

Thisist hemostcommont ypeofmai nmemor y.Iti
scalled
random accessmemor y( RAM)because;i t
scont entcanbe
readdi rect
lyr egardlessoft hesequencei nwhi chitwas
stored.Asopposedt oROM,t hecont entinRAM i shel d
tempor ari
lyandi t
scont enti sl ostoncet hecomput eris
turnedof fTherefore,beforeswi tchingof ft
hecomput er,i
tis
i
mpor t
antt hatonest or
es( sav es)his/herwor kinadev ice
thatoffersrelati
vel
yper manentst oragefacil
it
y.

Charact
eri
sti
csofrandom accessmemor y(RAM)are:
1.Datacanberead(ret
riev
ed)andwr i
ten(
t stor
ed)ini
t.
2.RAM isatemporary(v
olati
l
e)stor
agebecauseitscont
ent
31
di
sappearswhenthecomputerisswit
chedof f
.
3.I
tscontenti
suserdef
inedi
.e.theuserdi
ctateswhati
sto
becontai
nedintheRAM.

TypesofRAM
Therear et wot ypesof-RAM namel y
,stati
cRAM ( SRAM)and
dynami cRAM ( DRAM) .Stat i
cRAM i sveryfastcompar edt o
dynami cRAM and hol dsi tscont entasl ong ast her eis
power .Dy nami cRAM ont heot herhandcanonl yhol di t
s
contentf orashor twhil
eev enwhenpoweri sall.Tomai ntai
n
thecont entofdy namicRAM, thememor ychipi sdesignedi n
awayt hati tscontentisr efreshed( automaticallyrewritt
en)
severallypersecond.St at i
cRAM i smor eexpensi ve.Itis
most lyusedt omakespeci al typesofmemor i
es.
Speci alpur posememor i
es
Apar tfrom ROM andRAM t herear eseveralt
y pesofspeci al
purposememor iesfoundi nsijkdetheCPUori nt heinputand
outputdev ices.These memor ies ar
ev i
talbecause t hey
i
ncreaset heov erallperformanceofdat aandi nstr
uct i
ons
mov ing i nand outoft heCPU.Thesememor i
esi nclude
buffers, register
sandcachememor y.

Buffers
Thisi sat empor aryholdingpl acethatmaybepar toft he
CPUorbui ltinani nputorout putdevice.BecausetheCPUi s
veryf astcompar edt othei nputorout putdev i
ces,buf f
ers
providet empor aryst or
agesot hattheCPU i ssetf reet o
carryoutot heract iv
iti
esinsteadofwai t
ingforalldatatobe
enteredori nformationt obeout put.Forexampl esi ncea
pri
ntercannotwor katthespeedofaCPU, thepri
nterbuf f
ers
tempor ari
lyhol dstheout puttobepr i
ntedhencef reei
ngt he
CPUt operform ot herfuncti
ons.Buf f
erscanhol dmor et han
onepi eceofdat aatat i
me.

Regi
ster
s
Asopposedt
obuff
ers,
regi
ster
shol
donepieceofdataata
ti
meandarei
nsi
detheCPU.Exampl
esofregist
ersar
e:
32
Anaccumul ator
:Thist
emporari
l
yhol
dst
her
esul
tsoft
he
l
astprocessingstepoftheALU.

I
nstructionr egister:Thistemporaril
yhol dsaninstr
ucti
on
j
ustbef oreitisi nterpretedint
oaf ormt hatCPUcan
understandi t.
Anaddr essr egister :Thistemporari
l
yhol dsnextpieceof
datawai tingtobepr ocessed.
Storager egister:Thi stemporari
l
yhol dsapi eceofdatathat
i
soni tswayt oandf rom theCPUandt hemai nmemor y
.

CacheMemor y
Mostmodem pr ocessorsincorpor
atesmallhi
gh-
speedt y
pe
ofSRAM cal ed cache memor
l y.The purpose ofcache
memor yist o al
low the processorto access dat
a and
i
nstr
ucti
onsev enfasterthanitwouldhavetakentofetchit
fr
om therel
ati
vel
yslowDRAM.

Memor ycapaci ties

Memor yandst or agecapaci tyismeasur edinspeci alunit
s
caled by
l tes.A by tei s equi
valentt o a single char
acter.
Characterscanbeanumberf r
om 0t o9,lett
ersAt oZora
specialsy mbo1.Forexampl e,anumberl i
ke2545hasf our
byteswhi lethewor ds,MyHomehassev enby t
essince,and
thespacebet weent hem has1by t
e.
Memor yquant i
tiescanbeexpr essedin;
1.Kiloby t
es ( kB): Appr oximately one t housand
by tes.(
1024)
2.Megaby tes( MB) :Approximatelyonemi ll
ionby t
es.
3.Gigaby tes( GB) :Appr oxi
mat elyonebi l
l
ionby t
es.
4.Ter abytes:Appr oximatelyonet ri
l
lionbytes.

Over
allfunct
ionalorganizati
onoftheCPU
Theari
thmeticandl ogi
cunit,t
hecontrol
unitandt
hemain
memor yuseelectr
icalpathwaysorli
nksref
err oasbuses.
edt
33
 Therear ethreetypesofbusesnamel y
;
Contr olbus:Thi
sist hepat
hwayf oral
lti
mingandcontrol
li
ng
functionssentbyt hecontr
ol uni
ttoot
herpar t
softhe
system.
Addr essbus:Thisi sthepathwayusedt olocatet
hestor
age
positioninmemor ywheret henextinstr
uctiondat
at obe
processedi stobef ound.
Databus:Thisi sthepat hwaywher et
heact ualdat
atransf
er
takesplace.
Fi
gure2. 8isasummar yoft heov er al
lor
ganisationoftheCPU
andhowi tcontrol
sot hercomput ercomponent s.
Cont rol
unit
Gives
I
nstruct
ions i nstructionst oInst
ructions
each
dev i
ceaf ter
i
nterpreting
progr am
instruct i
ons

Arit
hmet i
cand
l
ogicuni t
Calculatesand
compar es
data
Result
sof Datat obe
processi
ng processed
Mai n
I
nput Output
memor y
data data
II
nput Storesdat aand
Out
put
uni
t i
nstructionst o
uni
tI
bepr ocessed
tempor all
y.
34
 Out
putt
obe Datatobe
st
ored processed
Secondary
storagedev i
ces
Storesdataand
i
nstructi
onsto
bepr ocessed
per manentl
y.

Fi
g.2.
8Funct
ional
organi
sat
ionoft
heCPU

Ty
pesofpr
ocessor
sandt
hei
rcl
ockspeeds

Processor s
In1971, acompanycal ledI ntelt hatspeciali
sesi n
manuf acturi
ngcent ralprocessi nguni t
smanagedt o
combi net hear it
hmet i
c-logi cunitandt hecont r
ol uni
tona
singlet i
nypr ocessorcal ledmi cr oprocessorandcal l
edi t
Intel4004.Thi smicroprocessorwasusedi nelectroni
c
calculators.Thef ir
stmi cr oprocessort obeusedon
mi crocomput erswascal ledI ntel8086dev elopedi n1974.
Sincet hen,ther ehasbeenat remendousgr owthi n
mi croprocessort echnologymar kedbygr eatincreasei n
processi ngcapabi l
ityandspeed.
Unt i
l1989, Intelcorporat i
onenj oy edmonopol yint hef i
eldof
mi croprocessor t echnol ogy wi th her f amous I ntel
processor s.Si ncethenot herpl ay ersjoi
nedi nandst art
ed
manuf acturi
ng cheaper al ter nativ
es. These i nclude:
Adv anced Mi cro Dev ices ( AMD) , Cyri
x and Mot orol
a
compani es

Processorclockspeed
Thespeedatwhi chapr ocessorexecutesi nstruct
ionsis
deter
mined by its clock speed.Sy stem cl ock speed is
measuredi nhertz’s.A hertzisauni toff requencywhi ch
measurest he numberofcy cl
espersecond i n a si
gnal
.
Quanti
tiesoftheclockspeedcanbeexpr essedi n;
35
1.Kil
ohertz(kHz):Approximatel
yonet housandhert z’s.
2.Megaher tz(MHz):Approximat
elyonemi ll
ionhertz’s.
3.Gigahertz(GHz):Appr
oximatelyonebill
ionhertz’
s.
Therehasbeen a t remendousgr owt hint hepr ocessi ng
capabil
ity and cl
ock speed ofmi cr
oprocessors.Fr om a
speedlowert han4MHz, modem mi crocomput er
scanr unat
speedshi gher2GHz.Tabl e2.1showsasummar yofhow
microprocessorshaveevolved.

Processor Descr i
pti
on Cl
ockspeed
Thet woar ealmosti dent icaland
I
nt el8086 4.
7MHz- I
0
wer eused
and8088wi tht hefirstIBMPCs8086wasan MHz
i
mpr ovementof8088.
Intel Prov i
dedi ncreasedper f ormance
6MHz- 20
80286 ov er8086.
Thiswast hepr ocessort hatopened
MHz
upt hePCs
tomanyuser s.
Apar tfrom Intel s80286, AMD
80386SX 33MHz- 40
produced
theirversi
onswi thcopi edgr eatlyt
he
and MHz
I
nt els.
Thesewer et hef irstentr yinthe
80368DX
processormar ket .
Prov i
dedov er100%bet ter
80486SX 25MHz- 50
per f
ormancet han
80386andwer et hef i
rst
and MHz
upgr adeabl e
processor s.AMDandCy rix
80486DX
producedt heirv ersiontoo.
Since1992, Intel decidedt ocoin
Pent i
ums 60MHz-
theirfif
th
gener ati
onwi t
ht henamePent i
um
(586)and presentl
y
i
nst eadof
80586.Penti saLat i
nwor dt hat
abov e Pentium I
V
meansf iv
e.
36
 I
nt el choset hewordi norderto
wi
thov
er2.
8
distinguishits
80586andabov epr ocessorsf r
om
GHz
AMDand
Cy ri
xv ersionsi.
e.5x86andAMDK5
respect iv
ely.Exampl esofIntel
Pent ium
processorar ePenti
um Pr o,Pentium
MMX,
Pent ium IIandcurrentlyPentium IV
att he
ti
meofwr iti
ngthisbook.

Outputdevices
Outputdevicesareperipheraldevicesthatacomputerusest ogive
outinfor
mat ionproducedaf terthepr ocessi
ngoper at
ions.There
aret wo ty
pesofout putdev i
cesnamel ythe sof
tcopyand t he
hardcopyout putdevi
ces.Sof tcopyr ef
erstotheint
angi bl
eoutput
mainlydisplayedont hescr eenort hroughotheroutputdevices
suchasspeaker s.Ahar dcopyisat angibl
eoutputpr
oducedmost l
y
onpapersbydev i
cessuchaspr i
nters.

Sof
tcopyout
putdevi
ces.
Someofthesof
tcopyout
putdev
icesar
e;

Moni tors
Amoni tororav ideodisplayuni t( VDU)isthemostcommonout put
device.Itdisplaysinformat i
ononi tsscreent hushelpingtheuser
tomoni toroperati
onscar ri
edoutbyt hecomput er.
Foral ongt ime,moni torshav ebeendesi gnedusi ngal ongt ube
cal
ledt hecat hoder aytube( CRTatemi t
sl i
ght.Thescr eenofa
cathode r ayt ube iscur ved sl ightl
yout war df orming a convex
shape.Howev er,new f l
atdi splay shav ecomewhi chdonotuse
CRTt echnol ogy.Flatdisplayar emor ecomf ortabl
et ouse,port
able
anddonotconsumeal otofpowercompar edt oCRT.Fi gure2.9
showsaCRTmoni torandf l
atpanel displ
aymoni t
or.

37
Theshar pnessorcl
ari
tyofani mageonthescreendependsont he
typeofmoni torbei
ng used.Moni t
orsthatdispl
ayshar p cl
ear
i
magesar esaidtohavehighresol
uti
on.Theimagesont hescreen
aref or
medbysmal ldot scaled pi
l ctur
eelements( pi
xels)
.The
higherthenumberofpi xelspersquarecent
imeterthehigherthe
resolut
ionhencethecl
arit
y.

Therearet wotypesofmoni torsnamelymonochr omeandcol our

monitor
sMonochr omemoni torsdispl
ayi magesandt extinonly
onecolourmost lyblackandwhi te.Colourmoni tor
scandi splay
i
magesand t extin mult
iple col
ours.Fora moni tort o di
splay
i
nformati
oni tmustbeconnect edt oasepar atepieceofci r
cuit
board,plugged int
ot he motherboard call
ed the video card or
graphi
csadapt er.However,somemot herboardshav eon¬boar d
vi
deocapabi l
i
tytheref
orether
ei snoneedf oravideocar d.

Exampl esofgr aphicadapt er

sar e:
Monochr omedi splayadapter(MDA) :Thi
swast hef
irstvi
deocard
thatwasusedi nearlycomput ers.MDAdi splay
edtextonlyinone
colour
.
Herculesgr aphicscar d(HGC) :Oneweaknessoft heorigi
nalMDA
displ
aywast hat,i
tcoul dnotsuppor ti
magesofanyki nd.Hercul
e
graphi
ccar dsuppor t
smonochr omei magesi naddi
ti
ontot ext
.
Colorgr aphicsadapt er(CGA):Thiscandi spl
aytextandi mages
usingupt o16col ours.

Enhancedgr aphicsadapt er(EGA) :Thisisanimprovementov

er
colourgraphicadapterbutalsodisplayedt
extandimagesusi
ng16
colours.
Videographicsarray(VGA) :Thisoff
ersatmost256colour
s.
Superv ideographicsar r
ay( SVGA):Thisisanenhancementof
vi
deogr aphicarr
aycapabiliti
esofferi
ngover256col
ours.
38
Smal lpor tablel apt ops,not ebooksandev endeskt opPCsusef l
at-
panel di
splay .Commont ypesoft hisdisplayar e:
Liquidcr ystaldi spl ay( LCD) :Li
qui dcr ystaldisplaysdonotdi splay
byemi t
ti
ngl ightoft heirown.I nst eadt heyhav eti
nyl iquidcr ystals
thatr efl
ectl ightf alling on t hem f r
om t he environment .Li quid
crystaldi spl ays ar e wi del y used i n wat ches,cal culators,cel l
phonesanddi gital camer as.
Electrol umi nescent( EL):Thesedi splaysar eani mpr ovementon
LCDs.El ectrol umi nescentemi tsl ightwhenel ectri
cal l
ychar ged.
Thismakest hem cl ear ,shar perandeasi ert oread.
Gas- plasma:Theseuseagast hatemi t
sl ightint hepr esenceof
electriccur r
ent .
Thinf i
lm t ransi st or ( TFT) : Thisi st he latest t echnol ogical
adv ancementi ndi spl ays.I tprov i
deshi ghqual i
tyout putthanal lthe
other s.

Soundoutput
Speaker
sareusedtooutputsoundfr
om acomputer
.Soundmay
beinfor
m ofmusic,war
ning,vi
deo,
int
eract
ivecommuni
cati
on
wit
hacomput eret
c.

Light
-emitti
ngdiodes( LED)
Thesear elightemi tti
ngcomponent sthatdispl
ayl ightwhenan
el
ectri
ccur r
entispassedt hroughthem.Agoodexampl ei
sthered
orgreenl i
ghtdisplayedbyt hesystem unitt
ohelpt heuserknow
whetheritisonorof f.Most l
yLEDsar eusedt ogiv
ewar ni
ngsthe
samewayamot oristwoul dusesignalstoindi
catewhenhe/ sheis
overt
akingortakingat ur n.
LCDpr oject
orspr ojectt heoutputf r
om thecomput ert oawhite
boardorwal l
.

Hardcopyout
putdev
ices
Themostcommonhar dcopyout
putdev
icesar
epr
int
ersand
pl
otter
s.

Pr
int
ers
39
Printer
sproduceahar dcopyofi nformati
ononpaper s.Thequal i
ty
oft hehar
dcopydependst hepr i
ntersprinti
ngmechani sm.Ther e
aret woty
pesofpr i
ntersnamel yimpactandnon- impactpr inter
s.
Impactprinters
Themechani sm ofimpactpr intersisalmostsi mil
art othatofan
ordinarytypewrit
eri.e.theypr oducechar actersbyusi ngspeci al
l
ighthammer swithchar actersorpi nsheldont hepri
nt i
nghead.To
pri
nt ,apaperi splacedbehi ndani nkribbon.Whent hehammer
stri
kesont hehead, charact ermar kisstamped.Thesepr intersare
noisyandar emost l
yusedt opr oduceroughcopi es.Thet wowi dely
usedi mpactprint
ersar edotmat ri
xanddai sy-wheelprint
ers.

Dotmat r
ixpr
inter
sproduceahardcopybyar r
angi
ngpatter
nsof
dotsonthepaperusi
ngpinshel
dint hepri
nti
nghead.Fi
gure2.10
(a)showsanexampleofanimpactpr i
nter
.Fi
gure2.
10(b)shows
pri
nt characters formed by a dot mat r
ix pr i
nter
.

adai
sy-
wheelpr i
nterhasawheelwithpet alsonwhichchar
acters
ar
emounted.Itissocal l
edbecausei tresemblesadaisyfl
ower.
Whenpri
nti
ng,thewheelrotat
esall
owi ngthepetalst
ohitari
bbon
wi
thdi
ff
erentcharacter
sastheyarereceivedfr
om thecomputer
.

Non-impactpri
nter
s
Thesepr int
ersdo notuset hest r
iki
ng mechani
sm to produce
charact
ersonapi eceofpaper .Theydonothammert her ibbon
hencet heyaremuchqui et
er.Themaj ornon-
impactpr
intersare
i
nkjet,t
hermaltr
ansferandl
aserpri
nter
s.

I
nkjetpr
inters
I
nkjetpr
intersfor
m charact
ersbysprayi
nginkfr
om t
inynozzles
t
hroughanel ectr
icalf
iel
dthatar
rangesthechar
gedinkpart
icles
i
ntocharacters.I
nkjet
sarecheaptobuybutexpensi
vetorun
40
becauseoft hehighcostofinkcar
tri
dges.Figur
e2.12showsan
i
nkjetpri
nter.
Thermalprinters
Thermal pr
intersuseheattotr
ansf
erchar act
ersont
oapieceof
paperi.
e.theybondchar act
ersont
oapi eceofpaperbyusinghot
pi
nswhi chpr essesagai
nstaspeci
al r
ibbon.Theyarei
nexpensi
ve
al
ternat
ivetoi nkj
ets.

Laserprint
ers
Laserprint
ersprint
sbypassi ngal aserbeam backandf ort
hov era
rotat
ingdrum.Thel aserbeam dr awst hei mageont hedr um by
stati
celectr
ici
ty.Anexampl eofal aserpr interisshowni nFi gure
2.13.Thechargedar easpickupt hei nktonerf rom acartr
idge, and
pressitontothepaper.Althought hesepr intersaremor eex pensive
tobuy ,
theyarefaster,andcheapert or unt hant heinkj
ets.
Plott
ers
A as shown i n Figure 2.14,a pl otterresembl es a pr
interbut
special
isesinpr oducingbi gchar tssuchasmaps,pi ct
uresand
drawings. They ar e most l
y used f or pr i
nti
ng geogr aphical
,
archi
tectur
alandengi neeringdr awi ngse. g.maps,adv ert
isement
posterstobeplacedonbi l
l
boar ds,machi nepar tsetc.

2.5.Secondar y(auxi
li
ary)storagedev i
cesandmedi a
Therei sneedt ohaveanal ternat
ivelong-t
erm stor
agel ocati
onfor
data and i nformati
on ot her than t he main memor y.These
alt
ernativ
est oragedevicest hatarenotpar tofthemai nmemor y
arecal edsecondar
l yorauxi li
arystoragedev i
ces.Thesedev i
ces
arenotdi rect
lyaccessiblebyt hecpu.Secondar ystoragedev i
ces
thatar enothousedi nsidet hesy stem unitandhencecanbe
carri
ed around t o be used wi t
h anot hercomput erar e cal
led
remov ablestoragedev i
cesandmedi a.Inordertor eadorst ore
datafrom ast oragemedia,adev i
cecal edadr
l iveisrequired.

Secondarystor
age devi
ces can be cl
assi
fi
ed accor
ding tothe
technol
ogyusedtorecor
ddata.Thetechnol
ogycouldbemagnet i
c
oropt i
cal
.Thedataandi nst
ruct
ionsheldi
nt hesedevicesmust
fi
rstbemov edi
ntoRAM befor
eprocessi
ng.
41
Remov
abl
est
oragedev
ices

Magnetictapes
Amagnet i
ctapeisarbbonofMy
i lar(pl
astic-
li
ke)mater
ial
coat
ed
withathi
nlayerofi
ronoxide.Thet aperesemblesthemusic
casset
teusedinhomet aperecorders.

I
nor dert
oread/wri
tedatarecordsonthetape,thetapemustbe
i
nsert nat
edi apedri
vethatrot
atesthetapeal
lowingaread/
wri
te
headtoperf
orm

5.1.theoperat
ion.Mostcomputer
st odaydonthast apedri
ves
becauseoft headv entofbet
terstoragedevices.Examplesof
magnetictapesi ncl
ude:r
eelt
or eeltapes,cassett
et apesand
cart
ri
dgetapes.

Disadvantagesofusingmagnet i
ctapes
1.Magnet ictapesareslowbecauseoft heli
nearstorageofdata
recordsont hetape.Thismeanst hatyouhavetoaccesst he
proceedingrecordsbeforey ougettherequi
red.
2.Thereisaspacebet weensuccessivedatarecordscaledi
l nt
er-
recordgap( IRG),
whichr esult
sinwastageofstoragespace.

Magneti
cdisks
Theyhaveamagneti
cdiskplat
tert
hatstor
esdat
a.Exampl
esof
magneti
cdisksar
efl
oppydisks(di
sket
tes)
,zi
pdisksandj
azdi
sk.

Floppydisks "
¬
Af loppydiskorsi mplyadisket
teismadeupofasmal lfl
exibl
e
rounddi skcoat edwi t
hironoxide.Thi
sdiskiscov eredwi t
ha
plasti
cpr otect
ivecase.Floppydisksareportabl
et husmaki ng
them themostwi del
yusedty
peofsecondar
ystoragedev i
ce.

Fl
oppydi
sksar
ei nsert
edinafl
oppydri
ve,whichhasaread-writ
e
headt
hatr
unsoverthemagneti
sedspot
sthatcont
aindat
a.Floppy
di
skscomeindi ff
erentsi
zeswithdif
fer
entstoragecapaci
ties.
42
Ini
ti
alf l
oppydi skswer el argei nsizebutwi thsmal lerstorage
capaciti
es than t he pr esently avail
abl
e 3t -
inch whi ch has a
max imum st oragecapaci tyofabout1. 44MB.Fi gur es.2.15 (a)
showsat y
pical 3t
-fl
oppydi skettewhileFi
gur e2.15(b)showspar t
s
offloppydisk.
Thest r
uctureofaf loppydi skplatt
er
Ifthepr otecti
vepl asticcasi ng ofaf l
oppydi ski sr emoved,a
cir
cularfl
exibledisk,coatedwi thmagnet i
cmat erialwi l
lberevealed.
Thesur faceoft hedi ski sdi vi
dedi nt
ot inyinv i
sibleconcent ri
c
cir
clescalledtrackst hatstoredat a.Thetracksar ef urt
herdivi
ded
i
ntouni t
scal edsect
l orsasshowni nFigure2.16.

Zipdisks
Thesear ehi
ghcapacitydiskst
hatresemblethefloppydisks.They
are,however,sl
ight
lyl
argerandthi
ckerinsize.Azipdiskcanhol d
asmuchas250MB.Zi pdisksmostlycomewi thseparat
e-port
able
external
zipdriv
e.

Jazdi sks
Thesear esmal lportablediskswithhighst oragecapacityofabout
1GB t o2GB.Theyar eusedf orstor i
ngdat at hatrequi
relarge
storage.Likej azdiskcomeswi t
hapor tabl ejazdrive.Fi
gure2.17
belowshowsj azandzi pdisksandt heirdrives.
Careofmagnet i
cst oragemedi a
Tocar eformagnet icmedi athefoll
owi ngr ulesaretobeobser v
ed.
1.Donotexposet hem t ost r
ongmagnet i
cf i
elds.Thi
swoul derase
themagnet icall
yr ecordeddat aont hedi sk.Hencedonotcar r
y
magnet stot hecomput erroom.
2.Keepmagnet icmedi aawayf r
om excessi veheatbecauseheat
energy
weakensmagnet icmediasabi l
it
yt ost oredat a.
3.Donotdr opt hediskont heground.

Opti
cal(
laser)di
sks
Thesearedisksonwhichdat
aisr ecordedusingalaserbeam.A
l
aserbeam isav er
yst
rongconcentratedl
ight.Thebeam bums

43
veryt i
nyhol es( pit
s)i nto at hin shinysur facet or ecord data.
Likewiseal aserbeam i ntheopt icaldr i
veisal sousedt or ead,
recorddat aont hedi sk.Theadv antagesofopt i
calstoragemedi a
are:
1.Theyst orev er
yl argev olumesofdat a.
2.Dat astoredint hem i smor estableandmor eper manentt hanthe
magnet i
cmedi a.
Exampl esofopt icalst oragedisksinclude: LS-
120superdi sks( SD),
compactdi sks( CDs) ,digital
versatil
edi sks(DVD) ,opt
icalcardand
¬opticalt
ape.

LS-120superdi sk
Thisisadi skett
ethatresemblesthe3½- i
nchf l
oppydiskbutuses
opticalt
echnologyinst
eadofmagnet ictechnologytorecorddata.
I
thas gr eat ercapaci
tyofst orage and greaterspeed ofdata
retr
ieval
.TheLS- 120dr i
vecanr eadandwr i
teboththe3½- i
nch,
1.44MBf loppydiskandt he120MBsuperdi sk.(
Figur
e2.18).

Fi
g.2.
18Superdi
skanddr
ive

Compactdi sks( CD)

Compactdi skshol dlargequant iti
esofdat aandi nformation.One
di
skcanhol dasmuchas700MB.Theyar emost lyusedt ost or
e
dataandi nformationt hatr equi
resal otofspacesuchasv i
deo
cl
ips,softwar e,
soundset c.Figur
e2. 19showsacompactdi sk.
Currentl
ycompactdi sksar eav ai
lableint hreef or
msnamel y:
Compactdi sk-r
eadonl ymemor y(CD- ROM) :Thesear et hetypeof
compactdi skswhi ch,whendat aisr ecordedonThem,onecan
neit
herchanget hem,noraddany thingont hem.Theyar emost l
y
usedt ostoremusi cr ecordings.
Compactdi sk-r
ecordable( CD- R)
:Thesecompactdi sksar einit
ial
l
y
bl
ankbutwi t
hadr ivecalledCD-Wr iter,theusercanr ecorddata,
programs ori nformat i
on on i t
.Howev er,once dat a has been
writ
tenoni t,onecanonl yreadbutnotchangei t.
Compactdi sk-r
ewritable(CD- RW):Unl i
ket heCD- Rs,thesetypesof
compactdi sksal l
owst heusert orecor d,er aseandr ewrit
enew
44
i
nfor
mat
ionj
ustasonewoul
dwi
thf
loppydi
sks.

NB:BothCD-ROMsandCD- Rsareref
err
edt oasWORM (Wri
te
OnceReadMany )becauset
heyall
ow t
heusertorecor
ddat
aon
t
hem oncebutr
eadthedataasof
tenasnecessar
y.

Digit
alver
satil
edisks( DVD's)
Digit
alver
sat i
l
edi sksal soknownasdigi
talvideodisksresemble
compactdi sksinev eryaspectbutt
heonlydiffer
enceisthatthey
havehigherstoragecapaci tyofupto17GBwhi chisequival
entto
approxi
matelyt went y six 640MB CDs.They ar e sui
tabl
ef or
recordi
ngmot ionpicturessuchasvideobecausetheyofferbett
er
soundandpi ctur
equal it
ythantheCDs.

Opticalcard
Anopt icalcardresemblest hemagneti
c-i
nkchar acterrecognit
ion
cardbuti nsteadofhav ingamagnet icstr
ipe,ithasanopt i
call
y
recordablestri
pethatst
or esinf
ormati
on.Thesety pesofcardsar e
most l
yusedi nbankingandot herbusi
nessorganisationstorecord
customerdet ai
ls.

Opti
calt
ape
Thi
sissimilartoamagneti
ctapeonl
ythatdat
aisst
oredoni
tby
usi
ngopticaltechnol
ogy
.

Cur rentandemer gingtrendsi nlasertechnol ogy

The adv ancesi n opti
calst orage,digitalv ideo cl
ips,voice and
soundsy nt
hesishav ef ormedt hebasi sf ormodem mul ti
media
technol ogy exploited to dev elop mul ti
medi a comput ers. A
mul timediacomput erdoesnotonl ydisplaytextbutcanal soallow
theusert ohav esoundpl aybackandwat chv ideosandpictures.A
typicalmul timediacomput ermusthav et hef oll
owingmi nimum
requi rements: ¬
1.Av i
deographicarrayorhi ghersuperv ideogr aphi
carray(SVGA)
gr aphi
cscar dandmoni tor .
2.Asoundcar d.
3.Compactdi skordigi
talvi
deodi skdrives.
45
4.32MBRAM orhi
gher
.Lowermemor
yisbot
tl
eneckt
o
perf
ormance.

Todaycomput
erscanbeusedtotunet
oanyoft hef
avor
it
eFM or
TVchannel
saslongasanFM/TVcardi
sinst
all
edint
hecomput
er.

Fixedstoragemedi a
Thesear ethest or
agedevicesthatar
ehousedinsidethepersonal
computerssy st
em uni
t.Anexampl ei
stheharddisk.Howeveriti
s
i
mpor t
antt onot ethatsomehar ddisksespeci
all
yt hoseusedin
smallcomput erssuchaslaptopsarer
emovable.

Thehar ddi
sk
Theharddisk,
alsoknownastheWinchest
erdiski
sasealeduni
tin
whichisshiny
,rigi
dmagneti
cdisksorplatt
ersthatar
ear r
anged
ver
tical
l
y on a common axi s as shown i n Figure 2.
20.

Howt heharddi skstoresdata

Eachdi skhast wor ead/wri
teheadst hatread/ r
ecorddataonbot h
sides.The sur faces ofeach di sk are di
vided intot r
acks and
sectorsli
ket hoseofaf loppydisk.Tracksalongt hecommonaxi s
forms an i magi nar
y cy l
i
nder.Ther eforet he term cy l
inderis
somet imesusedt oindi
catethenumberoft r acksononesur f
ace
ofapl att
er.Forexampl eify ou sayt hatahar d diskhast en
cyli
nderst heneachdi skhastent racksononesur face.I
fthedisk
hast enplattersthenonecy li
nderwi l
lhavetwent ytr
acks:

Asthediskrotat
es,t
heread/wr
iteheadmovesinandoutov
ert
he
sur
facet
or ecordorr
eaddata.
Harddi
skshav egai
nedwidespr
eadpopul
ari
tybecause:
46
1.Theypr ov ideper manent ,cheap
andl argest or agecapaci tythat
isrewr itabl e.Forexampl ea
comput ercanhav eonehar d
diskof40GBst oragespace.
2.Theyar ev eryf astcompar edt oot hersecondar ysragedev i
cesi n
termsofdat at ransf er.
Car eoft hehar ddi sk
Becauseoft hehi ghr otational speedoft hedi sks,i
tisimportantto
obser vet hef ollowi ngpr ecaut i
onst oav oidper manentdestructi
on
tothehar ddi skal socal eddi
l skcr ash.
1.Keept hedi skawayf r om smokeanddust .Dustandsmoke
particlescancausedamaget ot hesur faceoft hediskby
scratchi ngi tast heheadat tempt st oreaddat a.
2.Swi t
chof ft hecomput erusingt hecor rectprocedure.Thi
sal l
ows
ther ead/ wr iteheadt omov eof fthedisksur facebef orepoweris
swi t
chedof f.Impr operpr ocedurewoul driskheadscr ashi
ngon
rotatingdi skshencescr atchingt hem.

Emer gingt r
endsinstoragedevi ces
Becauseofneedf orv aststorageprompt
edbyt odaysmassive
datapr ocessingapplicati
onsand need to
carryal otofinfor
mat i
oni neasily port
abl
e
storagedev i
ces,mor eadv anced and
reli
able st or
age medi a ar e
emer ging.Onegoodexampl eisa stor
age
devicecal l
edtheflashdiskthati s smallin
size( about5 x2 cm)buthascapaci tyto storeover600MB
(equi valentto approximately400 fl
oppydisks!!).Fi
gure2.22
showsadi agram ofaf l
ashdisk.

2.
6

Powerandi
nter
facecabl
es

47
Powercabl es
Insi
det hesy stem unitisaspecialpowersupplyunitthat
suppli
es powert ot he mot
herboard and otherint
ernal
devi
ces.In or derto connectthecomput ertot hemai ns
powerout let,youneed powercabl es t
hatli
nkt hepower
supplyunittotheoutlet.

Int
er f
acecabl es
Allperipheraldevicesareconnect edtot hemot her
board
hencet ot heCPUbyspeci alcablescalledinter
facecabl
es.
Ani nterfacecableisconnectedt othedev iceononeend,
andt ot hemot herboar
dv iaportsont heot herend.
Thedi fferencebetweent hepowercabl esandt hei
nter
face
cablesi sthatthepowercabl esuppl i
espowert oa
componentwhi l
einter
facecablest ransmitdatasignal
s.

Ther
ear
edi
ff
erentt
ypesofcabl
esandpar
tsnamel
y;

Paral
lelcablesandpor ts
Paral
lel cables transmit
i
nformat i
onsimultaneousl yusinga
setofmany conduct ors( wires).
Forexampl eifa cabl e uses 8
conductorstot r
ansmi tdat aatt he
samet ime,itissaidt obean8- bi
t
paral
l
elcabl e.The adv antage of
usi
ng such cabl es i st hat t hey
tr
ansmi tdatafasteroverashor tdistance.Thesecablesare
mostlyused t o connectpr i
nters and removabl
e storage
dri
veslikethezipdrive.Figure2. 23showsani ll
ust
rat
ionofa
paral
l
el portandcable.

Ser
ialcabl
esandpor
ts

48
Unlikethe
parall
el cables,
serial cables
transmit one
bit at a ti
me.
Although they
are slow, they
aremuch mor e
reli
able than
thepar al
lelpor
tsandtherefor
e,thei
rconnectorcablescan
beasl ongas15m.Ser ialcabl
esar egeneral
lyusedt o
connectdev i
cessuchasthemouseandsomeser ial
pr i
nters.
Figure2.24showsa9anda25pi nserial
port
s.

Universalser i
albus( USS)cabl eandpor t
Universalserialbusi sanewst andar dseriali
nt erfacet hati s
settor epl
acet heconv ent
ionalpar al
lelandser ialcabl esand
ports.Cur rentl
ymostper ipheraldev icesarecomi ngwi th
universalser i
albuspor tsandi nterfacecabl e.Al thoughi t
transmitsonl yI-
bitatat ime, i
tprov i
desv eryhi gh-speedand
qualitydatat r
ansmi ssionov erdistancesofappr oximat el
y5
met res.USB suppor tsawi der angeofper ipher aldev i
ces
ranging from ext er
nalst orage drives to digitalcamer as.
Figure 2.25 shows a USB por tand i t
si nterf ace cabl e.

I
facomput erdoesnothaveauniv
ersalser
ialbuspor
t,i
tcan
beboughtandfit
tedonthemotherboar
d.

Smal lcomputersystemsinter
face(SCSI )cabl
esandport
Thispor tandint
erf
acecablestransmitdatainpar
all
elbut
arefasterthantheparal
l
elcables.Anotheradvant
ageofthe
49
SCSIpor
tisthatoneSCSIpor
tal
l
owsust
oconnectupt
o
ei
ghtper
ipheraldev
ices.

Otherport
sandconnect
ors.Ot
herpor
tsandconnect
ors
i
nclude;

5-pinDINand6- pin(PS/ 2)ports

Original
ly,mostcomput ersused
the 5- pin DI N t o connect a
keyboar dt othesy stem uni tbut
the smal ler6- pin mi ni-DI
N al so
knownasPS/ 2i nterfacepor thas
almostr eplacedt hi
st echnology .
Currentlymostcomput erscome
witht hePS/ 2connect orast henew st andardtoconnect
PS/ 2mouseandkey boar d.Figure2.26showsa5- pinand
PS/ 2connect ors
showi ngphy sical diff
er enceinsi ze. I
Moni torports
Thet womostcommonconnect orsusedformonitorsare
the9-Pi nDandt heI 5-pinHi -
Dconnect orasshowni nFigure
2.27.Theyar ecal l
edD- portsbecauset heyresemblelet
terD.
(Audioconnect ors
These arejack
plugs found
ona sound

i
nterfaceadapter
usedt oconnect
speakers,
microphoneand
otherportabl
e
audioequipment.

2.
7`

Basi
ccomput
er
50
set
upandcabl
ing

Havi
ngl
earntaboutvar
iousdevi
cesandhowt
heyfunct
ion,
it
i
simport
anttofamil
i
ari
seoursel
vesonhowtoset
upa
comput
er.

Beforeat t
empt i
ngt ocar r
youtanyset upactiv
ity
,observethe
fol
lowingpr ecautionsshoul dbeobser ved.
1.Disconnectal ldevicesfrom powersour cebeforestarti
ng
towor kont hem.
2.Donotwor konanyper ipheraldevicewithouttheguidance
ofthet eacher.
3.Nev erwor kalonebecausey oumayneedhel pincaseof
anemer gency.
4.Dischargeanyst ati
celectri
cit
ythatmi ghthavebuil
tupon
thehandsbyt ouchinganear t
hedmet al
li
cobjectandthen
wearinganant i-
st atcwr
i i
stmember .Thisisbecauseyour
bodycanhol dasmuchas200v oltsofstaticcharget
hatcan
damagesensi ti
vecomponent sont hemot herboard.

Toolsandot herr equirements

Thetoolsandr equir
ement si
nclude;
1.Dif
ferentsi zesandshapesofscr ewdri
vers.
2.Anti
-staticwr i
stmember .
3.Pl
ierswi thnar rownose.
4.Manuf actur ersmanual sformot her
boardandot
her
component s.
5.Necessar ysof t
war e.
6.Adismant l
edsy stem uni
t.
7.Peri
pher aldev ices.
8.I
nterfaceandpowercabl es.
9.Anyot herasneeded.

51
 Connectingdev
icest
othemot
her
boar
d
The
foll
owing ar
e
stepsfor
connecti
ng
devicest
o t
he

mot
her
boar
d.

Step1:Identi
fyi
ngmot her
boardsl
otsandcomponent s.
Beforeyouconnectanydevicetot
hemot her
board,car
eful
l
y
studythemanufactur
ersmanual i
nordertoident
if
ythe
component sl
abeledi
n

Step2:Connect ingt hehar ddisk,fl

oppydriveandopt i
cal
drive.Thesedev i
cesar econnect edtothemot her
board
usingspeci alri
bboncabl esli
ket heoneshowni nFigure2.
30.
The f oll
owi ng inst r
uctions
shoul d be obser ved whi le
connect i
ngt hedev i
ces:
1.Wearant i
staticwr ist
membert odi schar geany
staticchargeont hebody .
2.Checkt hataf reedr ive
bayexi stst ohol dt hedi sk
drive.
3.Sl i
dethedi skintoi tsbayandscr ewitint
opl ace.
4.Ensur ethatt herei saf reepowerconnect orf r
om thepower
suppl yunitandconnecti ttot hedriv
e.Not i
cet hatitis
designedt of i
tinitssocketi nonlyonedirection.
5.Identif
ypin1asl abeledont hedr iv
essocketandmat chit
witht heredorbr owncont i
nuousl ineoft her i
bboncable.
52
Mostcableswi l
lonl
yfi
tinonedirect
ion.
6.Connectthecablebot
ht othedri
vethentothe
motherboard.
7.Repeatthisf
orallt
hedrives.
8.I
finstal
l
ationiscomplet
er epl
acethesyst
em uni
tcov
er.

Step3:Connect ingot herperi

pher aldevi
ces
Toconnectadev icetot hesystem unit,y
ouneedt oidentify
i
tspor tandi nter
facecabl e.
1.Gent l
yandcar efull
yconnectt heinter
facecabl eofeach
devicetot hecor rectportandtot hedev i
cei fi
tisnotal r
eady
fi
xedper manent ly.
2.Connectt hecomput ert
othepowersour ceandswi tchit
on.
3.Obser vebootupi nformati
onont hescreent oseewhet her
poweron- selftest( POST)displaysanyer rormessage.
4.Asuccessf ulbootmeanst hatthecomput erwaspr oper l
y
setup.
NB:I ft
hecomput eriscompletelynew, programshav et obe
copied(install
ed)ont heharddisk.

2.8Comput ersoft
ware
Asment i
onedear l
i
er,t
heterm sof
twareref
erstoasetof
computerprograms.It
sfuncti
onistoguidethecomputeri
n
i
tsoperati
ons.Softwar
ecanbecl assi
fi
edaccordi
ngto
purposeoracquisi
ti
on.

Classi
ficationaccordingtopurpose:
Comput ersof twar
emaypr imaril
ybedesignedt omanage
thehardwar eresourcesortohelptheuseraccompl ish
specif
ict asks.Ther
eforesoft
war emaybecl assif
iedas
eit
hersy stem orappli
cati
onsoftware.

System soft
ware
System soft
wareper
for
msavari
etyoffundament
al
operati
onsthatav
ail
scomput
err
esourcestotheuser
.These
functi
onsincl
ude:
53
1.Booti
ngthecomput erandmaki ngsur ethatallthe
hardwareel
ementsar ewor kingproper l
y.
2.Perf
ormingoperationssuchasr etr
ievi
ng,loading,
execut
ingandstoringapplicationprograms.
3.Stor
ingandretr
ievingfil
es.
4.Perf
ormingavar i
etyofsy stem uti
li
tyfunctions.

Syst
em soft
warei sf
urt
herdiv
idedi
nto:
1.Operat
ingsystem. 2.Fi rmware.
3.Uti
li
tysoft
ware. 4.Networ
kingsof
twar
e.

Theoper atingsy st
em
Thisi sasetofcompl expr ogramst hatworkt ogethert o
controlexecut ionofuserpr ogramscal edappl
l icati
onsand
actsasagobet ween( i
nterf
aces)bet weent heapplicati
ons
oft he comput erhar dwar e.Itmanages i nput/outputand
stor
ageoper ationsi nacomput er.Exampl esofcommon
operati
ngsy stemsar eMi crosoftWi ndows95/ 98/2000/XP,
UNIX,Li nux,Maci ntosh(MacOS)andOS/ 2.Whatt ypeof
operati
ng sy stem sof tware do y ou use inthe comput er
l
abor at
or y
?
Thereforetheoper ati
ngsy st
em ist hemai nprogram ont he
comput ersy stem.

Fi
rmware
Fi
rmware,al
sor ef
erredtoasstor
edlogicisacombi nati
onof
bot
ht hesoftwareandhar dwarerecordedper manentl
yon
el
ectr
onicchips.Usuall
y,afi
rmwarei sar ead-
onlymemor y
chi
pt hatis mounted orplugged intot he motherboar
d.
Fi
rmwaremayhol danoper ati
ngsy stem,util
i
typr ogr
ams,
l
anguageprocessorsetc.

Uti
l
itysoft
ware
Uti
l
ity software is a speci al pr
ogr
am t hat perf
orms
commonl y used ser
vices thatmake cert
ain aspects of
computingtogoonmor esmoot hly
.Suchservi
cesinclude
sor
ting,copying,f
il
ehandling,diskmanagementet c.The

54
 twobasi cty pesofut i
li
tysoftwareare:
1.Sy stem-levelutil
it
ysof t
war e:Thesehelpt heusertowor k
witht heoper ati
ngsy stem andi tsfunct
ions.Forexample,a
uti
li
tysof twar etell
st heuserwhenhe/ sheent ersawrong
command and gi v
es suggest ions how the er r
orcan be
corrected.
2.Appl icat
ion ut i
li
tysof tware:These make t he use ofan
applicati
on pr ogram smoot herand effi
cient.Theseut i
l
ity
programsar ecommonl ypur chasedsepar atel
yormaybe
partofanoper ati
ngsy stem.

Networkingsof tware
This type of sof tware is most ly used to est abli
sh
communi cati
onbet weent woormor ecomputersbyl inki
ng
them usingacommuni cat
ionchannellikecabl
estocr eatea
comput er net work. Networking sof twar
e enables t he
exchangeofdat ainanet workaswel lasprovidi
ngdat a
securi
ty.Net work software may come as i ndependent
soft
war eori ntegrat
edi nanoper at
ingsy st
em.Anexampl e
ofnetwor kingsoft
war eisnovelNetware.

Appli
cati
onsof t
ware
Appli
cati
onsoftware,alsocaledappl
l i
cat
ionpackagesare
progr
amst hataredesignedtohelptheuseraccompli
sh
speci
fict
asks.
.Tabl
e2.2givesexampl esandusesofcommonappl i
cat
ion
packages

Software Uses Exampl

es
Wor d Typing MsWord,Lot
us
processor document sl
ike
let
ters. WordPr
o,
WordSt
ar.
Spreadsheet
sMani pulat
ionof MsExcel ,
Lot
us
numer icdatae.g.123
calculati
ng
budget s.
55
Deskt
op Designing Adobe
publi
cations PageMaker,
Publ
i
sher l
ikenewspapers,Mspublisher
.
books.
Comput er Technical AutoCAD.
ai
ded drawing.
Design
Databases Keepi ngrecor
ds MsAccess,
and Dbase.
fi
les.
Graphics Creatingand CorelDraw,
’
soft
war e Adobe
mani pulat
ing Photoshop.
pi
ct ures.

Tabl
e2.
2:Appl
icat
ionpackages

Classif
icati
onaccor di
ngtoacqui
sit
ion
Generallycomputerprogr
amscanbecl assif
iedaccor
dingt
o
howt heyareobtainedasin-
housedevelopedsoftwar
eand
standardsoftwar
e( Vendorof
f-
the-
shelfsoft
ware).

In-
housedevelopedprograms
Theseareprogramst hatareuniquel
ydesignedandt ai
lored
tomeetapar ti
cularusersneeds.Forexampl e,abankmay
decideto managei tsbankingoper at
ionsusingauni que
program dev
elopedbyhi r
edpr ogr
ammer s.Thesepr ograms
arenotav ai
l
ableintheshopsandoncedev elopedf orone
companyorusermaynotaddr esstheneedsofot herusers.

Standardsoftware(
Vendoroff-
the-shel
fsoftware)
These programs are devel
oped by sof tware engi neers,
packagedandt henmadeav ailabl
ef orpurchaset hrougha
vendor,a distri
but
orordi rectl
yf rom the dev eloper.A
developermaybundl emor ethanonebutcl oselyr el
ated
soft
war eint
oonepackaget of orm a suite orintegrated
soft
war easopposedtosingle-pur
posesof tware.Exampl es
56
ofsui
t eLot
esar us

Sui
te,Microsof
t-
Off
iceandCor elWor
dPerf
ectwhi
l
ethoseof
si
nglepurposeareQuickBooksandSageLi
ne50.

Thewor dpackageissometi
mesusedtorefertotheset
ypes
ofsoft
war et
hatarepackagedandsol
dbyvendor s.
Advantagesofstandar
dsoftwar
eovert
hein-house
devel
opedprogramsar e:

1.Theycaneasi l
ybeinstal
ledandr un.
2.Theyarelessexpensivetoacquirethant
hecostof
developi
ngin-
housesof t
war e.
3.Theyarereadil
yavail
ablef oral
mostanytask.
4.Sincetheyarethor
oughlyt est
edbeforet
heyarer
eleased,
chancesoferrorsint
hem ar erare.

5.Theycaneasi
lybemodi
fied(
cust
omi
sed)tomeetspeci
fi
c
user
’sneedswit
houti
nvol
vi
ngexper
tpr
ogrammers

Cr i
teriaf orsel ect i
ngacomput ersy stem
Thet askofdet ermini ngasui tablecomput ersystem foran
i
ndividualoror gani sation isnoteasy .A good comput er
system must meet al lthe r equi r
ement s of t he user.
Theref ore, bef ore sel ect
ing t he comput er sy stem t o
i
mpl ement ,i ti s adv i
sablet o do an anal ysis ofallt he
requirement snecessar yinor dert oav oidacquiri
ngasy stem
thatmaydi sappoi ntt heuser s.
Requi rement sanal ysisf orselectingacomput ersystem
shoul dcov ert hef oll
owi ng:
1.Ident i
fyingal l userr equir
ement s.
2.Ev aluatinghar dwar er equir
ement st hatwill
meett heuser s
needs.
3.Ev aluatingsof twarer equirement sthatwillmeett heusers
needs.Thecomput erhar dwar eandsof twaretobeacqui r
ed
shoul dther eforebeabl etomeetal lneedsoft hedat a
processi ngenv ironmentt hat,theyar ei endedf
nt or
57
ef
fect
ivel
y.

Hardwar
econsider
ati
ons
Somefactor
sconsi
deredwhensel
ect
ingcomput
erhar
dwar
e
are;

Processorspeed
The pr ocessing powerand speed ofa comput ermai nl y
dependsont hepr ocessorspeed.A goodcomput ermust
hav ehighpr ocessorspeed.Forexampl eaf ew y ear sago,
processorsused t o hav espeedsofl esst han100 MHz.
Howev er,todaysPent i
um pr ocessor sar eoper at
ingatv er y
highclockspeedsofov er4GHz.
Scienti
sts and engi neer s ar e ai ming at pr oduci ng a
processort hatoper atesatt er ahertz( tr
ill
ionher tz).Howev er,
i
ti simpor tantt obuyapr ocessort hatsui tsonesneednot
necessar i
lythef astest .
Memor ycapaci ty
As ear li
erment ioned,pr imar y memor y,mai nlyr andom
accessmemor y( RAM)i smeasur edi nmegaby tes( MB) .For
exampl e,acomput ermayhav e32MBofRAM.Al though,a
comput ermay hav eav eryf astpr ocessor ,itmay not
perform asexpect edi fithasl owmemor ycapaci t
y .Because
of the cur ent mul
r ti
medi a dr iven appl icati
ons,a good
comput ershoul d hav e suf fici
entmemor yt o handl et he
heav yappl i
cationst hatr equi real otofmemor yspacei n
ordertor un.Acomput erwi thatl east128MBofRAM i s
recommendedf ormostcont empor aryappl i
cations.
RAM i spackaged asei t
herduali n-l
inememor yModul e.
(DIMM)orsi nglei n-
linememor ymodul e( SIMM) .
Therefore,bef or e one buy s a memor y modul ef or the
comput erthef ollowi ngf actorshav et obeconsi der ed:
1.Thet ypeofmodul esuppor tedbyt hecomput ers
mot herboard.
2.Doest hemot her boar dhav eanempt ymemor ysl ot?¬
3.Wi l
lthemodul ewor kwell (becompat ible)witht heot her
existi
ngmodul esont hemot herboar d?
58
 4.Whati
sthecapaci
tyoft
hemodul
e?

War r
ant y
Awar rantyi
sanagreementbet
weenthebuy erandthesel
l
er
thatspell
soutter
msandconditi
onsof,af
tersell
inga
productincaseoffai
lur
eormalf
unct
ion.

Themosti mportantconsi derati

ont omakei swhet hert
he
sell
erisr eadyt oact uall
yprov i
deaftersalesservices.Ontop
oft heact ualcostoft hei tem,mostmanuf acturersand
suppl i
ersi ncl
udeacer t
ainper centagechar getocov ert
he
warranty .
Agoodwar r
antyshoul dcov erthefoll
owingpoints:
1.Scopeofcov erforexampl esixmont hs,oneyearet c.
2.Cal l
outr esponseandl i
abili
tyagreement .Forexampl ehow
l
ongshoul dt hesuppl iertaket orepairaf aul
torr epl
acethe
product ,andifhe/ shedelayswhobear st hecost.
3.Pr eventivemai ntenancef orexampl er egul
ari
tyofser vi
ce,
atintervals et c.

Cost
Thecostofacomput ersy st
em dependson:
1.I
tspr ocessingcapabi li
ty.
2.Whet heritisbrandedoracl one.Brandedcomput ersar
e
mor eexpensiv ethant heirequival
entclones.Thisisbecause
oftheirrel
iabil
ityandgoodaf tersaleservi
ces.
3.I
tssize.Por t
ablecomput ersaremor eexpensiv ethanthei
r
desktopequi valentsbecauseoft hesuperiort
echnology
i
nvolvedi nmanuf act
ur i
ngsmal lercomponent swithout
l
osingper formanceabi l
it
ies.

Itisimpor t
antt o do a marketsurveyf rom magazi
nes,
newspapers,and elect
ronic media orvisita numberof
vendor
st ocompar epricesbeforepurchasingacomputer.
Computer informati
on and t echnol
ogy exhibi
ti
ons al
so
enli
ght
enabuy eroncur
renttr
endsandcost s.

59
Upgr adeabil
ityandcompat i
bil
it
y
Whenbuy i
ngacomput er,
thebestoptionwouldbet oget
onet hatcaneasi l
ybeupgradedtoaccommodat eemer gent
technologies.Forexamplesomeol dercomputer
scannot
suppor tl
argehar ddi
sksavail
ableinthemarkettodayhence,
diff
icult
yinupgr adi
ngthem becausesmallerhar
ddi sksare
nolongeri ncircul
ati
on.

Portabi
li
ty
Thesizeofel
ectr
onicdev
icesincl
udingcomputer
shas
becomeamaj orconsi
der
ationbecausesmall
erdevi
ces
enhancemobil
it
y.

Userneeds
When selecti
ng comput erhardware,consi derthe unique
needsoft heuser .Forexampl eiftheuser shavespeci al
disabi
li
tyli
keinabili
tytouset heirhands,consi derbuy i
ng
i
nputdev i
cesthatcapturedat
athroughv oiceinput.
Theuserneedsal sodet er
minethetypeofdat athatwillbe
processedhence,thechoiceoft hetypeofhar dwaremost
appropri
ate to satisf
yt he needs. For exampl e in a
supermarketaspecialcomputeri
zeddev isecaledapoi
l ntof
sale(POS)ter
minal i
smostsuitablet
or ecordtransact
ions.

Ot
herconsi
der
ati
ons
Ot
herconsi
der
ati
onsf
orsel
ect
ingcomput
erhar
dwar
ear
e;

Moni t
or
Dependingonpr eference,yourchoi
cef oramoni t
ormay
dependonsi ze,resoluti
onandthetechnologyusedt
omake
i
t.Currentl
yf l
atpaneldi spl
ayshavebecomeanew mar ket
standardquickl
yreplacingthecat
hoderayt ube(
CRT)
.

Multimediacapabili
ty
Thisi sthecombinationofvideo,audi
o,t
extandi magesto
provide an interact
ive,creati
ve and effect
ive way of
producing and communi cat
ing i
nformat
ion.A multi
media
system shouldhav espeakers,CD/DVD dri
ve,soundscard
60
and a SVGA moni
tor
.Itshould al
so hav
e sof
twar
ethat
suppor
tsmult
imedi
acapabi
l
ity
.

Softwareconsi
der at
ions
Alt
hough onemayhav ea good comput erwi
ththebest
hardware,t
heact ualrealdet
erminantofacomput ersv al
ue
totheuseristhesof twareinitt
hatcanr untosol
vetheday
todaydataandi nfor
mat i
onprocessingneeds.
Thef ol
l
owingf actorsshouldbeconsi deredwhenselecti
ng
softwar
e:

Authenti
cit
y
Thet er
m authenti
cit
yrefer
st ogenuineness,val
idi
tyandor
l
egiti
macyofani t
em.Wheny ouacquiresoftwaref r
om the
vendor,makesureitisanorigi
nalcopyt hati
saccompani ed
byt hedevelopers li
censeandcer tif
icateofaut hent
ici
ty.
Thisisbecausesomepeopl eil
legal
l
ypr oducepir
atedcopies
whichisanof f
ence.

Document at
ion
I
tr ef
erst ot hemanualspr eparedbythedeveloperhavi
ng
detai
lsonhow t oinstal
l,useandmai nt
ainthesoftware.
Thesei ncludeinst
all
ati
ongui de,maint
enanceguideanda
usergui de.Thisdocument ati
onenablestheusert owor k
wit
ht hesof t
warewithminimum guidance.

Userneeds
Theneedsoft heuserdet erminest het ypeofoper at
ing
system andappl icati
onpr ogramst hatshouldbeconsi dered
foracqui si
ti
on.Forexampl e,ift he userneeds t ot ype
document s most of ten he/ she woul d go for a wor d-
processor.
Peopl e wit
h speci aldi sabi
li
ty willrequir
e softwaret hat
recognizesotherf ormsofi nputli
kev oiceandnaturalsound.
Agoodexampl eissof twareusedi nmobi lephonest ostore
voiceandal l
owt heusert omakeacal l
byjustcall
inganame
i
nst eadofkeyingi nthenumber .

61
Reli
abil
it
yandsecurity
Peoplearemorecomf ort
abl
ewi t
hsoftwarethatof
fer
sgood
securi
tytoconf
ident
ialandpr
ivatei
nformati
on.

Userfri
endliness
Oneoft hemosti mpor t
antfeatur
esnor mallyconsidered
whenusingacomput erprogram i
sitsuser-f
ri
endli
ness.This
i
sameasur eofhoweasi l
ytheuserscanbeabl et ooperate
thecomput er.Somepr ogramsaremor euser-fr
iendli
erthan
other
s.Al otofr esearchandef f
orthasbeendedi catedin
try
ingtocomeupwi thmor euser-
fri
endlysoft
ware.Theease
ofuseofapr ogram wil
lmostl i
kelyinfl
uencewhet herthe
userwil
lpreferitornot.

Cost
Thecostofsof twar eisper hapsoneoft hemost
cont rover sial i
ssuest hatmustbeconsi der edcar efull
y .One
cannotj ustgof orsof twarebecausei tischeap.Manyot her
factor smayf or ceaper sont obuyf armuchmor eexpensi ve
soft wareev enwi thcheaperal ternat i
vesav ailable.Howev er
i
ti sill
ogi cal tobuyexpensi vesof twar ei ftherei sar eli
abl e
cheaperal t
er nat i
vethatwi l
lmeetonesneeds.
Incaset heof f-the-shel fsoftwar edoesnotf ittheneedsof
theuser si twoul dbeadv i
sablet odev elopi n-housesof tware
solut i
onsev ent hought heymaybeabi tmor eexpensi v e.
Compat ibil
ityandsy stem conf igurat i
on
Sof twar ecompat i
bil
ityreferst otheabi l
ityoft hecomput er
tor unt hesof t
war edependi ngont hesy stem set up
(conf i
gur ation) .Forexampl esomesof twar emayonl yr unon
acomput ert hathas32MBofRAM andabov e.Anycomput er
withl owert hant hi
s, willbesai dtobei ncompat ible.Itis
i
mpor tantt hatoner eadst hei nstallati
ongui deandsy stem
requi r
ement st hatcomeswi tht hesof twar ei nor dert oav oi
d
disappoi nt ment .
Por tabili
ty
Por tabili
tyi nt hisaspectr eferst owhet herapr ogr am canbe
copi edori nst all
edi nmor et hanonecomput er.Al though,
mostsof twar ei nt he mar kett oday ar e por table some
62
devel
oper
sproducesoftwarewhichcanbeinst
all
edonone
machineonl
y.Thi
smeanst hatifonehast
wentycomput
ers,
oneshoul
dbuyalicenseforeach.

63
3.
1OPERATI
NGSYSTEMS(
OS)

Chapt
erout
li
ne

1I
3. ntroduction
2Resour
3. cesunderoper at
ingsy st
emscontr
ol3.
3
Funct
ionsofanoper ati
ngsy stem
4Ty
3. pesofoper ati
ngsy stems
5Fact
3. or
st oconsiderwhenchoosi nganoper
ati
ngsy
stem
6HowWi
3. ndowsor ganizesinformation
7Managi
3. ngfi
lesandf olders
8Di
3. skmanagementusi ngWi ndows
9I
3. nstall
ingWi ndowsoper atingsystem

Intr
oduct i
on
As ment i
oned ear l
ier
,an oper ating syst
em ist he mai n
program t hatcont r
olstheexecut i
onofuserapplicationsand
enables t he usert o access t he hardware and sof tware
resources of t he comput er.I n a dat a pr ocessing
envir
onment ,t he usersees a comput eras a gr oup of
appli
cat ionpr ogramst hatenableshi m/hertoaccompl ish
specifi
ct asks.Appl i
cationprogramsdonotdi rectlyut i
l
ize
the har dwar e devi
ces.Theysend messagest hrough t he
operating sy stem whi ch has t he capabi
li
ty t o gi ve
i
nstructionst ot hehardwar etoperform aparti
culartask.An
operating sy stem t herefor
e, super v
ises allt he ot her
programs i nt he comput erand manages access t ot he
hardwar easshowni nFigure3.1.

3.
2

Resourcesunderoper atingsystemscont r
ol
A comput eriscomposedofasetofsof tware-
contr
oll
ed
resour
cest hatenablemov ement ,
st or
ageandpr ocessi
ngof
dataandi nformati
on.Ther esourcesordev icesunderthe
operat
ingsy stem controlincl
ude:t heprocessor,themain
memor y ( RAM) ,input and out put devi
ce and par ts,
secondarystoragedevicesandcommuni cati
ondev i
ces.
64
Thepr ocessor
Thepr ocessorisascar ceresour
ce.Itexecutestaskscall
ed
processes.Atany one t i
me sev er
alt asks may r equi
re
processing hence cr eati
ng compet i
ti
on. The oper ati
ng
system arrangesthetasksaccordingtopr i
ori
tyandhast he
abil
itytost opapar ti
culartasktoal l
ow thepr ocessorto
serviceanotherone.

Mai nmemory(RAM)
Atany one gi
ven ti
me so many t asks may r equirethe
memor ysothatt
heycanbeaccessedandpr ocessedbyt he
computer.However,because memor yis al
so a scar ce
resour
ce,theoperat
ingsyst
em determineswhi cht askwil
l
remaininmemoryawaiti
ngforexecutionandwhi chonewi l
l
besentbacktosecondar
ystoraget
owai t.

Becauset heoperati
ngsy st
em islar
geandv eryimportant,it
i
susual l
yi nst
all
edont hehar ddiskbutmustbel oadedt o
RAM dur ing the booti
ng process.Notal lthe oper ati
ng
system canf i
tinRAM soasmal lspeci
alpartthatcont ai
ns
themostnecessar ycommandsandpr ocedurescal l
edt he
kerneli
stheonet hatisl
oaded.

Input/outputdev icesandpor ts
I
nmostcases,t heoper atingsy stem controlsal ldatai nput
andi nformat i
onout putt asks.Becausemosti nput/ output
dev i
cesar eslowert hant hepr ocessor,theoper atingsy stem
hast ocont r
olt hef l
owofdat af rom t
het i
meofi nputt ot he
timet heuserr ecei
v esitasi nformati
on.I tensur est hatt he
rightdatar eaches t he pr ocessoratt he ri
ghtt i
me.The
operatingsy stem alsodef inest hev ar
iousi nput
/ outputpor ts
foundont hecomput ere.g.pr interpor
t.

Secondar
ystor
agedev i
ces
Theoperat
ingsystem managesthestor
ageandr et
ri
evalof
dataonsecondarystor
agedevices.I
talsouti
li
zesthefree
spaceonhar ddiskstoenhancet heperfor
manceoft he
65
comput
erbyt
empor
ari
l
yhol
dingt
asks

onitthatwer
einRAM r
eadyf
orpr
ocessi
ngbuthav
etowai
t
forsometime.

Communi cationdev icesandpor ts

Communi cation i
nt his case refer
st o how t he v ari
ous
devicesandpr ogramsi nandoutoft hecomput ersy stem
sendandr eceivemessagesf r
om oneanot herandf rom t he
processor . The oper at
ing system controlst he ov eral
l
communi cati
on pr ocess bet ween v ari
ous t asks and
comput ers.Ext er
nalcommuni cati
on can be achiev ed by
connecting an ex ternaldev i
ce to a communi cation por t
usingacommuni cationmedi um li
kecablesorev enwi reless
communi cati
on.

3.
3Functi
onsofanoper
ati
ngsy
stem Thef
unct
ionsofan
oper
ati
ngsyst
em ar
e:

Jobschedul i
ng
Thepr ocessorcanonl yhandleonet askatatime.Ther efore,
theoper atingsy st
em hast odet er
mi newhicht askwi llbe
processedf i
rstandmakessur ethattheonet hatiscurrentl
y
beingpr ocessedi scl
oselymonitoredt oavoi
dwast ingt ime
i
nt hepr ocessor.Thecrit
eriaforselecti
ngwhi cht askwi ll
come bef oret he ot
herdepends on many f actors.For
exampl e,t he operat
ing system may deci de to pr ocess
smallertasksbef orel
argerones.

Resour cecont rolandallocat i

on
I
n or derf ort he processort o be ablet or ecognize and
priori
ti
est heuseandr equest sforr esources,itgiveseach
resourceauni quei denti
fi
cat ionnumbercal ledani nter r
upt
number .Hencewhent wot asksrequestt ousear esour ceat
the same t i
me,t he one wi th higherpr iori
tyinterrupti s
grantedcont rol.Thiscanbecompar edt ot hepriori
tygi ven
tot hepresidentialmotorcadeonabusyr oad.
Secondl y,t
heoper at
ingsy stem tr
iesasmuchaspossi bleto
66
av oi
dasi tuat i
onwher eapar ticulart askhol dsaneeded
resour ceandr efusest or eleasei tf orusebyot hert asks.
Whensev eralt asksdot his,anundesi r
ablesituationcal led
deadl ockoccur s.
Ther efor e,r esour ce cont r
ol and al l
ocati
on i s a cor e
oper atingsy stem f unctionbecausei tdetermineswhi chtask
usesapar ti
cul arr esour ceandatwhatt i
me.
Input /out puthandl ing
Ev er
ycomput erhasmanyi nputandout putdev i
ces( I
/O) .
Like a ski lled t raf
fic of ficer,t he oper at i
ng sy stem
coor dinat esbet weent hesev ariousI /Oandot herper i
pher al
dev i
cessuchasauxi l
i
ar ystor agedev i
ces,maki ngsur et hat
dat af lows pr oper l
y bet ween t hem and sor ting outany
possi bleconf usi on.Forexampl e,when pr i
nting,t heCPU
directsi t
sat tent i
ont ot hepr i
nt i
ngf uncti
on.Theoper ating
sy st
em sear chesf orthepr inter,choosest hecor rectone,
translat est henamef ort heCPUandf i
nall
ytheCPUsends
the documentt ot he print
er .Thi st hen makes t he CPU
av ai
lablef orot heract i
viti
es.

Memor ymanagement
Alldataandi nst
ructi
onsmustbet empor ar
il
yhel di
nt he
mainmemor ybeforeandaf terprocessing.Theoper ati
ng
system mayor ganizethemainmemor yintoblocksofsizes
caledpar
l t
it
ions.I
tconstantl
yassignsmai nmemor yst
orage
part
iti
onstodat aandinstr
ucti
ons.Toaccessapi eceofdata
orinstruct
ion,theoper at
ingsystem knowswher etof i
nd
eachpi eceofdat aasl ongast hecor rectaddressoft he
part
iti
onisused.

Errorhandl
ing
Theoper at
ingsy
stem hasmanyway sofaler
ti
ngtheuser,
of
err
or sheorshemakes.Manyop r ati
ng syst
em usually
express what the err
or is,and wher e possi
ble make
suggesti
ons on how to corr
ectt he er
ror.The oper
ati
ng
system doesthi
sbymoni tori
ngthestatusofthecomput er
system andperf
ormingerrorchecksonbot hhardwareand
67
t
hesof
twar
e.

Jobsequenci ng
Theoperatingsystem keepsal i
stofjobsortaskscur r
ently
beingrunandcl ockst hem inandoutoft heprocessor.It
alsoarr
angest hem i
napar ti
cul
arordertomakei teasyf or
theprocessortoexecut ethem andtoknow how andwhen
tofet
chinstruct
ionsanddat aforeachtask.

Int
errupthandling
Aninterupti
r sabr eakfr
om thenormalsequent
ial
processi
ngofi nstr
ucti
onsinaprogram.Anexternal
request
causesthepr ocessort
ostopexecutingt
hecurrentt
ask,and
dosomet hingelsebeforer
etur
ningthecontr
olbacktothe
program t
hatwasi nter
rupt
ed.

Eachhardwar edevicecommuni catest otheprocessorusi

ng
aspecialnumbercal ledthei nter
ruptr equestnumber(IRQ
number).Fig3.2showst hedev i
cesassi gnedtoIRQ
numbersinMi crosoftWi ndows.
3.4Typesofoper atingsy stems
Operat
ingsy st
emscanbecl assif
iedaccor di
ngto:
1.Numberoft askshandl edconcur rentl
y.
2.Numberofuser s.
3.Humancomput eri nt
erface( HCI).

Cl
assi
fi
cat
ionaccor
dingt
otaskshandl
edconcur
rent
ly

Singl
epr ogram oper
at i
ngsyst
em
Singl
epr ogram operati
ngsyst
em all
owspr ocessi ngofonly
oneuserpr ogram i
nt hemainmemor yatat ime.Thi smeans
thattheusercanonl yrunoneint
eracti
vepr ogram atat i
me.
Thent heusermustexi tfr
om thepr ogr
am bef oreloadi
ng
andr unninganotherprogr
am.Anexampl eofasi ngl
euser
operati
ngsy st
em isMSDOSf r
om MicrosoftCor porati
on.

Mult
itaski
ngoperati
ngsyst
em
Thi
st ype ofoperati
ng sy
stem al
l
ows a si
ngl
e CPU t
o
68
executewhatappear stobemor et hanonepr ogram atthe
samet i
me.Howev er,inter nal
l
yonl yonepr ogram isbeing
executedatatime.TheCPUswi tchesitsattentionbetween
programsasi treceiv
esr equest sforpr ocessing,executi
ng
stat
ement sf
rom onepr ogr am,andt henfrom anot herusi
ng
theconceptofgi vngat
i i
mesl icet oeachappl i
cation.Thi
s
switchi
ngofat t
entioni ssof astt hatitappear sasi fthe
programsarebeingex ecut edsimul taneously
.

Cl
assi
fi
cat
ionaccor
dingt
onumberofuser
s

Singl
euseroper at
ingsy st
em
Asingleuseroperati
ngsy st
em i
sdesignedf
orusebyonl
y
oneperson.Itcannotsupportmoret
hanonepersonand
runsonlyoneuserapplicati
onatati
me.

Multiuseroperat
ingsy stem
Multiuserormul tiaccessoper ati
ngsy st
em al
lowsmore
thanoneusert ointeracti
vel
yuset hecomputer
.Itcanbe
i
nstall
edonacomput erthati
saccessedbymanypeopleat
thesamet i
me.Exampl esofsuchoper at
ingsyst
emsare
UNIX,Nov el
landWi ndowsNT/ 2000,Li
nux.

Classif
icati
onaccor di
ngt ointerf
ace
Thet erm humancomput erinter
faceref
erstothemethodof
i
nteracti
on bet ween t he comput er and the user and
determineshow easi l
yt heusercanoper atethecomputer
.
Theunder l
yi
ngpr inci
plei noperati
ngsy st
em desi
gni sto
makecompl ext asksver ysimplefortheusertocarryout
.
Thisi sther easonwhyal otoft imehasbeenspentby
softwaredev el
opersint ryi
ngt ocomeupwi huserf
t ri
endl
y
i
nterfaces.

Curr
ent
lyt
het
hreemai
nty
pesofhumancomput
eri
nter
face
ar
e:

CommandlineInt
erf
ace
Theuseri
nter
actswit
hacomput
erbyt
ypi
ngacommandat
69
thepromptf oundonacommandl ine.A computerreads
i
nstr
uctionsfrom t
hecommandl i
neandexecut esthem.For
acommandt obemor euserf
ri
endly,thewordsusedshould
be descr i
pti
v e ver
bs e.g. print
, copy et c. Unique
abbr
eviati
onscanalsobeusede.g.Del RenChkdsketc.

Forexample,i
fyouareusi
ngMSDOSoper ati
ngsyst
em,you
cancopyaf i
lecal
ledFr
uit
s.Datfom ahar
r ddiskCtofl
oppy
diskAasfoll
ows:COPYC:\Frui
ts.
DatA:
\

NB:Theusermustpr
esst
heent
erkeyf
ort
hecommandt
o
beexecut
ed.

Exampl
esofcommandl
inei
nter
facear
etheear
lyv
ersi
ons
ofMSDOS,PCDOS,OS/
2,andUNIX.

MSDOSI
nter
face

Menudr iveninter
face
Thistypeofinterf
aceprovi
dest heuserwit
hal i
stofopt
ions
tochoosef r
om.Thei nter
facetheref
oreissui
tablef
or
beginner
swhomayhav ediff
icul
ti
esrecal
li
ngcommands.

Some oper
ati
ng syst
ems presentthe userwi
th si
mpl
e
menuswhil
eother
shavesophi
sti
catedmenus.

Theusermakesasel
ect
ion`byt
ypi
nganyoft
hel
ett
ersI
,V,
E,DorQtoacti
vat
easubmenu.

Amenudr
iveni
nter
face.

Lat
erver
sionsofDOScamewi t
hamenudr
iveni
nter
face
cal
l
edtheDOSshel
lorDOSedi
tor
Menu

TheDOSshel
l

Thegr
aphi
caluseri
nter
face(
GUI
)
70
Thist
ypeofinterf
acerepr
esent scommandsassmal l
pi
ctur
esont hescreencal
ledIcons.I
conscanbeselect
edto
i
ssueacommandusi ngapoint i
ngdevi
celi
keamouse.GUI
hasbecomeav er
ycommont y peofint
erf
acebecauseofi
ts
userf
ri
endl
iness.

Examples ofGUIbased operat

ing sy
st e OS/
ems ar 2s
Presentat
ionManager
,Mi
crosof
tWindows,Li
nuxandAppl
e
Macintosh.

3.5Fact orst oconsi derwhenchoosi nganoper at

ingsystem
Whenchoosi nganoper atingsystem f oracomput er,the
foll
owi ngf act orsshoul dbeconsi dered:
1.Har dwar econf igurati
onorpr ovisionoft hecomput ere.g.
memor ysi ze, harddiskcapaci ty,t
y peofpr ocessoret c.
2.Basi cdesi gnoft hecomput ere.g.isitanI BM orI BM-
Compat ible, oranAppl ecomput er.
3.Appl icationsi ntendedf orthecomput er.
4.Userf ri
endl inessorhumancomput erinterfacei.
e.isi
t
commandl inebased, menudr ivenorgr aphi caluser
i
nterfacebased.
5.Av ail
abi l
ityint hemar kete.g.Mi crosof tWi ndowsbased
operat i
ngsy stemsar ev erycommon.
6.Cost-howexpensi vei stheoperat i
ngsy st em?
7.Reliabi l
i
t yi.e.canitrunwi houtcr
t ashingorhangi ngi.
e.
stopr espondi ngt ocommands. .

3.
6HowWi
ndowsor
gani
zesi
nfor
mat
ion

Intr
oduct i
on
Microsoft Cor porati
on i s a sof tware company t hat
speciali
zesint hedev elopmentofbot hoperatingsystems
andappl icati
onpr ograms.Someofi t
spopul aroperating
systemsi ncl
ude;Wi ndows95, 98,2000,NT,
Mi l
l
ennium (Me)
and XP. These oper ati
ng sy st
ems have gai ned wi de
popularit
ywi th manyPC user sbecause oft heirfr
iendly
graphicaluserint
erface.
71
Other operat
ing sy
stems t
hat r
ivalMi
crosof
t pr
oduct
s
i
ncludeLinux,UNI
X,MacOSandOS/2.

NB:I n or dert o underst

and how an oper ati
ng system
organi zesinfor
mat i
on,thi
sbookcut sacrossfourversi
onsof
Wi ndows i .
e.Wi ndows 95,98,Me and XP,by gi ving
standar dizedproceduresthatarecommont oal l
.Howev er
becausei tishardt ocaterforthesmal ldif
ferencesint he
fourv ersi
ons,thebookpr ov
idesacommonpr ocedureof
carrying outTasks.Howev er,extra detai
ls on speci fi
c
versionsar ediscussedinappendicesLIIandIII.

Thegoodthi
ngaboutallt
heversi
onsofWindowsdiscussed
i
nthisbooki
sthatonceyouacquir
ebasi
cskil
lsinusi
ngone
ver
sion,
youcaneasi
lyt
ransf
erthesametootherver
sions.

Somecommonf eatur esinWi ndowsoper ati

ngsy st ems:
1.Theyal lhavesi milaruseri nterf
ace
2.Abili
tytohandl elongf il
enames.Asopposedt oMSDOS
whichcanhandl eamax imum ofel ev encharacters, Wi ndows
95 and l aterv ersions acceptf i
le names ofup t o 255
charact
ersi ncludingspaces.
3. Var i
ous v ersions of Wi ndows oper ati
ng sy stems
automat i
callyacceptanewhar dwar eoncei tisconnect edto
thecomput er.Thi sf eatureisr eferredtoaspl ugandpl ay
{PnP}.
4.Theyal lsuppor tmul ti
pletasksandmul t
ipleuser s.
Windows manages dat a and i nfor
mat ion st ored on
secondary st orage dev ices by or ganizi
ng i ti nt o easil
y
accessibl
euni tscal edf
l il
esandf olders.

Fi
les
Af i
leisacol l
ecti
onofr el
ateddataorinf
ormationst
oredin
onel ocati
on and given a uni
quename t hatenabl
est he
operati
ngsy stem toident
ifyitdur
ingstor
ageandr etr
ieval
process.Everyfi
lehasdetai
lsthati
ndi
catethefoll
owi
ng:

72
1.A uni quenameandanopt i
onalsetofmaxi mum thr
ee
characterscalledanext ensi
one. g.af i
lenamedJUNE. DOC
hasJUNEast henameandDOC ast heextensi
on.Thefil
e
nameandt heext ensi
onar esepar at
edbyaper i
od(.
).The
extensi
onusual l
ysuggest sthet ypeofinformati
onheldby
thefil
ee. g.DOCsuggest sthatitisadocumentf il
ecreat
ed
i
nanappl icat
ionpr ogr
am caledMi
l crosoftWord.

2.I
tssi
zeanddat
eofcr
eat
ion.

Ther
e aretwo ty
pes off
il
es namel
y;sy
stem f
il
e and
appl
i
cat
ionf
il
es.

Syst
em fi
les
Theseoff il
escont aininfor
mat i
ont hatiscr it
icalforthe
operat
ion of the comput er
.Forexampl e,al lhardware
devi
cesaret estedandmader eady( i
nit
ial
ised)duringboot
upbyhav i
ngthecomput erreadinformati
on
From speci
alsy stem fi
les.Thesef i
lesi nWi ndowswoul d
havenameext ensionslke.
i sys,.
iniand.dll
.Anexampl eofa
syst
em fi
leissystem.i
ni

Appli
cat
ionfil
es
Theyarealsocal
ledprogr
am fil
esbecauset
heyhol
d
progr
amsorappl i
cat
ionfi
les.Theymayhaveext
ensi
ons
suchas.exe.
Thefol
lowingl
i
stgi
vessomecommonf i
l
enameextensi
ons
andsuggestst
hety
peofinf
ormat
iont
hatcoul
dbeheldi
n
thef
il
e.

Extensi
ons Typeofinf
ormati
on
DAT Datafi
l
es
EXE Execut
ablefi
let
hat
start
sanappl
i
cat
ion
TXT Textf
il
es
DOC Documentf
il
e
73
Whennami ngf i
l
es,itisi
mpor t
anttogiv
emeani ngf
ulnames
andextensionsthatsuggestitscont
ent.Forexamplewhen
savi
ng a lett
erwr i
tten t
o John,giveita namesuch as
Johnl
etter
.Thenameext ensi
onisautomatical
lyaddedby
theappl
icati
onbeingused.

Folders
Af ol
deroradi rect
oryisanamedst or
ageareawher ethe
usercanstorerelat
edfil
estoenableeasyaccess.Li
kewith
anor di
naryfi
l
ecabi net
,afolderismeanttohel ptheuser
di
videal ar
gestoragemediaintosmallmanageablest
orage
l
ocations.

Subfol
ders
Alargefoldermaybedi v
idedintosmallerunit
scall
ed
subfol
ders.Theref
ore,asubfolderorsubdir
ector
yis
fol
der/di
rector
ywithi
nanot herfol
der/
direct
ory.

InWi ndows,f ol
dersandsubf olderi
consmost l
yappeari n
yell
ow colorwhilefil
eiconsaremost l
ywhi t
ewithaf oldat
thetoprighthandcorner
Storagemedi a
Whensav i
ngaf i
leorcreat
ingaf ol
der,i
dentif
yastorage
l
ocat i
on,whichismor erel
iabl
eandsuf fi
cient
.Forexampl e,
i
faf il
eorf ol
derrequi
resmor ethan1.44MBofst orage
space,youcannotusea1. 44MB3i nch.floppydi
ski nstead
useast oragemedi awithl
argerspace.

Wi ndowsdesktop
Oncey ouswit
chont hecomputer,
Windowsisautomati
cal
l
y
l
oadedi nt
othemai nmemor yandamostlyemptyscr
een
call hedeskt
edt opappears.Thi
sshowsthatt
hecomputeris
readyforuse.

Somev er
sionsofWindowse. g.WindowsXP,promptt
he
usertopressCtr
l+Alt+Del
etet ogainaccesst
odeskt
op
feat
urest
hroughapr
ocesscal
ledLogon.
74
Deskt
opfeatur
es
Onthedeskt
opareiconsandalongt
hinbarcal
l het
edt ask
bar
.Fi
gure3.8showsaWi ndowsMedesktop.

I
cons
I
consaremostlymanipul
atedusingapointi
ngdevi
cee.
g.
themouse.Someofthecommoni consonthedeskt
opare
MyComput er
;Recy
clebin,I
nter
netExplor
er,andMy
Documents.

Thetaskbar
Thetaskbarenabl
estheusert
oeasi
l
yswi tchbetween
dif
fer
entprogr s(
amsanddocument tasks)thatarecur
rent
ly
runni
ng.

Whenevertheuserst artsapr ogram oropensaf il

e,it
s
butt
onappearsont het askbarandstaysther
euntilt
heuser
exit
sf r
om the program see Fi gur
e 3.9.You can swit
ch
betweenvari
ouspr ogramsanddocument sinWindowsby
cl
icki
ngthesebutt
ons.Thi sprocessiscaledmul
l titaski
ng.

Thet
askbarhasatl
eastt
hreemai
npar
ts.
Startbut t
on:Theleftmostbut tonont het askbarthatthe
usercl i
ckstodisplaythest artmenu.
Taskmanager :Thisisthepl ainstri
pethatdi splay
sbut t
ons
ofall curr
entl
yrunningt asks.Thet askmanagerofFi gure3.9
showsOPERATI NGSYSTEi st hecurrentlyrunningtask
System t r
ay:Thisisatther i
ghtmostpar toft hetaskbar.I
t
hasi consoftasksr unningint hebackgr oundputar enot
displayedont hescreen.Exampl esarethet imeandcal endar
,
anant i
vi
rusprogram, volumecont roletc.Todi spl
aysucha
task,simplydoublecl i
cki t
sicon.

Thest
artmenu
Whenyouclickt
hest
artbut
ton,al
i
stofchoi
cesappear
75
call
edt hestart
menu.Thei temsont hemenumayv arydependingont he
versionofWi ndowsy ouareusing.Fi
gure3.10( a)and(b)
shows Wi ndows Me and Wi ndows XP st art menus
respectiv
ely.Fr om caref
ulstudyoft he f
igures,you wil
l
noticeslightv ari
ati
onsbutmostcommandsont hemenu
i
temsr emai nt hesame.

Programs
Thi
smenudi spl
aysal i
stofallprogr
amsi nstal
l
edinthe
computer.Themenuhasasmal lsol
idarr
ow.Wheny ou
poi
ntatit,anot
herl
istofmenuscaledasi
l dekickmenuwil
l
bedispl
ayedasshowninFigur
e3.10(a)and(
b) .

Documents/myr ecentdocument
s
Documentsmenui nWi ndows95,98andmeormyr ecent
documentsi n Wi
ndowsXP l i
ststhe l
astf i
ft
een recentl
y
accessedfi
l
es.Youcanopenanyoft helist
edf i
l
esf rom a
stor
agedevicebycli
ckingit
snameprovidedthatthedev i
ce
i
saccessibl
e.

Set ti
ngs/cont rolPanel
Set ti
ngsmenui nWi ndows95, 98andMeort hecontr
olpanel
i
nWi ndowsXP pr ovidest oolswhichtheusercanuset o
mai ntainandmakechangest othecomputersetup.Itis
i
mpor tantnott ot amperwi t
ht hi
smenubecausey oumay
i
nt erferewiththecomput erfuncti
onal
i
ty.
¬Find/sear ch
Findi nWi ndows95, 98,andMeorSear chinXPhelpstheuser
tosear chf orafil
eorf olderincasetheuserf
orget
sitsname
orl ocation.

Help/hel
pandsuppor t
Thehelpcommandont hestar
tmenu,di
spl
aysdetai
l
ed
i
nformati
ononhowt ousetheoper
ati
ngsyst
em andsol
ve
somecomput err
elat
edprobl
emsincaseoft
hecomputer
fai
l
stofuncti
onproperl
y.

76
Run
I
tenablestheuserto:
1.I
nstal
lprogr
amsont heharddisk.
2.Openfil
esandfolder
sf r
om astor
agel
ocati
on.
3.Runprogramsfrom removabl
emediawit
houtnecessar
il
y
i
nstal
li
ngitontheharddisk.

Logon/logof f
Logon isasecur i
tymeasuret hatrestri
ctsunauthor
ized
usesfrom accessi
ngcomputerr esources.Itpr
omptsfora
usernameandpasswor dinordertogainaccess.Aft
erusing
thecomputer,l
ogoffthecomputerbeforeleavi
ng.

Shut down
Thismenul etstheusershutdown, restartthecomput er,
or
restartinMS- DOSmode.Wi ndowsMeandWi ndowsXPdo
nothav eMS- DOSi ntheirshutdowndi alogbox, see
appendi xI IandI I
I.
Everyt imey ouf i
nishusingt hecomput ery oumustf i
rstshut
i
tdownbef oreturningitoff.Todot hisy ouneedt o:
1.Clickt hest artbutton
2.Poi ntandcl i
ckshut downapr omptf orWi ndows98wi l
l
appear .
3.Ify ouwantt oshutdown, cl
icktheshut downbut ton
4.Final l
y, cl
ickokorsi mpl ypressent er
5.Wai tforthecomput ertodi spl
ayamessage, Iti
snowsav e
totur nof f.Somecomput ersaut omat i
callyswitch
themsel vesof foncey ouclickok.

3.
7

Managingf ilesandfol
der s
To mani pulatefil
es and fol
der
s,y ou can eiheruse My
t
Comput ericonf r
om thedesktoporWi ndowsexpl orerfr
om
thestar
tmenu.Eachi nitsownwayletsyouseehowst orage
devi
cesorl ocati
ons,fi
lesandfoldersarearranged.These
tool
salsoenabl etheusertomanipulat
efil
esandf olders.
77
Wi ndowsexpl or
er
Wi ndowsexpl or
erlet
stheuserdi splaythedriv
esandf ol
ders
i
nahi er chyort
ar reestructur
e.Thecomput ertreei sanup
si
dedownst ructurewit
ht hehighestlevel
beingther oot.The
explorerdi vi
dest hewindow intot wopanes.Thel eftpane
display sat reeofdr i
vesandf olderswhi l
et herightpane
display sal istoff il
es and sub f ol
ders contai
ned i na
par t
icularopendr i
veorfolder.

To di spl
ay the Windows explorerin some v er
sions of
Windowsl ike95/98carr
youtthefoll
owingprocedure:
1.Clickthestartbut
tonthen
2.Poi ntt
ot heprogr
amsmenu
3.From thePr ogr
amsgot othesideki
ckmenu, cl
ick
windowsexpl orer

Anexplorerwi ndow suchast heoneshowni nFigure3.12

wil
lbedisplayed.
NB: In some oper ati
ng sy st
ems, Wi ndows expl or
er
commandmaynotnecessar i
lybel ocatedont heprogram s
menu.Theot hermethodofdi spl
ay i
ngt heexplor
erwindow
i
sto:
1.Ri
ghtclick'mycomput ericonont hedeskt op.
2.Poi
ntandl eftcl
ickexplor
erfr om theshortcutmenu.

Thismethodofdi spl
ayi
ngt heexplorerwindow hasbeen
adopted as the st
andard wayofdi splay
ing t
he expl
orer
window throughoutt hi
s book tot ake care ofv ar
ious
versi
onsofWi ndowsoperati
ngsyst
ems.

I
nFi gure3.12,t hehighestitem int hetreeist hedeskt
op
thenf owedbyMyComput
ol
l er.Ify ouobservekeenly,y
ou
willnoti
cet hatsomei temshav easmal lboxont heirl
eft
withapl usormi nussigninside.Ifanitem hastheplussi
gn
on itsleft,i tcont ai
ns otherl owerl evelit
ems e. g.My
Document sf olderintheabov efigure,hassubfol
dersinsi
de.
Todi spl
aythesubf ol
ders,cl
ickthepl ussi
gnandt hesignwil
l
78
changetomi nusmeaningthatal
lsubfol
der
si nthatlev
el
havebeendisplay
ed.Youcanreduce(col
l
apse)thetr
eeby
cl
icki
ngminussign.

UsingMycomput er
Doubleclicki
ngonmycomput eri
con,gi
vesyouagr aphi
cal
viewofwhati sinsi
dethecomput er.Thi
sincludesthedrives,
thecontrolpanelandotherresourcesasshowni nFigure
3.13(a)
.
Todisplayf i
lesandfoldersfrom aparti
culardriv
epr oceed
asfoll
ows:
1.Doubl eclickadr ivei con.A wi ndow appear sdi splay
ing
fi
lesandf older sstoredi nt herootoft hedr iveinquest i
on.
Ther ooti
sconsi der
edt obet hehighestl eveloft hedirect
ory
tr
eewher eal ldirect
ories/f ol
dersstar
t .
2.Doublecl i
ckaf ol
dert odi spl
ayit
scont ents.
3.Doublecl i
ckt hehar ddi sk(dri
veC) .I
tscont entwillbe
di
splayedasshowni nFi gur e3.
13( b).
4.From thiswi ndowy oucanst artmani pulatingy ourfil
es
andf ol
ders.

4.

Creat i
nganewf ol
der
Ther ewi llbet imeswhent heuserwoul dwantt ocr eatenew
folder s.Say ,
fori nst
ance, whenwor kingonadet ail
edpr oj
ect
thathasmul tiplefil
es.Itisadv i
sabl ethatal lrel atedf i
l
esbe
keptt ogetherinonef older.Tocr eateanewf ol derpr oceeds
asf ol l
ows:
1.Usi ngMycomput ericondi spl
ayt heExpl orerwi ndow.
2.Fr om t hefoldert r
eeont hel eftpane, selectt hel ocati
onin
whi chy ouwantt ocreateanewf older.
3.Fr om t heFilemenu, cli
ckNewt hencl ickFol derasshown
i
nFi gure3. 14( a).Anewf olderwithat empor arynameNew
folderappear si ntheexplorerwindowasshowni nFi gure
3.14( b).
4.Ty peanewnamef orthefoldertor eplacet het empor ar
y
79
namet henpr essEnt erkeyorcl i
ckt heicononce.
NB:Tocr eat
easubf older,foll
owt hest epsabov ebutselect
af olderas t he l ocation.To open a f ol
derproceeds as
foll
ows:
1.UsingMycomput ericondi spl
ayt heExpl or
erwindow.
2.From t hefol dert r
eeont hel ef
tpane,cl i
cktheplussi gn
againstthest or agel ocati
ont hatcont ainsthef i
leorfolder
youwi shtoopen.
3.From thefol dert r
ee, sel
ectthefol der
.Itscont
ent swi
llbe
displ
ay edont her ightpane.

Creati
nganewf i
le .
Dependi ngont heprogr amsi nst
allediny ourcomput er,you
cancr eatef i
lesofdifferenttypessuchasdr awings, text
documentet c.Tocr eateanewt extdocumentpr oceedas
fol
lows.
1.UsingMycomput ericondi spl
ayt heExpl orerwi ndow.
2.From t hefoldertreeont helef
tpane, selectt hel ocat i
onin
whichy ouwantt ocr eateanewf il
e.
3.From t heFi l
eMenu, pointnew
4.Selectt extdocumentf rom alistofav ail
ableappl icati
ons
andani conwi thatempor arynameappear si nt heexpl orer
window.
5.Typeanewnamef orthenewf i
l
et oreplacet het empor ar
y
nameandpr essent erkey .
NB: I
nWi ndows, fi
l
enamescancont ai
nupt o255char acter
s,
i
ncludingspacesbut ,wi t
hnospeci alsy
mbol ssuchas\/ :*?
<>I .

Theapplicat
ionWindow
I
nor dertoenterdatai
nthenewf il
ejustcreat
edabov e,y
ou
havetoopeni tini
tsappli
cati
onprogram.Thiscanbedone
bydoublecli
ckingthefi
leicon.Arect
angularareacall
edan
appl
icati
on window appears on t
he screen as shown in
Fi
gure3.15.

Par
tsofaWi
ndow
80
Tit
lebar
Thisisabaracr osst hetopoft hewi ndowt hatdisplaysthe
nameoft hecur rentappli
cationpr ogr am ortask.
Ont her i
ghtoft het i
tl
ebarar ethreet i
nybut t
onsnamel y:
Minimi zebutton:Itreducesawi ndowbypr essingabut t
on
whichi splacedont hetaskbar.
Ther estore/maxi mizebutton:I
tst retchest hewi ndowt o
covert heentir
edeskt oporrestorei ttoit
sor iginalsi
ze.
Thecl osebut t
on:I tisusedtoexi tanappl ication.

Menubar
Menubarpr ov
idesalistofcommandsthatcanbeusedto
manipul
ateatask.Forexample,
tosaveadocument ,
cli
ck
fi
l
eandt hensav e.
Too/bar
s
Thesearebuttonsarr
angedinarowthatareshor
tcutst
o
menucommands.

Wor kar
ea
Thisist
heworki
ngar
eawher
eyoucancr
eat
eyour
documents.

Stat
usbar
Thisisaninter
acti
vestri
patt hebottom oftheappli
cati
on
windowthatactsasacommuni cat
ionli
nkbetweentheuser
andtheoperati
ngsystem.Suchi nt
eract
iveacti
vi
ti
esincl
ude
savi
ng,openi
ngaf i
l
e,pri
nti
ng,cursorposi
tionet
c.

Scrol
lbutt
onsandarrows
Scrol
li
ngisthemovingup,down,l eftorr
ightofadocument
window onthescr
eeni fitistoolargetof i
t.Scr
ollbut
tons
andarrowsarehor
izontalandv er
ti
calbut
tonsattheborders
ofawindowusedtoscr ol
lthroughlongdocument.

Savi
ngchangestoafil
e
Aft
erty
pingthecont
entoft
hef
il
eint
hewor
kar
ea,cl
i
ckf
il
e
81
andt henCli
cksav eOtherwise,
ifthefi
l
ewi l
lbesavedwit
ha
di
f f
erentnameorl ocati
onthen:
1.Cli
ckfil
eandt hensaveas
2.From theresult
ingSaveAsdi al
ogbox,sel
ectwheret
he
documenti stobesav edthentypeit
sname
3.Cli
ckthesavebut t
on.

Renami
ngf
il
esorfol
ders
Renami
ngr
efer
stochangi
ngt
hepr
evi
ousnamet
oanew
name.
Torenameafil
eorafolderpr
oceedasfol
lows:
1.UsingMyComputeri
condispl
aytheExplor
erwindow.
2.From t
hef
oldert
reeonthelef
tpane,
selectthefi
l
eor
fol
dertober
enamed.

3.Fr
om thef
il
emenu,
cli
ckr
ename
4.Typet
henewname,andt
henpr
esent
erkey
.

Delet
ingfi
lesandfol
ders
I
nWi ndows,whenyoudeleteanitem f
r om t
hehar
ddisk,i
tis
t
empor ar
il
yheldinaspeci
al f
oldercal
ledtheRecy
clebin
fr
om whichitcanberest
oredifnecessary.

Therecycl
ebini
sadef
aul
ticonont
hedeskt
opt
her
efor
eit
cannotberemov
ed.

War ni
ng
1.Oneshoul dnotattemptt odel etesystem andapplicat
ion
fi
lesfrom t
hehar ddisk.
2.It
emsdel etedfrom remov ablest or
agear enotheldinthe
recycl
ebinandar ecompl etelylost.
Todeleteaf i
leorfolderproceedasf oll
ows:
1.UsingMycomput ericondi splaytheExplorerwindow.
2.From thefoldertr
eeont hel eftpane,selecttheit
em that
i
st obedeleted.
3.Ont heFil
emenu, cl
ickdelete
82
4.Amessageappearsonthescr
eenaski
ngwhet
hery
ou
act
uall
ywanttodel
etetheit
em.
5.Conf
irm bycl
i
cki
ngyes

Restori
ngdel etedf i
lesandf olders
Torestoreaf i
l
eorf olderf r
om t her
ecycl
ebintoit
sori
ginal
l
ocationpr oceedasf oll
ows:
1.Doubl eclickther ecyclebinicon.
2.Selectthedel eteditem (oritems)toberest
ored.
3.Cli
ckf i
lethenr estore

Emptyi
ngt herecyclebin
To completel
ydi scar dfil
esand f oldersy oudel eted,you
needtoempt ytheRecy cl
eBi n.Deleteditemst akeupt he
same amountofdi sk space they occupi ed beforey ou
del
etedthem.Tof reeupt hatdiskspaceoccupi ed, y
ouhav e
toemptythebin.
Toemptyt herecyclingbinproceedasf oll
ows
1.Doubl
e-cli
ckther ecyclebinondeskt op.
2.Chooseempt yr ecyclebinfr
om theFi l
emenu.
3.Cl
ickyeswhenpr ompt edtoconfir
m deletionofthef il
es.

NB:Youcanalsodel
etesel
ect
edi
temsi
nther
ecy
clebi
nby
cl
i
ckingf
il
ethendel
ete

Copy i
ngandmovi ngfil
esandf olders
Cutorcopy commands ar e used t o mov e orcr eatea
dupl
icateofani t
em respectively.Wheny oucutorcopyan
i
tem,i tistemporaril
yhel dint emporaryst oragel ocat
ion
knownast hecl
ipboard.Tocopyaf i
leorfolder:
1.UsingMycomput ericondispl aytheExplorerwi ndow.
2.Ont heedi
tmenu, cl
ickcopy
3.Selectt
hedri
veorf olderwher eyouwantt heitem tobe
copi
ed.
4.From theeditmenucl i
ckpast eInfor
mat ionori t
em is
pastedtoanewl ocati
on

Copypr
ogr
essdi
alogwi
l
lbedi
spl
ayedont
hescr
eenas
83
showni nFi gure3.16below
Tomov eaf il
eoraf ol
derproceedasf oll
ows:
1.UsingMycomput ericondi
splaytheExplor
erwindow.
2.Ont heedi tmenuclickcut.
3.Selectthedr iv
eorfolderwhereyouwantt heit
em mov ed.
4.From theedi tmenucl i
ckpaste.
5.Mov epr ogressdial
ogwi l
lbedisplay
edont hescreen
si
milartot hatofcopy i
nginFigure3.16butwitht
hewor d
mov i
ngi nthet i
tlebar
.

Sorti
ngf il
esandf older
Sorti
ng meansar r
anging fi
lesand folder
si n apart
icular
order either alphabeti
call
y or by size or date of last
modificationorcr eati
on.Wi dowsautomat i
call
ysortsfiles
andf oldersintoalphabeti
cor derbuttheuser¬canchoose
toarranget hem ot her
wise.Forexampl eFigur
e.3.17show
howt osor tbyname.Not i
cethatadotappearsnexttoname
toshowt hatiti
sselected.

Mani pulatefil
esandf oldersusingt heshortcutmenu
Wheny our i
ghtclickani tem, ashortcutmenui sdisplay ed
whichpr ovidescommandscommonl yusedtomani pulate
theitem.
Tocopy ,mov e,deleteorr enameani t
em proceedasf oll
ows:
1.Right-cli
ckt hefil
eorf oldertodisplayit
scont extsensi t
ive
menu.
2.From t heshor t
cutmenu, l
eftcl
icktheappr opri
ate
commandi .
e.
(a)Tocopyormov e,r
ightclickthedestinati
onl ocatont
i hen
cli
ckpast e

(
b)Todelet
e,si
mplycl
i
ckdel
eteCommand.
(
c)Torename,t
ypeinanewf
il
enametorepl
acet done.
heol

Manipul
atefil
esandfol
dersbydraganddrop
Anot
hereasiermethodofhandl
i
ngfil
esandfol
der
sisdr
ag
anddrop.Thi
sisdoneasfoll
ows:
84
1.Tocopyaf i
leorf ol
der,holddownt heCTRLkeywhi leyou
dragtheiconoft hef i
letoanewl ocation.
2.Tomov efi
lesfrom onel ocationtoanot heront hesame
dri
vebutinadi fferentfol
der,si
mpl ypr essdownt heMouse
butt
onanddr agt hei t
em tothenewl ocation.
3.Todeleteanyf il
eorf ol
derdr agitintother ecyclebin.
4.Tocopyf i
leorf olderfr
om onedi sktoanot her,simply
dragtheitem tothedest i
nationdr i
veicone. g.fr
om dr iveC
to31/2-f
loppydisk.
5.Tomov eanitem, holddownt heShiftkeywhi l
ey oudragit
tonewlocation.

Sel
ecti
ngmulti
plefil
esandfolders
I
fyouwanttomani pul
atemulti
plefi
lesorf
older
satago,
youcansel
ectthem bycli
cki
ngeachi t
em whil
eyouhol
d
downthecont
rol(CTRL)orSHIFTkey .

Ify
ouwantt osel
ectall
fil
esinanopenfol
der,
clickedi
tthen
sel
ectal
l.Thiswi
ll
highl
ightal
lfi
l
esinthef
older.To
manipul
atethesel
ectedit
ems,usethemenubarort he
short
cut
.

Searchingforfil
esandf olders
Tosear chforaspecifi
cfil
e' orf
olderproceedasfol
lows:
1.From t hestar
tmenu, cli
ckf i
nd/ sear
chFigur
e3.18shows
a
Windows98f inddial
ogbox.
2.Typet henameoft hef i
l
eandt helocat
iontol
ookin
respecti
vely.
3.cli
ckf i
ndnowbut ton

3.
8

Diskmanagementusi
ngWi ndows
Windowsoperati
ngsyst
em provi
dest
heuserwit
htool
sthat
helphim/hertomanagest or
agedevi
cesandmedia.Itis
i
mpor t
anttohavearouti
necheckofallt
hest
oragedevi
ces
85
otherwise one may end up l osi
ng v er
yv i
taldata and
programs.
War ning:Donotat t
emptt heseoperationsondi skswit
hout
thegui danceoftheteacher.Iti
spreferabl
etouset hefl
oppy
diskr athert
hant heharddi sktoper f
ormt heseoperati
ons
becausesomeoft hem caneasi l
yleadt olossofdataand
i
nf ormat i
onst
oredont hehar ddi
sk.

Format tingdi sks

Beforeusi ngaf loppydi tmustbef
sk,i ormat t
ed.For mat t
ing
i
st hepr ocessofpr epar inganewdi skf orusebyi mpr i
nting
empt ysect orsandt r
acksont hesur faceoft hedisksot hat
theoper atingsy stem canr ecogni zeandbeabl etoaccessi t
.
Mostdi skettes t oday ar e sol dr eadi lyfor matted.Each
operat i
ngsy stem hasi tsownspeci alwayoff ormat tinga
diskt hatmaymaket hedi sknott o ber ead byanot her
operat i
ngsy stem.Tof ormatanew f l
oppydi skpr oceedas
foll
ows:
1.Putanewunf or matteddi ski ntot hef loppydrive.
2.Doubl ecl i
ckmycomput eri con.
3.Rightcl ickthei conlabel ed31/ 2-
f l
oppy( A:)thensel ect:
Format .
4.Selectt hedi skcapaci tye.g.1. 44MB, formattypei .
e.ei t
her
quicker aseorf ull
5.Giv ethedi sket tesani nternal name( label)
.
6.Clickst arttobegi nfor mat ting.
7.Oncet hepr ocessi sov er,
cl i
ckCl ose.

Scanningast or
agedevicef
orproblems
Windowshasadi skmanagementt oolcalledthescandisk
thathel ps t
he usercheck up and repairmi norst
orage
problems,such as loststorage locati
ons,ordamaged
surface.Toscanastor
agedev i
cethefoll
owi ngi
sdone:

1.Doubl
ecli
ckmycomputericontodi spl
aythest
orage
devi
cesi
nstal
ledont
hecomput er.
2.Ri
ghtcl
ickadri
vei
cone.g.31/2-f
loppydisk(A:
).
86
3.From theshortcutmenu, cli
ckproper
ti
esthencli
ckTool
s
tab,t
odi spl
ayadi alogbox
4.Cli
ckthechecknowbut t
on
5.Apr omptappear srequesti
ngtheusertospecif
yscandi
sk
opti
onsl i
kewhetherer r
orsfoundshouldbecorrected
automatical
ly.
6.Oncescandi ski scomplete,Windowswil
lgiv
easummar y
stati
sti
csoner r
orsencount eredi
fany.

Usi ng di sk defragmenter tor earr

ange storage medi a
cont ent
Disk def ragment erisat oolt hati s used tor earrange
scat ter
edf oldersandf i
l
esonast or
agemedi ai nor derto
speed up access t of i
les and folders.This enables the
read/ writ
eheadnott owast etimel ookingforthesamei t
em
allov erthedi sk.Fi
gur
e3. 20showsadi skbeforeandaf t
er
def ragmentation.Notice that the f ragmented disk has
related dat a el ements spr ead al l over it but t he
def ragmentedonehasr el
ateddat aconsoli
datedcl oset o
eachot her.

Tost artdiskdef r
agment ati
onpr oceedasf oll
ows:
1.Double clickmycomput ericon t o di
splayt he stor
age
devicesinstall
edont hecomput er.
2.Rightcl i
ckadr iveicone.g.31/ 2-f
loppydisk( A:
).
3.Fr
om t heshor tcutmenu,clickpr operti
est hencli
ckt ool
s
tab
4.From t hedialogboxdi spl
ayed, defragmentnowbut ton
5.From t hedialogboxdi spl
ayed, cl
ickdefragmentapr ocess
stat
usbari sdisplayed.
6.Wai tforthepr ocesstocompl etet henclosethe
defragment er.

Compr essi
ngt hestoragemedia
Wi ndowsprovi
dest heuserwit
htwocompr essi
ontool
s
namel ycompr
, essionagentandDri
veSpace.Compressing
storagemediacontentstofiti
nsmal
lerspacehelpsto
createmorefreespaceont hemedi
a.
87
Dr
iveSpace canuset hefr
eespaceonanuncompr essed
dr
ivetocreate.anew,
emptycompresseddr
iv edahost
ecal
l .
Tocompr essadiskpr
oceedasfol
l
ows:

1.Doubleclickmycomput ericont odisplaythestorage

devicesi
nstall
edont hecomput er.
2.Rightcl
ickadr iveicone.g.31/ 2-f
loppydisk(A:)
3.From t
heshor tcutmenu, properti
es I fyouareusi ng
windowsXPsel ecttheCompr essdrivetosav edi
skspace,
checkboxt hencl i
ckokasshowni nFigure3.21(a).Ifusing
windows98cl ickthecompr essiontabthencl i
ckcompr ess
driv
ebutton.(Figure3.21(b))
4.Inconfi
rm attri
butechanges, selecttheoption,
y ouwant

NB:Ifyouareusi
ngWi ndows95/98,cli
ckthest
artbut
ton,
poi
nttoprogr
ams,accessor
ies,t
hensy
stem t
ool
sandselect
compressi
onagentorDri
veSpace.

Fr
om t
hecompr
essdi
alogbox,
cli
ckdr
ivet
hencompr
ess

Scanni ngforviruses
Acomput ervir
usi sapr ogram wr i
tenbymal
t iciousper sons
aimedatconduct ingunwant edoper at
ionsli
kedamagi ng
disksanddat a.Sev erevir
usat tackcanresultinsy stem
fail
ure.Therearel it
eral
l
yt housandsoft heseev il
pr ogr
ams
thatcangeti ntoacomput erv i
ainfect
edf l
oppiesorev env i
a
electr
onicmai landt heInternet
.

Cleaningi
nfectedstoragedev ices
Toguar dacomput eragai nstv i
rusatt
ack,speci alpr
ograms
caledant
l i¬vi
russoft
war esuchasNor tonAnt i
virus,
PC-ci
ll
i
n
orMcAf eeshouldbei nstalledont hecomput er.These
programscanchecky oursy st
em forthousandsofknown
vi
rusesander adi
catet hem.Toscanf orv i
rusest hefol
l
owing
i
sdone:
1.Doublecli
ckmycomput er
2.Rightcl
ickadriveicon.
88
3.Fr om theshor t
cutmenudi splay ed,sel ectthenameoft he
ant i
-vi
ruspr ogr am e.g.Scanwi thNor t
onAnt i
vir
us.
4.Fol l
owt hei nstructionsdispl ayedbyt heant i-
viruspr ogram
tost artscanni ng.
Backi ngupDat a
Wi ndowscomeswi thaut i
litycal edbackup.I
l tenabl esthe
usert ocr eat ecopi esofdat aandpr ogr ams( onsepar at e
storagedev ice)toav oidlosingi mpor tantdat aandpr ogram
fi
lesi ncaset hest oragedev i
ceort hecomput erf ail
s.Iti s
goodpr act icet o keepbackupsawayf rom t hecomput er
room t o ensur esecur i
tyoft hei nformat i
oni ncaseofa
calami tysuch as f i
re.To cr eate a back up pr oceed as
foll
ows:
1.Cl i
ckt hest art-
button, poi
ntt opr ogr ams, accessor ies,
system t ool st hencl i
ckbackup
2.Ifawel comet oMi crosoftBackupdi al ogboxappear s,
cli
ckokt ocl oseit.
3.Int heMi crosof tBackupdi alogbox, sel ectthef il
esand/ or
foldersy ouwantt obackupbypl acingcheckmar ksnextt o
theirnames.Whenal l t
hef i
lesi naf olderar eselected, itwill
appeargr ay .
4.Fol l
ow t he on scr een i nstructions t o accompl ish the
oper ati
on.

Restori
ngbackedupdat a
Torestorebackedupdatapr
oceedasf oll
ows:
1.I
nt hemainbackupwindow,choosetherestor
etab.
2.Selectthebackupf i
l
estorestore,choosenextst
epand
fol
l
ow t heInstr
uct
ionsonthescreen.Thebackedupdat a
wil
lberestored.

Thest artup(Bootup)disk
Suppose t he hard disk is ser
iously damaged,and the
comput ercannotst artWi ndows.The onl y ot
heropti
on
avail
ablewoul dbetost ar
tthecomput erusingastar
tupdi
sk
thathasboot i
nginst
ructi
ons.Thest artupdi ski
susual
lya
fl
oppydi skthatwascreatedusingtheoper ati
ngsyst
em.
89
Tocreateast art
updisk
1.Doubleclickmycomput er:i
con,thenthecontr
olpanel
2.Inthecont rol
paneldoublecl
ickadd/removeprograms.
3.Int
heAdd/ Removeprogramsdi al
ogbox, cl
i
ckstar
tupdisk,
thencreatedisk.
4.Thestartupdiskcreat
ionprogresswillbedi
spl
ayedas
showni n Figur
e3.22.

Tobootupacomput erusi
ngthestartupdiskinsertitinthe
fl
oppydr i
vet henswit
chont hecomput er
.Thecomput er
reads the bootup instr
uct
ions fr
om t he diskettet hen
displ
aysacommandpr omptsuchasA: >-thatenablest he
usert otype commands.The commands hel pt he user
diagnosetheprobl
emsthatmighthaveledtobootf ail
ure.

Parti
tioningadi sk
Parti
tioni
ngadi skreferstot heprocessofdivi
dingal ar
ge
physicaldiskintotwoormor epar
ti
ti edl
onscal
l ogicaldri
ves.
Alogi caldr i
veisadr iv
et hatcanbeaccessedasi fitisa
separatedi skbutinactualsense,i
tisapart
it
ionofonel ar
ge
physicaldisk.

Reasonsf orpart
it
ioningadiskTher easonsare:
1.Whent heuserintendstoinstal
lmor et hanoneoperat
ing
syst
emsont hesamedi sk.I
nstalleachonasepar ate
part
it
ion.
2.Forpurposesofbackupont hesamedi skbutdi
ffer
ent
part
it
ionssot hati
fonepar t
iti
onfails,theotherwi
ll
sti
llbe
worki
ng.

Part
it
ioningprocess
Tocreatepart
itions,youmusthav eastartuporbootab1e
di
sketteandpr oceedasf ol
lows.
1.Beforeyouswi tchonthecomput er
,insertt
hesystem di
sk
i
ntothef l
oppydi skdri
ve.
2.Switchonthecomput erandleti
tboottoA: >prompt.
90
3.TypeFDI SKcommandatt hepr omptandpr esst heent er
key.
4.Apr omptDoy ouwi sht oenabl el argedisksuppor t( YIN)
appears.Pr essYt oenabl et hecomput ertosuppor tlarge
capacityhar ddisksof500MBandabov eotherwisepr essN.
5.From themenudi splayed, Choose1( CreateDOSpar t
iti
on
orLogical DOSDr i
ve)asshowni nFi gure3.23.
6.From thesubmenudi splay ed:
(a)Chooseopt ion1t ocr eatepr imaryDOSpar ti
tiont hat
wil
lbet reatedatt heboot ab1edi sk ordr i
ve
C.
(b)Choose opt i
on 2 t o cr eate ext ended ( ot
her )DOS
part
iti
ons.
(c)Chooseopt i
on3t ogi vey ourext endedDOSpar ti
tions
dri
velabels.
Oncey ouf inishpartit
ioningt hedi sk, r
ebootthecomput erfor
thechangest obeef f
ectedt henf ormatt hedr i
vescr eated.If
youdonotf ormatthedr i
v es,thecomput erwillnotbeabl eto
accesst hest oragemedi a.

NB:YoucanalsousetheotherFDISK opt
ionst
odi
spl
ay
par
ti
ti
oni
nfor
mati
onorDel
etepar
ti
ti
ons.

3.
9Inst
all
ingWi
ndowsoper
ati
ngsy
stem

Inst
all
ingWi ndows98
Becauset heoperatingsy
stem isthesupervi
sorf
orall t
he
othercomput erprogramsitmustbei nst
all
edint
ot he
comput ersharddi skbef
oreinstal
li
nganyotherprogram.

The t erm i nstal

lati
on refer
st ot he pr ocess ofcopying
program f il
esont othehar ddisk.Inst
allationdif
fer
sf r
om
copypast epr ocessint hatitisspecif
icallymeanttocopy
execut ablefil
esinaf or
matt hatal
lowst hecomput ertorun
theprogr am.

Tocor
rectl
yinst
allanoper
ati
ngsyst
em,caref
ull
ystudyt
he
manuf
actur
ersdocumentati
on(manual
s)i
nordertogett
he
91
correctinformationoni nstall
ati
onpr oceduresandsy stem
requirements.Forexampl et oinstal
lWindows98,Mi crosoft
recommendst hata comput ershould havet hefoll
owi ng
minimum r equi
rement s:
1.Atleast486-66MHzPr ocessor .
2.Atleast16MBofRAM.
3.Atleast170MBoff reehar ddiskspace.
4.ACD- ROM drivebecauseWi ndows98comesaCD- ROM.
Thisconf i
gurat
ionwoul dwor kbutaPent ium Ianda
machi newi t
h
32MBofRAM andabov ewoul dbemuchbet t
er.

Inst
allat
ionpr ocess
Inordertoinst allWindows98onacomput erthatdoesnot
haveanoper atingsy st
em,theusermusthav eaWi ndows98
Star
tupdi sk.Thi sdiskgiv
estheuseroptionsforloadi
ngwit
h
orwithouttheCD- ROM support.
BecauseWi ndows98comesonaCD- ROM, youmustboot
thecomput erWi thCD-ROM supporti
norderforthe
comput ertor ecognisetheCD-ROM driv
e.

Asuccessful
bootdispl
aysthepr ompt;A:>-'Then
1.Typethedri
vel
ettert
hatrepresentstheCD-ROM dr
iveat
theprompte.
g.A:\>D:thenpresst heenterkey.

Thepromptshouldchangetothel
ettert
hatwastypedto
repr
esentt
heCDdr iv
ee.g.D:\>
Thismeansthatthecomputeri
sabletoreadwhateveri
sin
theCD-ROM dri
ve.
2.TypeSETUPEXEe.g.D:\>SETUPthenpr esst
heenterkey
.

Fi
rstSet
upscanstheavai
l
abl
edisksf
orer
ror
sandifaner
ror
i
sencounter
ed,iti
sfi
xedbuti
fitismor
eseri
ous,t
heset
up
pr
ocessishal
ted.

Aft
ert hi
s,the setup pr
ogr
am (Wizar
d)asks you a f
ew
quest
ions,get
sy ouacceptt
hel
icenseagr
eementandenter
92
t
hepr
oductkey
.SeeFi
gur
e3.
24.

Therestofthei
nst
all
ati
onisaut
omated.Al
lyouneedt
odo
i
sjustrel
axandl
etthewizar
dcompl
etethei
nstal
l
ati
ont
ask.

Troubleshooti
ngWi ndowsrelatedprobl
ems
Thet mt
er r
oubl
eshooti
ngreferstotheprocessof
diagnosingandtryi
ngtofi
x(resolve)har
dwar eorsof
twar
e
relat
edpr obl
ems.Whenusing

113

Windows, youmayexper i
encesomepr obl
emssuchas;
1.Failuret
oloadtheoperatingsyst
em duri
ngtheboot
ing
process.2.Thecomput erhangs(stopsr
espondi
ng)now
andt hen.
3.Abnor malrest
art
ing.
4.Displayi
ngabluescreenwi thamessagesuchasFatal
except i
on
er
rorhasoccurred et c.

Thesepr oblemsmaybeduet ooneoft hef ollowingreasons:

1.Ther emaybehar dwar econflictori ncompat i
bili
tycaused
byi nterruptr equest( IRQ)ormi ssingWi dowsdev icedriv
ers
suchas
Himem. sys( devicedr i
ver si
nWi ndowst hathel psin
al
locat ionofmai nmemor y)
2.Ther ewasapr obl em i ntheinst all
ati
onpr ocesse. g.
missingsy stem filest hatcouldnotbecopi edduet oa
damagedi nst al
lationdi sk.
3.Ther emaybeapr obl em wit
hy ourhar ddi skbootsect or
ei
therduet ov ir
usi nfect i
onordamage.
4.Insuf fici
entsy st em memor y.
5.Cor rupt edsy stem Wi ndowsr egistry.Regi stryi
sa
databasewher eWi ndowsst or
esi tsconf i
gur ati
on
i
nfor mat i
onsuchassy stem hardwar e, i
nstalledpr ograms,
andpr oper tysettings.
93
6.Duetoi
nter
ruptr
equestconfl
i
cti.
e.ift
wodev
icesar
e
shar
ingacommoni nt
erruptr
equestnumber
.

Tor esol vet hesepr obl emsy ouneedt o:

1.St udyt he t roubl eshoot ing gui de thatcomes wi tht he
oper atingsy stem
2.Dur i
ngt heboot i
ngpr ocess,hol ddownt heF8keyont he
keyboar di nordert ogett hest art-upopt ionsf rom whi chy ou
canchooset ost artt hecomput erinsaf emodeordi spl ayt he
commandpr ompt .
Thiswi llhel py out ocheckwhet hert hepr oblem i sduet o
diskf ai lureorcor rupt edr egi stry.Wi thsaf emode,y oucan
establ ishwhet hert hepr oblem i sduet ocor ruptedsy stem
registryorf ailed dev i
ces.I ft he r egistryhas f ailed,t he
comput erwi l
lpr ompty out or einstallther egistrybackup.I f
thepr obl em i sduet odi skf ail
ur e,startt hecomput erusi ng
thest ar t-up di skand t ype Scandi sk C:att hecommand
prompt .Scandi skwi llest ablishwhet hert hef ail
urei sduet o
badf ileordi rect oryst ruct ureordamageddi sksur face.
3.Uset hedev icemanagerf oundi nSy stem pr opertiesdi alog
boxt ocheckont hedev i
cest hatar ecausi ngpr obl ems.You
getsy st em pr oper ties di alog box by r ightcl icking my
comput ert henpr oper ties

4.Reinst
allthe oper
ati
ng sy
stem i
ft he pr
obl
emsabov
e
per
sist
.Incasetheprobl
em i
sbeyondrepai
r.

APPENDI
XI

Bey
ondbasi
cs

Arrangi
ngmul ti
pleapplicati
onWi ndowsont hedesktopOne
ofthebiggestadvantagesofmul ti
taski
ngisthatonecan
openandwor kwi thseveralappl
icati
ons.Onemaywi shto
arr
angeopenWi ndowsei t
her,si
debysi de(Ti
le)oroneon
topofanother(Cascade) .

94
Ti
li
ngwi
ndows

Til
ehor i
zontall
y
Thisarrangesallr unningprogramsonebelow theot
heras
showni nFigureAI .I
.Thepr ogram i
nfocuswil
lhavei
tsti
tl
e
barhighli
ghted.Toswi tchtoanotherprogr
am,simpl
ycli
ck
i
tstitl
ebar.Tot i
lehorizontal
ly:
1.Rightcli
ckthet askbar
2.Cli
ckt i
l
ewi ndowshor i
zontal
ly

Fi
g.A1.
1:Ti
l
inghor
izont
all
y

Tileverti
cal
ly
Applicati
onscanbearrangeddownthescr
eenbesi
deeach
otherasshown
i
nFi gureAI.
2.Totil
everti
cal
ly:
1.Rightcli
ckthetaskbar
2.Clickti
lewindowsverti
cal
ly
Undoi ngti
le
Youcanundot i
li
ngbyrightcl
icki
ngt
hefr
om t
heshort
cut
menu.

t
hencl
i
ck

Cascading
Eachwi ndowispl
acedontopoft
heotherwit
htheacti
ve
program bei
ngfor
emostasshowninFigur
eA1.3.To
cascade:
1.Rightcli
ckthet
askbar
.
2.Cli
ckcascadewindows

UndoingCascade
Youcanundocascadebyrightcl
i
ckingt
hetaskbar
,then
cl
ickundocascadef
rom t
heshortcutmenu.

Cust
omi
singcommonf
eat
uresi
nWi
ndows98

Cust
omi
singt
hedeskt
op
95
Windowsl
etst
heuserchangedeskt
opappear
anceand
di
splay
.

Tocust omisethedeskt
op,ri
ghtcl
ickt hedeskt
opt
odispl
ay
propert
iesdial
ogboxasshowni nFigureA.1.
4andmakethe
appropriat
echangesbycli
cki
ngeacht ab.

Thebackground
Tosetthebackgr ound
1.Cli
ckthebackgr oundt ab
2.I
nWal l
paperlist,selectawal l
paperpatt
ern.
3.Cli
ckont i
le t ocov erenti
rescreenwit
hsmal lwal
l
paper
i
magesorst retcht of il
lthewal l
paperwithonel argeimage
orcentert
ol etthewal lpaperoccupyonlyt hecentreofthe
deskt
op.
4.Cli
ckapplytoseet hechangesbef or
eyoucl osethedial
og
box,
5.Cli
ckoktoef f
ectt hechangesandcl osethedialogbox.

Sett
ingthescreensaver
Ift
hescreensaverisset
,itst
art
splay
ingont
hescr
eeni
fthe
computerisl
eftidl
eforasetperi
odofti
me.

Tosetascr
eensav
er:

1.Cli
ckthescr
eensavertab
2.Selectascr
eensaversty
lefr
om t
hescreensaverli
st
3.cl
ickappl
ytoseethechangesbef
oreyouclosethedial
og
box,
4.cl
ickoktoeffectt
hechangesandcl
osethedial
ogbox.

NB:Tocl
eart
hescr
eensav
erpr
esst
hemousebut
tonorany
key
boar
dkey.

Changingthescreenappearance
Thi
swi l
lchangetheappearanceofWi
ndowsi
temssuchas
i
consize,bordercol
our
s,highl
ight
set
c.

96
Tochanget
hescr
eenappear
ance:
1.Cl
i
ckt
heappear
ancet
ab
2.From theschemesl i
stbox,selectthecol orschemesuch
asrose,stor
m, Windowsst andardetc.
3.From theit
emsl istbox,selecttheitem thatthescheme
wil
lapplytoi.
e.icon, deskt
op, menubar setc.
4.Cli
ckapplytoseet hechangesbef orey oucloset hedi
alog
box,
5.Cli
ckokt oeffectthechangesandcl osethedialogbox.

SetWindowsitemseff
ects
WithWindows98,t
heusercanchangeiconty
peaswel l
as
vi
sualeff
ectsofmostofi
temssuchsizeofi
cons,ani
mate
windows,andmenusamongothers.TosetWindowseff
ect
s:

Web
WithWindows98y oucancustomiset hedesktopby
i
ntegrat
ingtheWeb
feat
uresoni t.Youcanal sot ur
nt heWebel ementsinto
desktopelement
sandupdat ethem atanyt i
me,thi
si sdone
by:
1.Cli
ckthewebt abt
oapplywebef fectsonthedesktop.
2.Checkv
iewmyact
ivedeskt
opasaweb
3.Cl
ickappl
ytoseethechangesbef
oreyouclosethedi
alog
box.
4.Cl
ickoktoef
fectt
hechangesandclosethedial
ogbox.

Setti
ngdispl
aycoloursandresol
uti
on
Theclar
ityofanobjectdependsoncol
ori
ntensi
tyand
resol
uti
onofthedisplayuni
t.

Tochangecolorandr esolut
ionsett
ings
1.Cl
icktheSett
ingstab.
2.From col
oursli
stbox, sel
ectthecali
brat
ion e.
g. 256
col
ours.
97
3.Usetheslidebuttontoadjustt
hescreenresol
uti
onse.g.
800x600pi xels.
4.Cli
ckapplytoseet hechangesbefor
ey ouclosethedi
alog
box.
5.Cl
icko.K.toeffectthechangesandclosethedi
alogbox.

Sett
ingdat eandt i
me
Tosetdat eandt i
me:
1.Clickt hestartbutton,poi
ntt osetti
ngsthencli
ckcontr
ol
panel al
ternati
velydoublecli
ckt heClockonthesyst
em t
ray.
2.I
nt hecont rolpanel
, doubl
e-cli
ckdate/t
imeicon.
3.Adjustdat eandt i
meaccor dingly
.

Mouseset t
ings
Tochanget hedefaultmousebut ton,doubl
ecli
ckspeedand
thepoint
erappearancet osetamouse:
1.Cli
ckthe,Star
tbutton,pointtoSetti
ngsthen;
contr
olpanel
.
2.Inthecontrolpanel,
doubleclickthemouseicon.
3.Changethemousepr operti
est hecli
ckok.

APPENDI
XII
I

Wi ndowsXpdeskt opfeature
Theyr esomesl i
ghtchangesonhowsomei consappearand
theirlabel
ingont hedesktopasshownt oenhancesecur it
y,
theuserhast ologonbypr essingCt r
l+Al t+Delkey sin
ordert ousethecomput erresources.
Thest artmenu
Thest artmenul ayouti
sslightl
ydi f
ferentfr
om t hatof
Windows95, 98andMe.Thest artbuttondisplaysapane
dividedint
ot wo.Thecontrol panelhasr epl
acedt hesett
ings
menuwhi l
etheshutdownandl ogof fcommandscanbe
accessedont hestartmenuasshowni nFigureA3. 2

Changi
ngdesktoppropert
ies
Tochangedesktopproper
ti
es:
1.Ri
ghtcli
ckablankareaonthedesktop.
2.Fr
om theshor
tcutmenu,cli
ckpropert
iest
odi
spl
ayt
he
98
desktopproper
ti
esdialogasshowni nFigureA3.3.
3.Tochangeapr operty,
sel
ectat abassoci
atedtot he
propert
ythenmaket henecessarychanges.Forexampl et
o
changethedesktop'backgr
ound,selectt
hedeskt optabas
shownandchooseabackgr ound.

Shutt
ingdownt hecomput er
Simplycl
i
ckthestartbutt
ont odisplaytheshutdowndial
og
boxsimil
artotheoneshowni nFi gureA3.4.AswihWi
t ndows
Me,inXPonecannotal sorestar
ti nMSDOSmode.New
commandssuchasl ogoffAdmini st
ratorandHiber
nat
e
havebeenintr
oduced.

APPENDI
XIV

Gl
ossar
y

Accessti
me:Thel
engt
hoft
imeneededt
owr
it
eorr
eaddat
a
fr
om stor
age.

Applicat
ion package:Itis a pr
ogr
am thati
s used in
processi
nguserspeci fi
cneedssometi
mescal
l
edof f
-t
he-
shelforcannedprograms.

Arit
hmetic and Logi
c Uni
t( ALU)
:A partoft he cent
ral
processi
ng unitthatperf
orms comput
ati
ons and makes
compar i
sonsasinstr
uct
ed.

Art
ifi
cialint
ell
i
gence(
AI)
:Afiel
dofcomput ert
echnologyi
n
which r esear
cher
s and el
ectronic product devel
oper
s
concentrateondevel
opi
ngcomput ersthatimi
tateshuman
i
ntell
i
gence.

Bits(binarydi
gits)
:Sincedigi
talcomput
ersandcomputer
accessoriesci
rcuit
ryrepr
esentdataasapatt
ernofonand
offst at
eofel ectr
iccurr
ent,abi sa 1 ora 0 usedt
ti o
representthet
wost at
esrespecti
vel
y.

99
Byte:Agroupofbitsusedtost
oreasingl
echar
act
er.Aby
te
usuall
yconsist
sofsev enorei
ghtbi
ts,whicht
hecomput
er
handlesasaunit.

Cent
ralpr
ocessingunit(
CPU):Thisi
sthebrainofa
computer
,whichapartfr
om perf
ormingprocessi
ngtasks;
it
cont
rol
sallot
heracti
viti
esofacomput ersy
stem.

Computerhardware:Thephy
sicalcomputerequi
pmentone
canseeandtouch.Suchequi
pmentincl
udesthesyst
em uni
t,
i
nputdevi
ces,stor
agedevi
cesandoutputdevi
ces.

Computerprogram:A setofi nst

ructi
ons t
hatdir
ectthe
computerwhatt askst
o per
form andhow t o per
for
m it
.
Theseinst
ruct
ionsarespeci
all
ywr i
ttenusi
ngacomput er
progr
amminglanguage.

Comput
ersof
twar
e:Seecomput
erpr
ogr
am

Comput ersystem:Acomput ersystem r

efersnotonlyt ot
he
physicall
yattached devi
cest ot hecomput erbutal so to
softwareandt heuser.
Controluni t
:The par toft he CPU t hati nter
pretsthe
i
nstructi
onsandcont r
olsalltheoperati
onsi nacomput er
system.Thecont r
oluni
tmonitorsonthei nput,st
orage,t
he
ari
thmet i
candl ogi
coperati
ons,andtheoutputoperati
onst o
havet heinst
ructi
onscarr
iedout.

Dat
a:Thi s arethe raw fact
sr epr
esented by numeri
c,
al
phabeti
c charact
ers and special symbols that ar
e
pr
ocessedintoi
nfor
mat i
onbythecomputer
.

Dat
aprocessi
ng:Thevar
iedact
ivi
ti
esper
for
medt
oconv
ert
dat
aint
ousefuli
nfor
mati
on.

Deskt
oppubli
shing:Thepr
ocessofdesigningandcreati
ng
pr
ofessi
onal documents such as books, magazi nes,
br
ochuresand cardsusi
ng speci
ali
sed soft
waresuchas
100
PageMaker,whi
ch i
nstr
uct
st hecomput
ert
o si
ze,i
nser
t,
graphi
csaswell
aspri
ntadocument.

Dir
ectaccess:The abi l
i
tyto go di
rectl
yt ot he st
orage
l
ocati
on fort he par
ti
culardat
arequired forprocessing,
wit
houthavingtosear chthr
oughalltherecordsfrom the
begi
nningofthefi
le.

Dr
ive:Dev
icesusedt
oreadand/
orwr
it
e(st
ore)dat
aona
st
oragemedia.

Elect
ronicmail(
e-mail)
:A typeofmai lsystem thatuses
comput er
sandthetelecommunicati
onfaci
li
ti
est otransmi
t
messages.Messagesmaybei nthefor
m oflett
ers,memos,
repor
ts,orgr
aphi
cdisplays.

Electr
onicspreadsheet:Comput
ersof
twar
ethathasrows
andcol umnsusedf ordoi
nganumberofcal
cul
ati
onsand
forecasti
ngf
uturetrends.

Fl
oppydisk:Afl
oppydiskorsimplyadisket
teismadeupof
asmal lfl
exi
blediskcoatedwithironoxide.Thi
sdiskis
cover
edwi t
hapl asti
cprotect
ivecase.Itisport
abl
ethus
makingitthemostcommont ypeofstoragedevi
ceused
wit
hmi cr
ocomputers.

Hardcopy:Har
dcopyref
erstothet
angi
bleout
putproduced
mostl
yonapi eceofpaperbydevi
cessuchaspri
nter
sand
pl
ott
ers.

Harddisk:Al
sorefer
redtoasaharddriveoraWi nchester
di
sk,i
sasealeduniti
nwhichareshi
ny,
met al
li
cdi
skplatters
andread/wri
teheadsthatreadsandrecordsdat
aont he
di
sks.

I
nf or
mat i
onprocessi
ngcycle:Theful
lsetofoper
ati
onsthat
takeplace,f
rom coll
ect
ionofinputdat
atotheavail
abi
l
ityof
output(i
nfor
mat i
on).
101
I
nput:A col
l
ect
ionofr
aw dat
aatt
hest
artofi
nfor
mat
ion
pr
ocessi
ngcycl
e.

I
nput
/output(
I/O)devi
ces:Devi
cesusedforenter
ingdat
ato
bepr
ocessedandf orr
eport
ingt
heresul
tsofprocessi
ng.

Int
egrat
edcircuit
s:Thousandsofsmal lci
rcui
tsetchedona
sil
i
conchi p.Ast hesecircuit
saremademor eand more
compact,theyar ecal
ledLar geScaleIntegr
ated(LSI
)and
VeryLargeScaleint
egrat
ed( VLSI
)ci
rcuit
s.

Menu:Aprogram sli
stofuserchoicesorpossibl
eacti
ons
usual
l
yshownont hescreen.Choi
cesareusual
lyexpr
essed
i
nsimplel
anguagestat
ement sf
oreaseofuse.

Microcomputer:The name gi ven t o a smal l

,low cost
comput ersystem wit
h a micropr ocessoras i ts brai
n.A
microcomputercanperfor
mi nput ,processing,storageand
ret
rieval
, and out put operations r api
dly, accur at
ely
,
automat i
cal
ly
,andeconomicall
ydespi teitsrelati
velysmall
physicalsi
ze.

Microprocessor:A compl
etecent
ralpr
ocessi
ng uni
tofa
computerpl acedonasi ngl
eLarge-
Scal
eI nt
egr
ated(LSI
)
ci
rcuit
schi p.

Mini
comput
er:A comput
erhav i
ng a smal
l
ercapacit
yfor
bothpr
imar
yandsecondar
ystoragethanmedi
um sizeand
l
argesi
zemainf
ramecomputer
s.

Networ ks:Communicat
ionsyst
emsthatconnectcomput
ers,
terminals,and ot
herelect
roni
c of
fi
ce equipmentforthe
purpose of ef fi
ci
ent communicati
on and shar i
ng of
resources.

Oper
ati
ng sy
stem:Thi sis a compl
ex pr
ogram thati
s
r
esponsi
blefor cont
rol
li
ng pr
ocessi
ng oper
ati
ons ina
102
computersystem.Ithandles input,out
put,stor
age and
runni
ng ofotheruserpr ograms.Exampl es ofcommon
Operati
ngSystemsareMicrosoftWindows95/9812000/
XP,
UNIXandLinux,Appl
eMacOSet c.

127

Opti
caldisk:Thesearedisksonwhi chdatai srecorded
usi
ngal aserbeam (aver
yst rongconcent
rat
edl i
ght)
.The
beam bumsthethinshi
nyr
eflecti
vesur
facetorecor
ddat a.

Output
:Usefuli nf
ormat
ion av
ail
abl
e att
he end oft
he
i
nformati
onprocessi
ngcycl
e.

Plot
ter
:Onet ypeofgr aphi
csprinterusedtoprovi
dehard
copyofgraphicalout
put.Theoutputappear
sinsuchfor
ms
asmulti
color
edchar t
s,gr
aphs,di
agramsandmaps.

Random- AccessMemor y(RAM):A typeofmai nmemor y

thatholdsdat aandi nf
ormati
ontemporari
l
ybef or
eandaf t
er
processing.Itiscall
edrandom accessmemor ybecausethe
data contained in each st
orage addr
ess can be dir
ectl
y
retr
ievedwi thoutregardforthesequenceinwhi chitwas,
stored.

Read-Onl yMemor y(ROM):Theot herty

peofmainmemor y
wi t
hdat aori nst
ruct
ionspermanentl
yorsemipermanentl
y
recorded i nit.This means thatno new data can be
transferredintoROM dur i
ngpr ocessi
ng.ROM isusedto
storepr ogram i
nstr
ucti
onsthatthecomputeral
waysneeds
tooper ate. '

Roboti
cs:The use ofr obot s contr
oll
ed by computert
o
perf
orm work ordi
nari
ly done by human bei ngs.Robot
s
usual
lyhav
ecomput ercontroll
edar msandacont r
olcamer
a
pl
acedinsi
dethatenabl
esi trecognisedi
ffer
entobj
ects.

Scanner
:Ani
nputdev
icet
hatcapt
uresdat
afr
om sour
ce
103
document
sandobj
ect
s.

Semiconductor:An electr
oni
c component consi sti
ng of
smallchi ps ofsil
i
con on which integr
ated and support
ci
rcuit
s ar e etched. It is used f or developi
ng
microprocessor
s,pr
imaryandotherelectr
oniccomponents.

Stor
age:Thestor
ingofdataandi nf
ormati
onforfut
ureus.
Thelengt
hofti
met hedatai
sstoredcanvaryf
rom l
essthan
asecondtomonthsorevenyear
s.

Super
computer
:Thel argest
,fast,andmostexpensi vety
pe
ofcomputerav ai
lable.They can per form hundreds of
mil
li
onsofcomplexscienti
fi
ccalculat
ionsinasecond.

Ut
il
it
yprogr
am:A coll
ect
ion ofinst
ruct
ions desi
gned t
o
makecommonpr
ocessi
ngoperat
ionsrunsmoothly.

Vol
ati
le memor y: The ter
m applied t
o semi-
conductor
memor ybecauseit
scontentisl
ostwhentheel
ect
ri
ccurrent
i
st ur
nedof f.Thecontentmustbest or
edonanauxi l
iary
st
orageifi
tistobeusedagain.

Wordprocessi
ng:Thepr ocessi
ngoftextualdat
atoproduce
documents such as lett
ers,repor
ts,manual s,cat
alogs,
newspaper
s,magazines,booksorotherdocuments.

FORM TWONOTES

WORDPROCESSORS

Chapt
erout
li
ne

1 Def
1. ini
ti
onofwordprocessor
.
1.
2 Pur
poseofwordprocessi
ng.
1.
3 Usi
ngawordprocessi
ngpackage(
Micr
osof
twor
d).
104
1.4Edit
ingandf or
mat tingadocument
.
1.5Creat i
ngandedi t
ingat abl
e.
1.6Mailmer gedocument .
1.7Inserti
nggraphics.
1.8Pri
ntingadocument .
Defi
niti
onofawor dpr ocessor

Whati
sawor dpr ocessor
?
Awordprocessorisanappli
cat
ionsof
twaret
hatenablesa
per
sontocreate,
sav e,
edi
t,f
ormatandpri
ntt
extdocuments.
Wordpr
ocessingistheactofusingawor
dprocessor.

Examplesofwor dprocessors
Examplesofwor dprocessorsi
ncl Mi
ude, crosof
tWord,
Corel
WordPerfect,WordSt
ar,LotusWor
dProandmanyother
s.
Awor dprocessorhasanumberofadv ant
agesoverhety
pe
wri
terthatincl
ude:
1.Adocumentcanbest oredinthecomputerforf
uture
ref
erenceincomput erf
il
esthatdonotoccupyphysical
spaceliketheoneonpaper .Thi
screat
esapaperless
document-processi
ngenvir
onment.
2.Typing using a word processori s easierand mor e
eff
icientbecause some act ions are aut omated.For
exampl e,word-wrap f
eature aut omaticall
yt akes t
he
cursortothebeginningoft henextl i
neoncey oureach
the end oft he cur
rent.Anot heraut omat i
cf eatur
es
common i n most wor d pr ocessorsi s automati
c
i
nser ti
onofanew pageaf t
err eachingt heendoft he
currentpage.
3.Mostwor dprocessor
shav especialedi
tingt ool
ssuch
asspelli
ng and gr
ammarchecker s and thesaur
us
thathelpt he userto easily Corr
ectgr ammarand
spell
ingmistakes.Athesaurushelpstof indawor dor
phrasewithsimil
armeanings.
4.Wihi
t nser
tand typeovermodesav ai
labl
ein most
wor
d processor
s,onecaneasi
lyinsertorrepl
acea
105
 wordoraphr asewi
thoutaf
fect
ingt
hest
ruct
ureand
neat
nessoft
hedocument.
5.Wordpr ocessorshavesuper ordocumentf
i or
mat t
ing
feat
ur es.Formatti
ngr efer
st othear tofmakingt he
documentmor eattr
activeandappeal i
ngtotheey e.
Such f eatures include, underli
ning, bol
dfaci
ng,
i
tali
cizati
on,applyi
ngdiff
erentcol
orsetc.
6.Whi l
eat y
pewrit
ermayrequi
rethatwerety
petheenti
re
documentwhenwewantmanycopi es,wit
hawor d
processor
,pr
inti
nglet
syouproduceasmanycopiesper
sessionasneeded.
7.Usi
ng the cut
,copy and past
e commands,y
ou can
i
ncorpor
ateothert
extwit
houthavi
ngtor
ety
peit
.

Basicwor dpr ocessi ngf eat uresandconcept s

1.Theyal l
owt heusert ocr eateaf il
e,sav ei tandopeni t
againandagai nf orr euse, edi ti
ngorf ormat t
ing.
2.Theyhav eal mostsi mi lardocumentwi ndowswi ththe
foll
owi ngFeat ures:
(a)Mostar edesi gnedt ol ookl i
keapi eceofpaperwi thaf ew
(b)Mostoft hescr eeni sbl ankbef orety pingoft ext.
(c)Ther eisacur sor, whi chbl i
nksatt heposi ti
onwher ey ou
canBegi nent eringt ext .
(d)Ther ei sast at usbarorl i
net hatpr ov idest heuserwi th
currentst atusi nfor mat i
onsuchassav ingoper ati
on,the
nameoft hef i
lei nuse, thecur r
entpage, thecur r
ent
i
magi nar yhor izont al-l
ineandcol umncur sorposi t
ion.
(e)Wor dwr ap:Thef eatur et hataut omat icallymov esawor d
orcur sort othebegi nningoft henextl i
nei fi
tdoesnotf i
tat
theendoft hecur rentline.
(g)Scr oll
ing:Thi si st hev erticalmov ementoft extdocument
ont hescr een.Wecanscr ollthroughat extdocumentusi ng
theupordonar rowkey s, pageupandpagedownkey sand
alsousi ng, amousei nwi ndowsbasedwor dpr ocessors.
(h)Hel p:Somet imeswegetl ost, confusedorneedmor e
i
nf ormat i
ononhowt ouseanappl i
cat i
on.Hel pcontains
106
i
nst r
uction,t
ips,poi
nters,expl
anationsandgui dance.You
cangethel pbyei t
herpressingF1ont hekey boar dor
cl
ickingHelpf rom t
hemenu.
()Edi
i t
ingModes:Wor dprocessorshav etwoedi t
ingmodes,
i
nser tandtypeov ermode.I ni
nser tmode,ev erychar acter
typedbet weenwor ds,l
inesorchar act
ersispl acedatt he
cursorposition.Thi
spushesal lthetextinfrontoft hecur sor
awaywi t
houtdeleti
ngit.Howev erintypeovermodeev ery
charactertypeddeleteswhatwast herebeforeandr eplaces
i
twi thnewt extatthecursorposi t
ion.
3.Nearl
yal
lwordprocessorshaveaspel
li
ngchecker
,
thesaur
us(
Dict
ionar
yofsy nonyms)andgr
ammarchecker
.
4.Theyprovi
defortheuseofheader
sandf oot
ers,
indexing,
foot
notesandrefer
ences,t
ypef
aces(font
s)andcharacter
set.
5.Mostwor dprocessor shav eabi l
it
ytocr eateandi mpor t
tabl
es, textandgr aphi
csf rom otherprogr ams.
Most l
y, wordpr ocessor sar eusedf orwriti
nglet t
ers,report
s,
proj
ect s,books, essays, memoscur ri
culum vitaeet c.
Factorst oconsi derwhenchoosi ngawor dpr ocessorThe
choiceofawor dpr ocessordependon:
1.The t ype of oper ating system.For exampl e,most
microcomput ersar ecur rent
lyr unni
ngonWi ndowsbased
operatingsy stem suchasMi crosoftWi ndows.Thi smeans
thatyoushoul dconsi deracqui r
ingagr aphicaluseri nterf
ace
basedWor dPr ocessor ,
2.It
suser -
fri
endliness,i.e.easeofuse.
3.It
sf ormat ti
ngandedi tingfeatures.Theyshoul dbegood
andv aried.

Usingawor dprocessingpackageMi cr
osoftWord
.
MicrosoftWor dis one oft he components ofMicrosof
t
Offi
ce.MicrosoftOff
icei
sintegrat
edsoftwarewit
hanumber
ofinterr
elat
edpr ograms.Thepr ogramsincludeMicrosof
t
Wor d,aspreadsheetcal
ledMi cr
osof
tExcel,andadatabase

107
management sy stem caled Mi
l crosoft Access,
communi cati
on softwar ecal l
ed Mi cr
osoftOut look,and a
presentationpackagecal led MicrosoftPower Pointamong
others.
Althought herearesev er
alv ersi
onsofMi crosoftWor d,the
mostcommonar eWor d97,Wor d2000,Wor dXPandWor d
2003.These v er
sions ofMi crosoftWor d aref ound in
MicrosoftOf f
ice97, 2000, XPand2003sui t
esr espectiv
ely
.
Starti
ngMi cr
osoftWor d
Therear eanumberofway syoucanst artMi cr
osoftWor d.
Howev ert he
Simplestisbyusi ngpr ogramsst artmenu.

Star
tingMi crosof tWor df r
om t hest artmenu
1.Cli
ckt hest artbut ton.
2.Pointtopr ogr ams/al lprogr amsi fyouar eusingWi ndows
XP
3.Cli
ckf rom thepr ogramsmenu
MicrosoftWor dscr eenl ayout
Oncey oust ar tMi crosof tWor d,itprov i
desyouwi t
habl ank
document wi ndow r ef er
red t o as t he new document
templatewher ey oucancr eat ey ourdocument .
Howev ery oumayneedt ouseot herspecialisedtempl ates
suchasFaxesand l etters,Memosand Webpage.How?
Cli
ckFi l
et hensel ectNew f r om t hemenu.TheNew di alog
boxinFi gure1. 3t hatappear senabl esaper sont oselecta
templatebyact ivatingt empl atest abt hendoubl ecli
cki
ngi ts
i
con.

WithWi ndowsmul ti
taskingcapabili
ty,youcanhav emor e
thanonedocumentwi ndow att hesamet i
meshar i
ngone
appli
cati
onwi ndow.Howev er
,eachdocumentwi ndow wil
l
haveitsownt it
lebarbutbot hwillshareotherfacil
it
iesl
ike
themenubaroft heapplicati
onwindow.
Howev eronlyonedocumentwi ndow wi l
lbev i
sibleont he
desktop ata t ime whi l
e othersr emains minimized or
covered.Thi
swi ndowisr efer
redtoast heactiv
edocument
108
window.Toswi
tchbetweendocumentwi
ndows,cl
i
ckt
hei
r
butt
onsonthet
askbar
.

Par
tsofawi
ndow

Tit
lebar
Ati
tlebarismostlyabluest ri
patthetopofthewindowthat
di
splaystheti
tl
eoft hecurrentl
yrunni
ngappli
cati
onortask.
Howeveritispossi
bletochanget hecolorofthet
it
lebar
usi
ngthedisplaypropert
ies.

Thet i
tl
ebaralso enabl
estheuserto movethewindow
aroundthedeskt
op.Thisispossi
blebypoi
nti
ngtoi
tthen
draggi
ngusi
ngthemouse.

Ont herightofthetitl
ebarar ethreetinybutt
onscall
ed
mini
mize,rest
ore/maximizeandtheclosebut
tons.
Theminimizebuttonr
educesawindowt obecomeabutton
onthetaskbar
.

Therestor
e/maximizebuttonstret
chesthewindowt ocov er
theenti
redesktoporrest
oreittoit
sori
ginal
sizerespect
ively
.
Theclosebuttonisusedtocloseandexitawindow.

Menubar
Prov i
desadr opdownl i
stofcommandst hatonecanuset o
per f
orm atask.Exampl esar eFil
e,Exit
, WindowandHel p.
Figure1.4showst heFil
edr opdownmenu.
Too/ bars
These ar e rows of but tons or i cons t hat r epresent
commands.The command but t
ons ar e shor tcutst ot he
samecommandsy oucanaccessf rom themenubar .There
arev ar
ioust ool
bar savailabl
ei n Microsof tWor d butt he
mostcommonar et he Standard and For matting toolbars
(Figure1.5and1. 6)
Toseewhatot hercommandsar e,justpoi nttot hei conon
thet oolbarand a t extt i
p willbedi splay ed showi ng the
109
functionoft heicon.
Mostoft hesecommandswi llbediscussedlater
.
Hidinganddi spl
ayingthetoolbars
1.ClicktheVi ewmenuopt ion.
2.Posi t
ionthepoi nteronTool bar
s.
3.Clickthet ypeoft oolbarrequir
edt oselecti
t.

Select
edt oolbar
shav et
icksorcheckmarksnextt othem as
showni nFigure1.7.
Rulers
MicrosoftWor dprovi
destheuserwit
hvert
icalandhor i
zont
al
onscreenr ul
ersthathel
pstheuserposi
ti
ont extorobject
s
i
nt herightposit
ion.

I
ft herul
erisnotvisi
bleonthescreen,t
hendisplayitusing
thefol
lowingpr
ocedure.
1.Cli
cktheViewmenuopt i
on.
2.Ont hedropdownmenut hatappears,
cli
ckRuler.Acheck
mar korti
ckwillappearnextt
oi tshowingthattheruleris
displ
ayedonthescreen.

Wor karea
Thisisthewor ki
ngareawhereyoucanentertextor
graphicalobj
ects.All
windowsbasedappli
cat
ionprogr
ams
provi
det heuserwithauniqueworki
ngareasuitedt
othat
parti
cularappl
icati
on.

Statusbar
Thisi sani nteracti
vest ri
patt hebot tom oft hescreent hat
actsasacommuni cati
onl inkbet weent heuserandt he
program.I tdi
spl aysinteracti
veact i
vi
ti
eslikesav i
ng,opening,
backgr oundpr i
nting,cursorposi t
ionetc.
Scrollbars/button_andscr ol
lar r
ows
Scrollbarsorbut t
onsar ehorizontalandverti
cal bar
sont he
bordersofawi ndowt hattheuserdr agstoscr ol
lupwar d,
downwar ds,t
ot her i
ghtorl eftofadocument .Scrol
larr
ows
arear r
owsatt heendoft hescr ol
lbarsthattheuserclicks
110
i
nsteadofdr
aggi
ngthescrol
lbut
ton.Usi
ngscrol
lbar
sor
ar
rowsisequi
val
enttousi
ngthearrowkeysonthekeyboar
d

Runni
ngt
hepr
ogr
am

Creatingadocument
Wheny oustar
tanewdocument ,youwill
seeabl
i
nki
ng
vert
icalbarcal
ledaninser
tionpoi
nter
.Youcanmoveyour
i
nser t
ionpoint
erbyusingthearr
owkey sort
hemouse.

I
ncasey ouareinMi crosoftWordandy ouwanttocreat
e
anot
hernewdocument ,youshouldproceedasfol
l
ows:
1.Cl
icktheFi
lemenu,
2.Choosenew,from theresult
ingdial
ogbox,cl
i
ckBlank
DocumentOrselecttempl at
ebyclicki
nganytemplat
e'st
ab
3.Cl
icktheOKbut t
on.

Savinganewdocument
1.From t hef i
lemenu, cli
cksav eorSav eAsorsi mplyclick
thesav eBut tonont heSt andar dt oolbar.Thedi fference
betweensav eandsav easi st hatal t
houghbot hgi vet he
saveasdi alogboxwhensav ingf orthef ir
sttime, Save
all
owst heusert osav edocumentwi thouttheoppor tunityt
o
changet hef i
lenameort helocat ion.Figure1. 9bel owshows
asav easdi alogbox.
2.I
nt hef i
lenamebox, t
ypeauni quenamef ort hedocument
3.Selectat hel ocat i
onordr ivey ouwantt osav ei n,by
cli
ckingt hedownar r owont her ightofsav ei nlistbox,
4.Tosav et hef il
einadi fferentf ormatort y
pesuchasWor d
6.0,Wor df orMaci ntoshet c.cl i
ckt hedownar r
owont he
rghtofSav
i east ypel i
stboxandchooseaf i
l
et y pe.
5.Cli
ckt hesav ebut ton.Thef i
lewi l
lautomat icallybesav ed
asaMi crosof tWor ddocument .
Openi nganexi sti
ngdocument
1.From thef il
emenu, cl
ickOpencommandoront he
Standardt ool bar,cli
ckt heOpenbut ton.Alternativelypress
Ctrl+0keycombi nat ionont hekey boar d.TheOpendi alog
111
boxshownappear s.
2.Selectadr iveorfol
derwher ethef i
l
ei ssav ed.
3.I
nt hef i
l
enamebox, t
ypeorsel ectthenameoft he
documenty ouwantt oopen.
4.Cli
ckt heopenbut ton
Toopenadocumentcr eatedinanot herpr ogram,cli
ckthe
fi
leformaty ouwanti nthef i
l
esoft ypebox, andthendouble
cli
ckt hedocumentnamei nthefolderlist.Youcanal souse
wildcardsint hefi
lenameboxf orexampl e,type*.Document
tofindMi crosoftWor dfi
les.

NB:Microsof
tWordkeepsalistofshort
cutli
nkstorecent
ly
usedfi
lesonthefi
ledropdownmenu.I ftheli
stofrecent
ly
used document
si s not displ
ayed,y ou can confi
gure
Micr
osoftWordtobedi
splay
ingthem bydoingthef
oll
owing:
1.Cl
ickt
heToolst
henOpt i
onscommand.Thisdispl
aysthe
opti
onsDial
ogbox.
2.Onthegener
alt
ab,sel
ectther
ecent
lyusedfi
l
el i
stcheck
boxasShowninFigur
e1.11.

Protect
ingadocumentwi thapassword
A passwordisacombi nati
onofcharact
erst
hatprevents
otherusersf
rom openi
ngandchangingadocumentwithout
permissi
on.I
fadocumenti spr
otect
edbyapassword,only
thepersonwhoknowst hepasswordcanopent
hedocument
orediti
t.

Tosav eadocumentwi thapassword

1.Createoropent hedocumenty ouwanttopr
otect
2.From thefi
lemenu, chooseSaveAs.
3.Cli
ckthedownar r
owont heTool
sbutt
oninthesaveas
di
alogbox
4.Cli
ckGener alopti
ons.
5.Typeinapasswor dinthepasswordt
oopen.This
promptst heusertoenterpasswordwhenopeninga
document .
6.Typeinapasswor dinthepasswordt
omodify.Thi
s
112
prevent
stheuserfrom maki
ngchangestoadocument
unlesstheuserent
ersthecor
rectpasswor
d.
7.Final
l
yclickOK.

Closingadocument
Closi
ngadocumentmeansunl oadi
ngthecurrentacti
ve
documentfrom memor ysothattheusercancreateoropen
anotherwi
thoutnecessar
il
yexiti
ngfrom Word.
Tocloseadocument :
1.Cli
cktheFil
emenu.
2.ChooseClose.

Exi
tingfr
om Word
1.Toexitfr
om Word,
makesur
eal
lopendocument
sar
e
saved.
2.Cli
ckFil
emenu,
3.Cli
ckExitcommand.

NB:Youcanexitfr
om Mi crosoftWordbypressi
ngAl t+F4
keysorbydoublecl i
ckingt heappli
cati
oniconatt heleft
mostcomeroftheti
tlebar .Ifyouhavenotsavedanyofthe
opendocuments,MicrosoftWor dpromptsyout osav et
he
documentf
ir
st.

1.
4
Edi
ti
ngandf
ormat
ti
ngadocument

Edit
ing
Edit
ingreferstomaki ngnecessar
ychangest oanexisti
ng
document.Apar tfrom manualediti
ngusingdelet
e,insert
andov er
type/ov
erwr i
tecommands,Micr
osoftWordprovi
des
theuserwi t
hinbuil
ttoolssuchasthespel
l
ingandgrammar
checker,
thesaurus,undoandre-
do,fi
ndandrepl
aceetc.

Bl
ockoper
ati
ons

Sel
ect
ing(
highl
i
ght
ing)abl
ockoft
ext
113
Thepur poseofselect
ingtextistoenablet heuserperf
orma
numberofedi ti
ngorformattingoperati
onsont hesel
ected
blockoftext.Micr
osoftWor dpresentstheuserwi tha
numberofway sforsel
ecti
ngabl ockoft ext.Youcaneither
selectablockoftextusi
ngt hemouseorkey boar
d.

Select
ingwi thamouse
1.Tosel ectawor d,placetheinserti
onpoi nt
eront hewor d
then,doubl eCli
ckit.
2.Tosel ectasent ence,positi
onst hemousepoi nt eratthe
l
eftmar gi
nunt i
litchangest oar ightarrow,andt hencl i
ck
once.
3.Tosel ectapar agraph,placethepoi nteratthebegi nning
orendoft heparagraph.Noticethatt hepointerchangest oI-
beam.Nowdr agtheI -
beam ov erthet exttobesel ectedand
rel
easet hemousebut tonattheendoft het extyouwi shto
workon.

Sel
ect ingwi ththekey boar d
1.Tosel ectonewor d,mov ethei nserti
onpointert
othe
beginningorEndoft hewor dt henpress
Shift
+Ct rl
+Ri ghtorl eftar r
ow.
2.Tosel ectonel ine, pressShi ft+UporShi f
t+Downarrow
key .Alt
er nati
v el
y,mov ethei nser ti
onpointtotheendor
begi nni
ngofThel inet henpr essShi ft+Homeorendkey s
respect i
vely.
3.To sel ectanent i
repage;pr essShi ft
+PageDown or
Shift+PageUp.4.Tosel ectt heent ir
edocument ,press
Ctrl+A orpl ace t he cur soratt he begi
nning oft he
documentt henpr essShi f
t+Ct r
l+End.

Deleti
ngtext
1.Todeleteacharacterorawordfrom therighttothel ef
t,
placetheinser
ti
onpointerontheri
ghtoft hewordt hen
pressthebackspacekey .
2.Todeleteacharactertotheri
ghtofthecursorposi t
ion,
placetheInsert
ionpoint
erontheleftofthewor dthenpr ess
theDeletekey.
114
Todelet
eablockoftext
1.Hi
ghli
ghtt
het extt
obedel
eted.
2.Pr
esstheDeletekey.

Restori
ngdelet
edt ext
Tor est
oret
extthathasjustbeendel
etedinthecur
rentwor
d
processi
ngsession:cl
icktheEdi
tmenu,thentheUndo
command

Copy ingandmov ingt extandobjects

Copy ingmeanscr eatingadupl i
cateoftextoranobject
whilemov i
ngmeanschangi ngthepositi
onoft extoran
objectinadocument .InMicrosoftWord,youcancopyor
mov eabl ockoft ext.
Tocopyabl ockoft ext :
1.Highl i
ghtthet ext,
2.ClickEdit,thenCopyorsi mplycli
cktheCopybut tonon
thest andardTool bar.
3.Posi ti
onthei nser t
ionpoi nt
erwher eyouwantt ocopythe
text,
4.ClickEditthenPast eorsimplyclickt
hePast ebuttonon
thest andardtool bar.

NB:Touset hekeyboar
dshor
tcutkey
s,pr
essCt
rl+C t
o
copy
,thenCt
rl+Vtopaste

Tomov etextandobj ects

1.Highl
ightthet ext
,
2.Cl
ickEdi t
,thenCutorsi mpl ycl
i
cktheCutbutt
on(whose
i
conisaPai rofsci ssor
s)fr
om thest
andar
dtoolbar
.
3.Posit
ionthei nserti
onpointerwher
ey ouwantthetextto
beplaced,
4.Cl
ickEdi tthenPast eorcl i
ckthePastebutt
onont he
st
andar dtoolbar.

NB:Touset
hekey
boar
dshor
tcutkey
s,pr
essCt
rl+Xt
ocut
,
115
thenCtrl+Vt opaste
Typingmodes
Therear etwotypi
ngmodesi nawordprocessorthatassi
st
theuseri nty
pingoredi
ti
ngtextdocuments.Theseare:
1.Insertmode.
2.Ov er
type/ty
peovermode.

Inser
tmode
Thisist
hedefaultmodeinmostwordprocessor
s.Inthi
s
casewhentextisinser
tedbet
weenwordsorcharacter
sit
pushestheexi
sti
ngt ex
tawaywit
houtr
eplacingi
t.

Typeovermode.
Inthiscase,whent extistypedbetweenexi st
ingwordsor
character
s,thenew t extautomati
cal
lyreplacestheexi
sti
ng
textbydel et
ingi t
.Toswi tchbetweent ypeoverandinsert
mode, simplypresstheinsertkeyonthekey boardordoubl
e
cli
cktheOVRl abelonthestatusbar
.

Findandreplace
Wheny ouneedtosearchforawordorphraseinalar
ge
document,usetheFi
ndcommand.I ncaseyouwishto
repl
aceawor dorphr
ase,usetheRepl
aceoption.

Fi
nd
1.Cli
ckEdi tmenu, thencli
ckFindcommand.Thef ind
di
alogboxappear s.
2.Ty pethetextorphr aseyouwantt osear
chforthen
cl
ickFindNext
3.Step2canber epeatedifyouwishtofi
ndother
occurr
encesoft hesamewor dorphr
ase.Cli
ckOK
whenamessageappear stel
li
ngyouthatMicr
osoft
Wor dhasf i
nishedsearchingthedocument.Cli
ck
Cancel t
ocloset hedialogbox.

NB:Youcanusethekey
boar
dshor
tcutCt
rl
+Ft
ofi
nd.Some
sear
chopt
ions:
116
Youcanspeci ysear
f chopt i
onsbycl i
ckingt hemor ebutt
ons
todi
splayt hem.Theyi ncl ude:
1.Mat chcase:Thi si dent ifi
esonl ytextt hatmat chesin
casewi ththati nt hef indwhatboxe. g.itwil
lnotf i
nd
thewor dDEENi fy out ypeddeenandsel ect
edt he
mat chcaseopt i
on.
2.Whol eWor d:Sear chesf orawor dorphr asethatis
whol e.I
fitispar tofanot herwor ditwi l
lnotbef ound,
e.g.thewor dev erwi llnotbef oundi nwor dslike
howev er,whenev eret c.dur i
ngt hesear ch.
3.Usewi l
dcar ds:Wi ldcar dsar especi alsy mbolssuchas*
and?Thatar eusedt or epresentasetofwor dswi t
h
certainchar actersi ncommone. g.namesl i
keJef f
,Joe,
Janecanber epresent edusi ngawi ldcar dasJ*whi ch
meansal lnamesst artingwi thJ.
4.Like:Searchesf orwor ds, whichar esi milarin
pronunciatione. g. ,f areandf air.

Replacecommand
Cli
ckEditmenut
henRepl
acecommand.Thedi
alogbox
appears.

Ty pethenamey ouwantt or epl

aceint heFindwhatboxand
theonet hatwillreplaceitintheRepl acewithbox.Clickthe
Findnextbut tont ofindthenextoccur renceofthewor dthen
cli
ck Repl ace but ton tor eplace it.To r eplace allthe
occurrencesoft hewor di nthedocumentatonce,cl ickthe
Replaceal lbutt
on.
Proofreading
Proofreadingreferst ocheckingwhet herthedocumenthas
typographicalorgr ammarer rors.MicrosoftWordhast ools
forproofreadinge. g.spel
li
ngandgr ammarchecker ,
Thesaur us,Autocompl eteandAut ocor r
ect.

Spel
li
ngandgr ammarchecker
Thespell
ingandgr ammarcheckeri
sani nbui
l
ttoolthat
hel
ps the userto corr
ectspel
li
ng er
ror
s and i
ncor
rect
117
grammar st ructures. Howev er,t he checker can onl y
recogni seerrorsoft hosewor dswhosecor rectspel l
ingisin
i
tsdi ctionari
es.Acor rectl
yspel twor dusedwr ongl ycannot
bedet ectedhencet hedocumentshoul dbepr oof readjust
bef oreandaf t
erpr inti
ng.Tocheckt heaccur acyofspel l
ing
andgr ammar :
1.Cl ickTool smenuopt i
on.
2.Cl ickSpel l
ingandgr ammaront hedr opdownmenu.The
spel li
ng
And gr ammarcheckerdi alog box appear s as shown i n
Figur e1. 14.
Wor ds t hatdo notmat ch int he cust om di ctionaryar e
highl i
ght edforcor rection.Thel owerpl aneoft hedi alogbox
suggest stotheuserwi t
hal istofsuggest edcor rectwor ds.
3.Ei therchooseoneoft hef oll
owi ngbut tons:
(a)Changet ocor rectonl ythehi ghlightedi ncor r
ectwor d.
(b) Change al lt o cor rect al lt he occur rences of t he
mi sspel ledwor d.
(c) I gnor et or etaint he hi ghlight ed and cont inue.For
exampl e,alt
houghawor dl i
kej embe maynotbei nt he
cust om di cti
onar y,i nt he Keny an cont ext ,the wor di s
accept abletherefor eifhighli
ght ed, cli
ckI gnor e.
(d)I gnor ealltor etainal ltheoccur rencesoft hesamewor d
orphr asei nt hedocumentf r
om anot herl anguagee. g.a
Kiswahi li
(e)Cl ickAddt oaddt hewor dintot hecust om di ct i
onar y
.

I
ncasey ouwantt oundothechangesmade,cl
ickonthe
Undo but
ton atthe lowerbot
tom ofthe spell
i
ng and
gr
ammardi al
ogbox.

NB:Youcancl
oset
hespel
li
ngandgrammardial
ogboxev
en
i
fthepr
ocessi
snotcompl
etebychoosi
ngCl
ose.

Usi
ngthethesaur
us
Thi
sisanedit
ingtoolt
hathel
pstheuserf
indwor
dsor
phr
aseswithsimi
larmeani
ng(sy
nonyms)oropposi
te
118
meani
ng(antonyms)t
otheonesel
ect
ed.
TousetheThesaur
us:

1.Selectawor doraphr ase.

2.Cl i
ckTool s,andt henpoi nttoLanguage.
3.Cl i
ckThesaur ustoseeFi gure1.15displayedonthe
screen.
4.Forsy nony ms, undertheheadi ngReplacewi t
hSy nonym,
chooseanal ternati
v ewordphr asey oui
ntendt ouseas
replacementf ort heselectedt ext.
5.Tor eplaceawor doraphr asewi thanant onym,selectt
he
wor dorphr asewi thantony m encl osedinbrackets.
6.Cl i
ckRepl ace.

Autocomplete The aut o compl ete feature displ

ay s a
completewor dwhentheusert y
pest hef i
rstfewchar act er
s
ofthewor d.Thisenablestheusert otypef asterbysi mply
accepti
ngt hesuggestedwor difi ndeedhe/ shei nt
endt o
ty
pei t
.Toacceptthesuggest i
on, simplypresst heEnterkey ,
andcontinuetypi
ngotherwor dorphr ases
Thefigureshowsanaut otextthataut omatical
lycompl etes
DearsirorMadam textentri
es.

Toturnaut ocompl eteon/ off

1.Cli
ckI nsertmenuandpoi ntt
oAut ot ext.Adropdownl i
st
i
sdisplay ed.
2.Cli
ckAut oText.
3.Selectorcl eartheShowAut oCompl etet i
pforAut oText
anddat esCheckbox
4.Typei nanAut otextint heEnt erAutoTextent r
iesheret ext
boxthenCl i
ckAdd.
5.Cli
ckCl ose.
Autocorrect
The aut o cor rectf eature automat icall
y detects wr ongly
spell
ed orcapi tal
ised wor dsand r eplacest hem wi tht he
corr
ectwor d.Howev er,theset t
ingsofaut ocorrectareuser
defi
nede. g.ifaper sonkeepsont ypingt hewor dcer t
ainas
119
cert
ain,settheautocorr
ectf
eatur
etorepl
acethelaterwi
th
theformer.Figur
e1.18showstheaut
ocorr
ectf
eature.

Tot ur nautocor recton/off

1.ClickTool smenu, thenAut oCorrect.
2.Tot urnont hespel li
ngcheckercor r ect
ions,selectt he
Replacet extasy outypecheckbox,andt hensel ectt he
Automat i
callyusesuggest i
onsf r
om t hespel l
i
ng checker
checkbox.
3.Tot urnoffthespel li
ngcheckercor r ections, cli
ck
Automat i
call
yusesuggest ionsfrom t hespel li
ngchecker
checkBoxatt hebot tom ofthedialogbox
4.ClickOKt ocloset hedialogbox.
Undoandr edo
Undo:I treversest helastcommandt hatwasi ssuedinOrder
torev ertbackt othepr evi
ousst ate.Toundo, clickEdi
tthen
Undocommand.
Redo:I tdoest hel astundoneact i
on.Tor edo,cl i
ckEdit
,then
RedoCommand.

For mat t
ingadocument
For mat t
ingreferstoapplyingvari
ousstyl
esorfeaturesto
enhancet hedocument 'sappearance.Youcanformatt ext
,a
par agraphorapage.
Textf ormatting
Textf ormat ti
ngr efer
st of eat
uressuchaschangi ngf onts
(type,st yl
e and size ofchar acters)
,changi
ng textcol or,
under l
ining,boldingItali
cisi
nget c.Youcanuseei therthe
format ti
ngt oolsbarort heFor matmenut ounder l
i
ne,bol d,
etc.

Toformatexi sti
ngt extusingthef or
matmenu
1.Highl
ightthet exttobef ormatted
2.Fr
om For matmenu, cl
i
ckt heFontcommand.Adi alogbox
wit
hal l
Textf ormat t
ingfeaturesisdispl
ayed
3.Tochangef onttypeandsi ze,wherenecessar
yscroll
120
downt heFontl istboxt hencl ickt hefontr equi red, for
exampl eVer danaf ontst yl
ewoul dappear sasVer dana.To
i
ncr easet hef ontsi ze, wher enecessar y,scr olldownt heSiz e
l
istboxandsel ectt her equiredsi zee. g.12poi nt s(pt).A
pointi s1/ 72ofani nchi nhei ght.72poi ntsi .e.72/ 72is
equiv alentt o1i nchForexampl e" Verdana"i si nTi mesNew
Roman16poi ntsand" Ver dana"i sinVer dana16poi nts.
4.Bol di ng text :Bol ding makest he sel ect ed t extappear
darkert hant her estoft het ext.Tobol dt ext:
(a) Act ivat ethef ontdi alogbox.
(b) Fr om t hef ontdi alogbox, selectBol d.
5.Under li
net ext:Under li
ningr eferst opl acingal i
neatt he
baseorbot t
om ofawor doraphr ase.Tounder l
ine:
(a)Act i
v atethef ontdi alogbox.
(b)Cl i
ckt hedownar rowatt her i
ghtofUnder linest yl
eand
select .Theunder l
inest ylerequi r
ede. g.si ngl e, doubl e,
dashedet c.
6.I talicising t ext:To i tali
cise ist o make t he t extsl ant
forwar d.
(a)Toi talici
seact ivat et hef ontdialogbox.
(b)Cl i
ckI tal
ic.
7.Changi ngt hef ontcol or:I
nmostcases, thef ontdef ault
colori sbl ack.Howev ery oucanchanget hef ontcol orf or
exampl et or ed, green, blueet c.Tochanget hef ontcol or,
(a)Act i
v atethef ontdi alogbox
(b)Cl i
ckt hedownar rowatt her ghtoff
i ontcol orl istboxand
Selectt hecol orofy ourchoi ce.

Usingformatti
ngtoolbar
Asment ionedear l
i
er,theformat t
ingtoolbarletstheuser
easil
yfor
matt extbyclicki
ngther equi
redformatbut t
on.To
for
matsomet ext
,highli
ghtitfi
rstthencli
ckacommandon
thetool
bar.
Forexampl etoboldtext,hi
ghli
ghtitthenclickthenboldi
ng
command( B)ontheformatti
ngtoolbar.

121
Par
agr
aphf
ormat
ti
ng

Textal i
gnment
Textalignmentrefer
stohowt extisli
nedupont hepage
rel
ativ
et othelef
t,ri
ghtorcenterofthepage.Therear
efour
waysi nwhichtextcanbealignednamelyleftal
igned,
centered,r
ightal
ignedandjustif
ied.

Leftali
gnment
Linesoftextareli
nedupev enlyalongthel eftmar ginbut
unevenlyatTher i
ghtmar gin.Thisisthedef aultalignment
.
Toalignleft
,
1.Highli
ghtyourtext.
2.Simplyclickthel eftal
ignmentbut ton.Al t
ernat i
vel
ycli
ck
format,Paragraph.Andsel ectleftfrom t heal i
gnmentl i
st
boxasshowni nFigure1.20.
3.Cli
ckOK.Toappl ythechoi ce.

Rightali
gnment
Thisisopposi teofleftali
gnment .Li
nesoft extarelinedup
evenlyalongt herightmar ginbutunevenlyattheleftmar gi
n.
Toalignr ight,
1.Highli
ghty ourtext
2.Simplycl ickt heri
ghtal i
gnmentbutton.Alternativ
elycli
ck
Format, Par agraph.selectRigl1tf
rom ali
gnmentl istbox,
thencli
ckOK. .
Centeralignment
Thelinesoft extarecent eredunevenl
ybet weent heleftand
ri
ghtmar gins.
Tocent ert ext,

1.Highli
ghtyourtext,
2.Simplycli
cktheCent er,
button.Alter
nati
vel
yclickformat
,
paragraph,
Selectcenteredfrom al
ignmentlistbox,t
hencl i
ckOK.
Justi
fi
cation
Li
nesoft extarearrangedevenlyalongtheleftandright
122
margin.
Tojustif
ytext,
1.Highli
ghtyourt
ext
2.Simplycli
cktheJust
ifyal
ignmentbut
ton.Alter
nat
ivel
y
cl
ickFormat ,
Paragraph,sel
ectJust
if
yf r
om Ali
gnmentlistbox,t
hencli
ck
OK.

Changecase
Whent y pingatext,therear eanumberofcasest heuser
mayi ntendt oapplyinor dert ocreatecont
rastwithi
nthetext
.
Thesear e:
1.Sentencecase: Allt
hef irstcharacter
sinasentencearein
uppercase( Capitali
sed).
2.Lower case:Allcharactersappeari nlowercase.
3.Upper case:Allcharactersappeari nuppercase.
4.Titl
ecase: Allthefirstchar act
ersofeachwor dina
sentenceappeari nupper case.
5.Toggl ecase:Itchangesuppercasest olowercasesand
vi
cev ersa.

Fi
gur
e1.
21showsadi
alogboxf
orchangecase.

Tochangecasei nanexistingt ext;

1.Hi ghli
ghtthetext.
2.Fr om theformatmenu, cl i
ckChangecase.
3.Fr om changecasedi al
ogbox, sel
ectthecaset ypetobe
appl i
ed.
4.Cl i
ckOK.
Dropcaps
Ther ear et
imeswheny ouwi shtoat tr
actthereader'
s
attentionbymaki ngthefir
stchar acterinasentencelarge,
takingmor espacei nthenextl ine.Suchki ndofachar acter
i
ssai dtobe" dr
opped".
Toappl ydropcap;
1.Hi ghli
ghtthefir
stcharact erinthesent ence
2.Fr om theFormatmenu, clickDr opCap.Dr opcapdialog
123
boxappear s
3.Cl i
ckDr oppedorI nMar gin
4.Sel ectf onti ncasey ouwi sht oappl yacer tainf ontt ot he
droppedCap
5.Speci fythenumberofl i
nest odr op.
6.Cl i
ckOK
Indent ingpar agr aphs
Indent at ionr ef erst omov i
ngt het extawayf rom t hemar gin.
Youcani ndentt hef i
rstsent encei napar agraph( fi
rstline),
thewhol epar agr aph ( ful
li ndent )ort her estoft het ex t
exceptt hef irstl i
ne( hangi ngi ndent ati
ons) .
Firstlinei ndent
1.Sel ectt hepar agr apht obei ndent ed
2.Fr om t hef ormatmenucl ickpar agr aph.Par agr aph
pr oper ti
esdi alogboxappear s
3.Cl ickt hedownar rowi nt hel istboxunderSpeci aland
sel ectFi rstLi ne.
4.Speci fybyhowf art hepar agr aphi st obei ndent edf rom
themar gi n
Int hebyt extbox
ClickOKt oappl yt hei ndentandcl oset hedi alogbox.The
par agr aphwi llbei ndent ed
NB:Youcanal so i ndentt hef irstl inebyposi ti
oni ngt he
cur soratt hebegi nni ngoft hepar agr apht henpr esst heTab
key .
Hangi ngI ndent
1.Sel ectt hepar agr apht obei ndent ed
2.Fr om f ormatmenu, clickPar agr aph.
3.Cl i
ckt hedownar rowi nt hel istboxunderSpeci aland
selectHangi ng.4.Speci fybyhowf art hepar agraphi st obe
i
ndent edf rom t hemar ginI nt hebyt extbox
5.Cl i
ckOKt oappl ythei ndentandcl oset hedi alogbox.The
par agr aphwi llbei ndent ed
Fullindent ¬
1.Sel ectt hepar agr apht obei ndent edorposi ti
ont hecur sor
any wher ei nt hepar agr aph
2.Fr om t hef or mat tingt ool bar s, clickt heI ncreaseor
124
Decreasei ndentBut ton
Setti
ngt abs
Tabsar eusedt oi ndentt hef ir
stli
neofapar agraphorcr eate
columnardat a.Bydef aultthet abstopi ssetat0. 5ofani nch.
Tochanget hedef aultset t
ing:
1.Fr om t hef ormatmenu, cli
ckTabs
2.Ent eranewv aluef ort abstopi ntheTabst opPosi ti
on
box.
3.Chooset hety peoft abei therleft
,cent erorright
.
4.I fneedbespeci fyt heTabl eaderopt ion
5.Cl i
ckt heSetbut tont henOK.
Setti
ngt absusi ngt her uler
Theeasi estwayt osett absi sbyusi ngt her ul
er.Ont hel eft
comeroft hehor izontalr ulerisat abal ignmentbut tont hat
l
etst he usersel ectt he t ype oft ab.Fi gure 1.28 shows
vari
ous t ab al i
gnmentbut tons,whi le Tabl e 1.
1 gives an
explanat ionofeachbut ton.
Tosett het abusi ngt her uler;
1.Clickont het abbut t
ont ochooset her equi r
edt abtype.
Not i
cet hatt het abt ypekeepsonchangi ngasy oucli
ckt he
tabbut ton.
2.Sett het abst opbycl ickingwher ey ouwanti ttobeont he
rul
er.
3.Dragt het abst op

But
tonName Purpose
Lefttab Textisleftali
gned
Centertab Texti scent ered
I
nsertsav ert
ical
Bartab
l
ineat
Tabst opandal i
gn
textt
o
Therightoft heline
Textisalignedat
. De ci
ma lt
ab
decimal
Character
Righttab Texti srightaligned
125
Tabl
e1.
1Exampl
esoft
abs

Lineandcharacterspacing
Linespaci
ngr ef
erst othev er
ti
caldistancebetweenl i
nesof
text
.Thedef aul
tlinespacingissinglespacing.Thistypeof
spacingaccommodat esthechar actersinat extleavi
nga
smallextr
aspacebet weenl i
nes.Char act
erspacingont he
otherhandrefer
st othespacebet weent hecharacter
sinthe
text
.

Tochangel i
nespaci ng:
1.Hi ghlightthet ext ,
2.Fr om f ormatmenu, clickPar agrapht odispl
aythe
paragr aphdi alogBox.
3.Cl i
ckt hedownar rowf rom theLi neSpacinglistboxand
selectt heTy peofspaci ngr equir
ede. g.double,1.5,atleast
etc.
4.Cl i
ckOKt oef fectt hechanges.Tochangechar act er
spaci ng:
1.Hi ghlightthet ext
2.Fr om For matmenu, cl i
ckFont .
3.Cl i
ckt heChar act erSpaci ngtab
4.Adj ustt hespaci ngasr equir
ed
5.Cl i
ckOK.
Bulletsandnumber i
ng
Bulletsandnumber sar eusedt omar kstepsinapr ocedur e
oritemsi nal ist.
Toappl ybul l
et sandnumber si
nal i
st:
1.Sel ectt helist.
2.Fr om t heFor matmenu,cl ickBul letsandnumber ing.A
dialogboxappear s.
3.Dooneoft hef ollowi ng;
(a)Toappl ybullets, cli
ckt heBulletedtab.
(b)Toappl yindependentnumber scl i
cktheNumber edt ab.
(c)Toappl yout l
inednumber edlist,cl
ickOutli
neNumber ed.
Tab

126
4.Cl
i
ckOKt
oef
fectt
hechangesandcl
oset
hedi
alogbox.

Sectionbreaks
Abr eakisusedt oident
if
ywher easecti
on,acolumnora
pageendsandt hebegi
nni
ngofnext.Thi
sallowstheusert
o
applymor ethanoneparagraphorpageformatinthesame
documentespeci al
lywheni tcomest opagel ayout
,si
ze,
di
fferentmarginset
c.

Toinsertasecti
onbr eak
1.Positi
onthet extcursorint
hedocumentwherethe
breakistobei nserted.
2.ClickI
nsertthen.Break.
3.From theBreakdi al
ogboxselectt
hetypeofsecti
on
breaktoinserte.g.pagebreak.
4.ClickOK.

Formattingpages
Inserti
ngpagebr eaks
Apagebr eaki
dent i
fiest
heendofonepageandt he
beginni
ngoft henext .NofQ1all
y,Wordautomatical
lyi
nser
ts
anewpageaf terthecurrent.Oneisfull
.However,t
heremay
beaneedt ostartanewpageev enifthe.Cur
rentoneisnot
ful
l.

Toinsertpagebreaks:
1.Positi
onthepoi nt
erwherethebr
eaki
stobei
nser
ted.
2.Cli
ckInsertthenBreak.
3.From theBreakdialogbox
4.ClickPagebr eakthenOK.

Creati
ngcol umns
To,createcolumnsonexi sti
ngtext:
1.Hi ghli
ghtthetext
2.Fr om Formatmenu, cli
ckColumnst odispl
ayt
hedi
alog
box
3.Int hecolumnsdialogbox,selectt
henumberofcol
umns
ortypeint heNumberofcol umnst extbox
127
 4.Int heWi dthandspacingboxes,speci
fythecol
umn
wi dthsandspacebet weencolumns
5.ClickOK
Pageset up
Pageset upopt i
onslettheuserspeci
fythesi
zeofthe
margins, papersi
ze,papersourceandlayout
.

Set
ti
ngmar gi
ns
Margi
nsareblankspacesar
oundtheedgesofthepage.
Onl
ytextandobject
sinsi
dethemargi
nsarepri
ntabl
e.

Tosetupmar gins:
1.Cli
cktheFilemenut henPagesetup.Pageset
updi
alog
boxappear s
2.Cli
cktheMar gi
nstab.
3.Enterthevaluesforthel
eft
,ri
ght
,topandbott
om margi
ns
i
nt herespecti
veboxes.
4.Cli
ckOK.

Sett
ingthepapersize
Bydefault
,thepapersizemaybeei
therLet
terorA4.AnA4
paperhasdimensions210mm x297mm

Tospeci fyadi fferentpapersi ze

1.From t heFi l
emenucl ickPageset up
2.Int hepageset updi alogboxcl i
ckthePapersi zetab.
3.Selectt hesi zeofpaperr equiredfrom t hepapersizel i
st.I
f
yoursi zei sdif
f erentf r
om t heonespr ovided,cli
ckCust om
sizeandent erdi mensi onsi nt heheightandwi dthboxes.
4.ClickOK.
Specif yi
ngpageor ientation
Thet erm pageor i
ent ati
onr eferstotheposi ti
oningofthe
pagei nr elati
ont ot het ext.Thet woav ai
lableorient
ati
ons
are:
Portrait:textandgr aphicsar epr i
ntedwi tht helongestside
verti
cal l
yupr i
ght .Forexampl e, onanA4pi eceofpaper, t
he
210mm edgesar eatt hebot tom andt op.
128
Landscape:Withlandscape,t
extandgr aphi
calobjectsare
pl
acedwi ththel
ongestsideofthepagepl acedhorizont
all
y
andthelinesoft
extprint
edparal
lel
.Forexample,tocreat
ea
ti
metable on an A4 page,the 297 mm si de should be
hori
zontal.

Tosel ecttheorientat
ion:
1.From Filemenu, choosePageset up.
2.Clickont hePapersi zetabandadial
ogboxcomesonthe
screen.
3.Selecttheorientati
onr equi
redt
hencli
ckst
heOKbutt
on.

Pagelayout
Thisopt
ionlet
stheuserspecif
yhowtextwil
lbepl
acedon
thepagefrom t
hemargins.Bydef
aul
t,t
extstar
tsf
rom t
he
topmargin.

Tochanget helay out

1.From Fil
emenu, choosePagesetup.Thedi
alogbox
Appears.
2.Cli
ckont heLay outtab.
3.From theVerticalal
ignmentt
ab,selectt
heal
ignment
requi
redthenclickOK.

Inser
tingheader sandf ooters
Header s,
foot er
sandpagenumber smakei teasytolocate
i
nf or
mat i
on.Header sar efewwor dsplacedatthetopof
everypagewhi l
ef ootersappearatt hebottom.Toinsert
headersandf ooters:
1.Cli
ckont he.Header sandFoot ersf r
om theViewmenu
2.Inthet extboxest hatappear,typeaheaderusi ngthet op
textboxoraf ooterusingt hebottom textboxorev enbothif
youar etoinsertbot haheaderandf ooter.
Inser
tingpagenumber s
Togi v
ey ourdocumentpagenumber s:
1.From theI nsertmenu, cl
ickPagenumber st
odisplaythe
129
di
alogbox
2.I
nthePosi t
ionbox, speci
fywher eyouwantthepage
numberstobei nserted.
3.I
nthealignmentbox, specifywhetherthenumberist
obe
onthe r i
ght,lef
t,center,
insideoroutsi
de
4.UsetheFormatbut t
ontochooset henumberf or
mat,i
.e.
1,
2,3,
.
..
,A,B,C etc.Youcanst ar tf
rom anypagenumberby
usi
ngStartatbox

Cr
eat
ingandedi
ti
ngt
abl
es

Creati
ngt ables
Atableisaf eatur
einMicr
osof
tWordmadeupofr owsand
columnst hatisusedt
oorgani
seandenhancedi
splayof
i
nformation.

Cr
eat
inganewt
abl
e
..
You can cr
eateat abl
e ei
therbyusing t
he InsertTabl
e
commandf rom t
ablesmenu,orbyusi ngDraw Tabletool
thatr
esemblesapenci
ltocr
eatemorecomplextables.

Tocr eateat ableusingtheinserttablecommand;

1.Cli
ckTabl esmenu, positi
onthepoi nteronInsert,
then
cl
ickTabl e
2.IntheI nserttabl
edialogboxdi splayed,speci
fythe
numberofr owsandcol umns.
3.Cli
ckOK.Thet ablewillbedi
splay edont hescreenandyou
can st artenteri
ngdataini t
.
NB:Youcani nsertatablebyclickingthet abl
ebut t
ononthe
standar dtoolbar,t
hendr agtoselectthenumberofr owsand
columns.

Tocreateatableusi
ngthedrawingtool:
1.Cli
ckTabl esmenu,thenDr aw tabl
eorsi mplycl
i
ckthe
Draw tabl
ebut t
onfrom thest andar
dt ool
bar.Themouse
point
erchangestoapencilsymbol
130
2.Dragthepoint
ert
odrawt
heoutl
ineofthetable
3.Fil
li
nthetablewi
thr
owsandcolumnsbydr aggi
ngt
he
point
erasyouwoulddr
awusinganordi
narypencil
.

For
mat
ti
ngandedi
ti
ngat
abl
e

Inser t
ingrowsandcol umns
Toi nsertarow:
1.Pl acethecursorwhereyouwanttoinser
tar
ow
2.Cl i
ckTable,pointI
nsertt
hencl
ickRowaboveorRow
below.

Toinsertacolumn:
1.Placethecursorwhereyouwanttoinser
tacolumn
2.Cli
ckTable,pointI
nsertt
hencl
ickColumntoleftt
hen
Columnt otheRight.

Adjust
ingthecol
umnwidth:
1.Posi t
ion t
he mouse pointeron t he r
ow orcolumn
boundaryunti
lthemousepoi nterchangest oanar
rowed
cross.
2.Dragtheboundar
ytotherequir
edsize.

Deleti
ngrows,col
umnorcell
s
1.Selectt
herowsorcol
umnst obedelet
ed.
2.From Tabl
emenu,poi
ntDelete,
thenColumns,
Rowsor
Cell
s.

Mergingcellsinatabl
e
Thisrefer
stocombi ni
ngmor et
hanonecel
li
nat
abl
e.To
mergecel l
s:
1.Selectcel
lstobemer ged
2.From Tables,cl
i
ckMer gecel
l
s.

Spl
it
ti
ngcel l
sinatabl
e
Thi
sreferstosubdi
vi
dingacel
lorcel
l
sint
omor
ecel
l
s.To
spl
i
tcells:
131
1.Selectcel
lstobesplit
2.From Tables,cli
ckSpl
itcel
l
s.Adial
ogboxappearsthat
l
etsy ouspecifythenumberofrowsandcol
umnst hatthe
sel
ect edcel
l
swi llbespl
it
.

Format t
ingtabl
eborder
sandshading
Wor dprovidest
heuserwit
hautomati
cformatt
ingf
eat
ure
thatlet
sy ouchoosebor
derst
ylesandshadi
ng.

Toformatat able:
1.From Tabl emenu, cli
ckTabl eAutoFormat
.
2.Int heformat sl
istbox,selectthefor
matyouwant .Note
thatt heformaty ouchooseappl i
estoborder
s,shading
fontandcol our
.
3.ClickOkt oappl ytheeffects.
NB:Youcanal sof
ormatat abl
ebyusingt
hetabl
e'st
ool
bar
.
I
fthetoolbari
snotdi
splayed,cl
ickv
iewpoi
nttotool
bar
s
t
henclicktabl
esandBorders.

Tableconversions
Withconvertfeatur
einMi
crosof
tWord,
youcanconv
erta
tabl
etoli
nesoft extandv
icever
sa.

Toconv ertatabletotext
1.Sel ecttheenti
retabl
eorr owandcol umnsy ouwantto
conver ttotext.
2.Fr om tablemenu, pointtoconvertthencli
cktablet
otext.
Adi alogboxi sdispl
ayedt hatrequi
resy outospecifyhow
thetextwi llbe separ
atedaf t
erconversi
on
3.Int heseparatetextwithboxenterorselectthechar
acter
tobeusedasasepar ator.
4.Clickok

Toconv erttexttotable:
1.Selectthetextthatyouwantt oconver
ttoatable.
2.From tablemenu, pointconv
ertthen cl
i
ckt exttot
abl
e
132
.Adialogboxisdispl
ayedt hatrequir
esyout ospecifythe
numberofrowsand ofcolumns
3.From Separ
atetextat,specifywhetherthet abl
ewi l
lbe
def
inedbyparagr
aphs,commas, Tabsorothercharact
ers.
4.Cli
ckOK. .

Importi
ngt ables
MicrosoftWor dletsy ouimpor ttabl
esf rom ot her
appli
cationsoranexi sti
ngf il
e.Toi mpor tat able,
1.Cli
ckt heInsertmenut henObj ects.Adi al
ogboxappear s
2.From theObj ecttypesel ectt hetypeofobj ectt
oinserte.g.
Adobet able.
3.Thepr ogram inwhi chthet ablewascr eatedinstartsand
l
etsy ouchooseat ablefrom i tandr eturnbackt oMi crosoft
Word.Al t
ernati
vely click Cr eatef rom f il
e.Thi sletsy ou
browsef oraf i
lethatcont ainst hetabley ouwi shtoinsert
.
4.Cli
ckOKt oinsertthet able.

Performingarit
hmeticcalculati
onsinat able
Iti
spossi bl
etoperf
orm mat hemat i
calcalcul
ati
onssuchas
sum, productandcount,
ifat ablehasnumer i
calfi
gur
es.

Toper form calculati

ons:
1.Clickt hecel li
nwhi chy ouwantther esulttobepl aced.
2.From t heTabl emenu, cli
ckFormul a.Af ormuladialogbox
i
sdi splay ed.
3.Ty pet hef ormulayouwantorsel ectf rom t hePaste
functionbox.Forexampl e,toaddfigur esi nar oworcol umn,
cli
ckSUM.Thef uncti
oni nTable1.2bel owt hatcalculates
thetot alis=SUM( ABOVE) .Thewor d" ABOVE" .inbracketsis
call
edt hear gumentoft heformulaandt ell
sMi crosoftWord
whichcel l
si nthetablearet obewor kedon.
Sorting
InMi crosof tWor dyoucansor talistoft ext,number sand
datesi nascendi ngordescendi ngor der .
Tosor tal i
stortable:

133
1.Highli
ghtthetextl
istortabl
eyouwantt
osort
.
2.From theTablemenu, cl
ickSon.
3.Selectthety
peofdat atobeusedwhensor
ti
ngi.
e.Text
,
NumberorDat e.
4.Cli
ckeitherAscendingordecendi
ng
5.Cli
ckOK.

Mailmergedocument
Mailmergeistheprocessofgeneratingper
sonali
sedl
ett
ers
ordocumentsbycombi ningamai ndocument ,e.
g.alet
ter
,
wit
hanexi sti
ng datasour cesuchast headdressbook.
Theref
or nmai
ei lmerge,thethr
eefil
escreat
edare:
1.Thepri
mar yfi
l
e( maindocument )
2.Thesecondaryfi
le(Datasource)
3.Mergedfil
e
Tocreatet
hemai ndocument ,

1Fr om thef il
emenu, selectNewt ocr eateanewdocument .
Youcanal soopenorr etri
eveanexi stingdocument .
2.Ont heTool smenu, cl
ickmai lmer get odi splayadi alog
box.
3Cl i
ckcr eat ebut ton,tosel ectthety peofdocumentneeded
e.g.f orm .letters.Sel ectt heact ivewi ndow ast hemai n
documentt hismeanst hatthecur rent l
yr unni ngdocument
willbet hef or ml etterthatwi l
lbelat ermer gedwi thadat a
sourcet opr oducei ndivi
dual i
sedletters.
Thenextst epi snowt ocr eateadat asour ce.
4.ClickGetDat a.Touseanexi sti
ngl i
stofnamesand
addr esses,click
Open Dat a.Sour ce To use exi sting addr esses f rom an
electronicaddr essbook,cl ickon UseAddr essBook.To
createanew l i
stofnamesandaddr esses,f i
rstchooset he
necessar yf i
eldsf rom t hecr eatedat asour ceboxt hensav e
ther ecordst ructure.Amessageappear saski ngy ouwhet her
youwantt oedi tt hedat asour ceort hemai ndocument
chooseonet hent heNext .
5.Wi ththemai ndocumentopen, spott hemai l merge
134
toolbaront hescreen.Positi
onthetextcursorwher eyou
wantt oinsertmer gefi
elds.Usetheinsertf
ield’
sbuttonto
i
nser tmer gefi
eldsinthedocument
Mer gingthedocument
Oncey oufini
shinsert
ingmer gefi
eldsfrom thedatasource
i
nt hemai ndocument,youar enowr eadytomer ge.Ther
e
aresev eralmergeoptions:

Tomer get
oanewdocument
Cli
cktheMerget
onewdocumenti
conont
hemai
lmer
ge
tool
bar.

Mergingtopri
nter
Cli
ckthe.Merget opri
nter,iconont hemailmer getoolbar
.
Befor
ey oumerget oaprinterorotherdevi
ce,youmaywant
toprevi
ew theappearanceoft hemer geddocument s.For
example,youcanpr ev
iew themer geddocument soneata
ti
me.Youcanal socoll
ectthemer geddocument sint
oanew
document, so y ou can r ev
iew and per sonali
se t he
documents.

Previewmer geddocuments
Beforeyoupr i
ntthedocument
s,ensurethatyou'v
ei nsert
ed
mergef i
eldsi nthemai ndocumentand selected adat a
source.Topr evi
ew,cli
ckanywher
ei nthemai ndocument ,
andthenclickViewMergedDataontheMai l
Mer getoolbar.

Micr
osoftWord displ
aysinf
ormation f
rom t
he f
ir
stdat
a
r
ecordinpl
aceofthemergefi
elds.

Sendmer geddocument sviae-mailorfax

Clickthemer gebuttonont heMailmer getool
barSel
ecte-
mai lorfaxi nt hemer get obox.Cl i
cktheSetupbuttonto
specifyt
hee- mailaddressesorfaxingnumberthencli
ckthe
mer gebut t
on.Thei nt
ernetconnect i
onwizardstar
tsandif
yourcomput eris properly conf
igured,the mailmerged
documentwi l
l besent.
Insert
inggr aphics
135
Workingwi thgraphics
Theterm graphicsreferst
onon-texti
magesgener
atedbya
comput e!Thisi
ncludesphotographs,
drawi
ngsandgraphs.
Graphicspresentinformat
ioninaformthati
seasyto
understand.

Youcaninser
tagr
aphicalobj
ectfom Mi
r cr
osof
tCl
i
pGaller
y,
ascannerorbyusingdrawingtoolsav
ail
abl
einMicr
osoft
Word.

Inserti
ngacl ipar torapi ctur efrom cl i
pgaller y:
1.Posi ti
ont hei nserti
onpoi nt erwher ey ouwanty ourobj ect
tobei nserted,
2.Ont heinser tmenu, pointtopi cturet hencl ickcl ipartCli
ck
ont he tabst oselectont hecat egory
ofobj ectsi.e.cl i
par t,pictures,soundorv ideos.SeeFi gure
1.42.
3.Doubl eclickont heobj ecty ouwantorcl icki toncet hen
cli
ckt heinser tbut t
on.
4.Uset heobj ectpl acehol derst or esi
zey ourobj ect.Ifyou
placet hemousepoi nterononeoft hesehol der s, i
tt ur
nsinto
at woheadedar row,hol ddownt hemousebut t onanddr ag
toincreaseorr educet heobj ectsize
5.Clickany wher eoutsidet heobj ectt oremov et hehol ders.
6.Tomov ey ouobj ectt oanot herposi ti
on,clicki nsi dethe
object.Thepoi nterturnsi ntoanar r
owheadcr oss.Hol d
downt hemousebut tonanddr agy ourimaget oanew
l
ocat i
on.

136
Fig.1.
42: Aclipar
timage
Insert
ingani magefrom ascanner
Thecomput ermustbeconnectedtoascannertocomplet
e
thisprocedure.Ascanneri
sadatacaptur
edev i
cethat
transf
ormsahandcopyorr ealgr
aphi
calobj
ectint
odigi
tal
form.

Toscananobj ect:
1.Posit
iont heinsert
ionpointerwhereyouwantyourpicture
toappear ,
2.fr
om t heinsertmenu,poi nttoPictur
eandthenclickfrom
scannerorCamer a.
3.Toscan, foll
owt heinst
ructionst
hatcomewi t
hy our
scanner.
4.Whent hei mageappear sont hescreeny
oucanedi tand
for
matitasr equi
redthesamewayy ouwouldwit
hacl i
part.

I
nserti
ngapi ct
uref r
om anotherf il
e
1.Posi t
iontheinsert
ionpointerwher ey ouwantyour
pictureplaced,
2.Fr om theinsertmenu,pointt oPicture,t
hencl
ick"
From
fi
le
3.Locatet hefil
ethatcont
aint hei magey ouwanttoinser
t
egfrom y ourfl
oppydisk,f
rom acompactdi sket
c.
4.Selecttheobjectyouwantt oi nsert
5Thencl i
cktheInsertbut
ton.
6Whent heimageappear sont hescr eenyoucanedi
tand
for
mati tasr equir
edthesamewayy ouwoul dwi
tha
cli
part.

Edi
ti
ngandf
ormat
ti
ngpi
ctur
es

Tof ormatoredi tapi

cture:
MicrosoftWor d provi
des the userwi t
h a picture edi
ti
ng
tool
bart hatlet
sy ouadjustthebri
ghtness,contr
ast,change
i
tt o blackand whi te orgr ay
scal
e and crop t he i
mage.
Croppingr ef
erst ohi
dingtheunwanteddet ail
ssot hatthey

137
donotcomeoutwhenpr
int
ing.

Todi splaythepictur
et oolbar
,cli
ckonVi ew menu,pointto
tool
bar sthenselectPictur
e.Thepicturet
oolbarhasbuttons
thatenableaper sontof ormatapi ct
uret
of ormatapicture,
cli
cki ttoselectitthenuset hecommandsont hepicture
tool
bar .

Drawinganobj ectusingMSWor ddr

awi ngtool
s
MicrosoftWor dprovidestheuserwi thbasicdrawi ngtool
s
suchaspol ygons,l
ines,acircle,
star
sandbanner s,
callout
s
andmanyot hers.Ifthedr awingstoolbarisnotdi spl
ayed,
cli
ckonVi ew menu,t oolbarsthenclickonDr awing.The
tool
barwi l
lbedi splayedwhi chabut tonhasl abeledAuto
shapes,anarrow,aline,squareandacir cl
e

Todr awaline,acir
cleanar r
oworarectangl
e:
1.Cli
ckont heappropriat
eshapebut
ton.Thepoint
er
changestoaplussi gn.
2.Placethepoint
erwher eyouwantt
odr awthatshapeand
dragtotherequir
edsi ze.

Todr awanobj ectusingtheAutoshapes:

1.Clickt heAut oshapesbut ton.Amenui sdi
spl
ayed
showi ngcat egor i
esofshapesy oucanchoosefrom
2.Poi nttot hecat egoryr
equiredt
henselectt
hetypeof
objecty ouwi shtodraw
3.Placet hepoi nt
erwherey ouwanttodrawthatshapeand
dragt other equir
edsize.

Edi
ti
ngandformat
ti
ngadr awnobject
Youcanresi
ze,
move,f
il
lcolorandchanget
hedr
awi
ng
out
li
ne.

Toresi
zeormov eadr awi
ng.
1.Cl
ickanywhereinsi
deit
.Theplacehol
dersappear
.
2.Tomov eit
,holddownthemousebut t
onanddrag.
3.Toresi
zeit,
placethepoi
nteratoneofthepl
aceholder
s
138
anddr
ag.

Tof illtheobj ectwithcolorandf il

leff
ects:
1 Cl ickt heobject.Theplacehol dersappear.
2 Cl ickt hedownar r
owoff il
lcolorbutton, the one t hat
l
ooksl i
keabucketpour ingink.
3Sel ectt hecoloryouwantappl ied.Tof i
llt
hedrawingwith
textur e,gr adi
entorpat t
ern,clickt heEf f
ectsbutt
on.From
ther esultingdialogbox,selecttheappropr i
atef
il
lef
fect.
Printingadocument

Print
inginMicrosoftWor d
Becauset hemai n purposeofanywor d processorist o
prepare document s f or printing, this cannot be
accomplished wit
houta pr i
nter.The choi ce ofa pr i
nter
dependsont hequalit
yofhardcopydesi red.Beforeyoupri
nt,
i
ti sv eryimportantt hatyou pr eview you documentt o
confi
rmt hatnodet ail
sar eoutsidet hepr i
ntabl
ear eaand
thatthedocumentlayoutisokay.

Usingprintpreview
InMi cr
osoftWor d,t
oviewy ourdocumentbeforepri
nting
proceedasf oll
ows:
1.From fi
lemenu, sel
ectpri
ntprevi
ewt hemousepoi nter
changesintoasy mbolthatresemblesamagni f
yingglass.
Youcancl i
ckont hemousebut toninsi
dethedocumentt o
i
ncreaseorr educet hesizeoftheview.
2.Cl i
ck the close button orEsc key tor eturnt oy our
document .

Topr
int
:

1.From fi
lemenucl i
ckonpr i
ntAdi al
ogboxappearswhere
youcanspeci f
y:
(a) Thet ypeofthepri
nteri
nstal
l
edinyourcomputer
otherthanthedefaul
tpri
nter
.
(b) Whet hert
opr i
ntt
hewhol edocumentorarangei
n
139
 thePagerangebox,
(c)Numberofcopiest opr
intperpagei
ntheNumberof
copiesboxthen,
2.Cli
ckOKt ostartpr
int
ing.

140
SPREADSHEETSMS-
EXCEL

Chapt
erout
li
ne

2.1Definit
ionofspr eadsheet
2.2Component sofaspr eadsheet
2.3Applicat i
onar easofaspr eadsheet
2.4Creatingawor ksheet/
workbookusingMi
crosof
tExcel
2.5Celldat atypes
2.Cel lreferencing
2.7Basi cf uncti
onsandf ormulae
2.8Editi
ngawor ksheet
2.9Wor ksheetf ormat ti
n2.10Datamanagement
2.11Char ts/graphs
2.12Printi
ngwor ksheet s

2.1Definiti
onofaspr eadsheet
A spreadsheeti sessent i
allyal edgersheett hatlet
sy ou
enter,
edi tandmani pulatenumer icdata.Therearetwot y
pes
ofspreadsheet snamel y:
1.Themanual spreadsheet.
2.Theel ectroni cspreadsheet.
Amanualspr eadsheetist hemostcommonl yusedt ypeby
bookkeeper sasal edgerbookwi t
hmanysheet sofpapers
di
v i
dedint or owsandcol umnsonwhi chv ari
ousamount sof
moneyar eent eredmanual lyusingapenorpenci l
.Youcan
vi
sityourbur sar 'sof
ficeandr equesttoseeal edgersheet.

An el
ectr
onicspr eadsheetont heotherhandi sprepared
usi
ngacomput erpr ogram t
hatenablestheusert oenter
val
ues i
nr ows and col umns simi
lartot he ones ofthe
manualspreadsheetandt omanipul
atethem mathemati
call
y
usi
ngformulae. '

I
nthi
sbook,t
hewordspreadsheetshal
lbeusedt
oref
ert
o
t
heel
ect
roni
cspr
eadsheet
.'.

141
Advant
agesofUsi
ngEl
ect
roni
cSpr
eadsheet
sov
erManual
Spr
eadsheet

1.Theel ect ronicspr eadsheetut il

izest hepower fulaspect s
oft he comput erl i
ke speed,accur acy and ef fici
ency t o
enablet heuserqui cklyaccompl i
sht asks.
2.Theel ect r
onicspr eadsheetof fersal argerv irtualsheetf or
dataent r yandmani pul at
ion.Forexampl et hel argestpaper
l
edgery oucangeti sonet hatdoesnotexceed30col umns
and51r owswhi lewi thanel ectronicspr eadsheet ,theleast
l
edgerhasatl east255col umnsand255r ows!
3.The el ectronic spr eadsheetut i
li
zes t he l arge st orage
spaceoncomput erst orage dev ices t o sav e and r etri
eve
document s.
4.Theel ectronicspr eadsheetenabl est heusert opr oduce
neatwor kbecauset het raditionalpaper ,penci l,rubberand
cal
cul atorar eputasi de.Al lthewor ki sedi tedont hescr een
and a f inalcl ean copy i s pr inted.Wi t
h a handwr it
ten
spreadsheet ,neat nessandl egi bili
tydependsont hewr it
er'
s
handwr iti
ngski l
ls.
5.Electroni cspr eadsheet shav ebet terdocumentf ormat ti
ng
capabi l
i
t i
es.6.El ectroni cspr eadsheet shav ei nbui l
tformul ae
cal
ledf unct i
onst hatenabl et heusert oqui cklymani pulate
mat hemat icaldat a.
7.Anel ect ronicspr eadsheetaut omat icallyadj ustst her esult
ofaf ormul ai fthev al uesi nwor ksheetar echanged.Thi sis
cal
led t he aut omat i
cr ecalcul at
ion f eat ure.Fora manual
sheet,changi ngonev al
uemeansr ubbi ng t her esultand
wri
tingt hecor rectoneagai n.

Exampl esofspr eadsheet s

1.VisiCal
c:Thiswast hef i
rsttypeofspreadsheettobe
developedforper sonal comput er
s.
2.Lotus1-2-3:Thisisint egrat
edsof t
war ewithspreadsheet
modul egraphsanddat abase.3.Mi crosoftExcel
4.VP-Planneretc.
I
nt hi
sbook,t he spr eadsheett hatwi l
lbe consi der
ed i
n
detail
sisMi cr
osof tExcel .
142
Component sofaspr eadsheet
Aspr eadsheethast hreecomponent s¬
1.Wor ksheet. /
2.Dat abase.
3.Gr aphs.
Wor ksheet
Thisi sthecomponenti nwhi chdat av al
uesar eenter
ed.Itis
madeupofr owsandcol umns.Thei ntersecti
onbetweena
row andacol umni scal eda cel
l l.A row isahor i
zontal
arrangement of cel l
s whi le a col umn i s a v erti
cal
arrangementofcel ls.Eachr ow isl abeledwi t
hanumber
whi l
eeachcol umni sl abel
edwi t
hal ett
erasshowni nthe
Figure2. 1.Eachcel li sreferencedusi ngt hecolumnl abel
foll
owedbyt herow l abele.g.cellB3hast hev al
ue20.A
groupofmanywor ksheet smakeupawor kbook.

A B C D E
F
1
2
3 20
4
5 I

Fi
g.2.
1:AWor
ksheet

Database
Datavaluescanbeent eredint hecel lsofthespreadsheet
andmanagedbyspeci alExcelf eaturesfoundont heDat a
menu.Thesef eatur
eswer ei ncorporatedinExcelbutt hey
actual
lybelongt odatabasemanagementsof tware.Oneof
suchf eat
urei sf i
lt
eri
ng records,usi ng f
orms,cal cul
ating
subtot
als,datavali
dati
onpivottablesandpi votchartreports.

Ift
hedat av al
uesf
orthesameent i
ty(
relat
edv al
ues)are
ent
ered on thesame row,theyfor
m ar ecor
d.Hence a
worksheetcanbemani
pulat
edtosomeextentasadatabase
143
t
hathasdat arecor
dsentered i
ni t
.Figur
e2.
2 showsa
wor
ksheethav
ingtworecor
ds,JoyandJeff
.

A B c
D EF1
1 NameI
DNo.Age Nati
onali
t
y
2 Joy 1234425 Kenyan
5
3 Jef
f 1256735 Ugandan
5
4

Fi
g.2.
2:Aspr
eadsheetwi
thr
ecor
ds

NB:Aspr eadsheetfil
eisstructur
edinsuchawaythati
tcan
bev isual
i
sedasat ableofr ecor
ds.Thatiswhysucha'f
il
e
can be i mport
ed into a dat abase pr
ogram as wi
l
lbe
discusseslat
erindatabases.

Graphs
Agr aphisapi ctori
alrepresentati
onofthebasedat aona
worksheet.Mostspr eadsheetsr ef
ertographsascharts.A
chartenablest heusert opr esentcomplexdataelements
fr
om awor ksheetinasi mpleeasyt ounderst
andf or
mat .
Examplesofchar tsarepiechar t
s,l
inechar
tsandbarcharts.
Asshal lbedi scussedl at
er,itiseasyt ogenerat
echar ts
whenwor kingwi t
haspr eadsheetprogr
am.Figur
e2.3shows
anexampl eofapi echart.

2.
3Appl
icat
ionar
easofaspr
eadsheet

Stati
sti
calanal
ysi
s
Spreadsheet
sprovideasetofdataanal
ysist
oolsthatcanbe
usedt osavestepswhendev elopi
ngcomplexst at
ist
icalor
engineer
ing anal
yses.The useri s usual
ly expect
ed t o
provide t
he appropri
ate dat
a and parametersf oreach
144
analy
sis. The st ati
sti
cal tool then uses appr opri
ate
automated stati
sti
calorengi neer
ing functi
ons and then
di
splaysr esul
tsi n an out
putt able.Some oft he t
ools
generatechart
sinadditi
ontotheoutputtables.

Becausemostoft hesetoolsarecompl ex,theuserneedst

o
hav e the st atisti
cal backgr ound knowl edge befor
e
attempti
ng t o use t he t
ools.Exampl es ofsome simpl
e
stati
sti
calfunct
ionsi ncl
udet hefoll
owing:
1.Av er
age:Thisi susedt ocalculatethemeanofasetof
values.
2.Median:Thisisusedt oretur
nt hevalueinthemiddl
eofa
setofvalues.

Forexampl
easetofv
aluesmaybecomposedof
:

10 20 30 40 50 60.

Theav er
ageofthesetis35andi t
smediani
sal
so35.The
medianisfoundbyt
akingtheaver
ageoft
hetwonumber
sat
thecentr
eoftheset
,inthi
scase30and40.

Account i
ng
Manyaccount ant
sfindthespr eadsheetausef ultooltouse
i
nr ecor di
ng dail
yt ransact
ions and keepi ng off i
nanci al
records.Spr eadsheetsprovi
deauserf r
iendlyenv i
ronment
for financialmanagement and t hey come wi thi nbuilt
functi
onst hatmakeaccount ingt askseasier.Forexampl e,
the spr eadsheetcan be used byaccount ant sto do t he
foll
owi ng:
1.Tot rackt heval
ueofassetsov erti
me(depr eci
ati
onand
appreci ati
on)
2.Tocal cul
ateprofi
ts
3.Topr eparebudgets

Otherformulal
ikesum,aver
age,productetc.enablesthe
accountantt
ocarr
youthi
sdai
lyworkwithoutanyproblem.
145
Datamanagement
Aspreadsheetenablesneatarr
angementofdataintotabul
ar
st
ructure.Rel
ateddatacanbetypedont hesamewor ksheet
.
Howev er,when dat a is on diff
erent worksheet
s,t he
worksheetscanbelinkedtoenhanceaccessi
bil
it
y.

Data management functi

ons incl
ude sor
ting, f
il
ter
ing
(di
spl
ayi
ngonlyther
equir
editems)andusi
ngformstoenter
andvi
ewr ecor
ds.

Spr
eadsheet
senabl etheusertocreat
e,edi
t,sav
e,r
etr
iev
e
andpr
intworksheetdataandr
ecor
ds.

Forecasti
ng("Whatif"analysi
s)
Theautomat i
crecal
culati
onf eat
ureenablestheuseof
"Whatif'
analysi
stechnique.Thisinv
olveschangingt heval
ue
ofoneoft heargumentsinaf ormulatoseethedi ff
erence
thechangewoul dmakeont heresul
tofthecalculati
on.For
example,aformulatocalculateacompany '
sprofit,margi
n
maybeasf ol
lows:

Profi
t=, (Tot aluni tssol dxsal epr i
ce)-( Totalunitsboughtx
costpr ice) -Oper ating‘expenses.
A salesmanageri nt hecompanycn askt hef oll
owing
question:Whati fsal esincreaseby20%,how muchpr ofit
will
st hecompanymake?Themanagersubst i
tutest hetotal
unit
s sol dv alue wi th one t hati s 20% hi gherand t he
spreadsheet aut omat i
call
y di splay s the new pr ofi
t.A
tr
aditi
onalanal y sismet hodwoul dr equir
eadi ffer
entwor k
sheett obepr epar ed.Ther efore,thismet hodcanbeusedf or
fi
nanci alf or ecast ing,budget i
ng,st ock por t
foli
o analysis,
costanal y sis, cashf lowet c.
Creatingawor ksheet /workbookusi ngMi crosoftExcel
To st ar t Mi cr osof t Excel ,click St art button,poi nt to
Programs and t hen sel ect Mi crosoft Excel f rom t he
programsmenuThi spr oceduremayv ar
yslightlydepending
ont hev er sionofExcely ouar eusi ngort hecomput er'
s
146
hardwareandsoftwareconfi
gurati
on.
The Wi ndows env i
ronment all
ows a per son to pl ace
shortcut
st oapr ogram'sexecutabl
e( .
exe)fil
einv ar
ious
places l
ike t
he desktop.Ifthe Excelshort
cuti s on the
desktop,si
mplydoublecli
ckittostar
ttheappl
icati
on.

TheMicr
osoftExcelappl
icati
onwindow opensasshowni n
theFi
gur
e2.5.Makesur ethatyoucanbeabl et
oidenti
fyal
l
thel
abel
edpart
soft heMicrosof
tExcel
appli
cati
onwindow.

TheMi cr osof tExcelappl i

cat ionwi ndow
TheMi cr osof tExcel appl i
cationwi ndowi smadeupoft he
foll
owi ngcomponent s:
Titl
ebar :Ithast het itl
eoft heappl icat i
onandcont r
ol
buttonsf ormi nimising,maxi mi singandcl osingt he
applicat i
on
Themenubar :Itdisplaysal i
stofmenuopt ionse. g.Fi l
e, Edit
,
Viewet c.Cl i
cki ngoneoft hem di splay samenut hathas
commandswhi chcanbesel ect edi nor dertomani pulat e
datai nt hespr eadsheet .'
Toolbar s:Themostcommonoft hesear et hest andar dand
format tingt ool bars.Themosti mpor tantt hingi st obeabl e
toident i
f yeacht ool barbyi tsi cons.Thest andar dt oolbar
hasshor tcutst osomeoft hemostcommonl yusedmenu
commandsl ikepr int,copy ,past eandsav e.Thef ormat ting
toolbarhasshor tcutst ot hecommonl yused commands
foundont hef ormatmenuopt ion
Formul abar :Thi si soneoft hemosti mpor tantcomponent s
oft heMi crosof tExcelappl icat ionwi ndow.I tenabl est he
usert oent eroredi taf ormul aordat ai nacel l.Youcan
i
dent ifyt hef or mulabarbecausei thasanequalsi gn( orf x)
.
Thenameboxt ot hel eftoft hef ormul abardi splay st he
position oft hecel lin whi ch dat aoraf or mulai sbei ng
enteredwhi chi salsocal ledt hecur rentcel l.Ifthef ormul a
bari snotav ailabl
e,cl i
ckonVi ewmenut hensel ectFor mul a
bars.Acheckmar kappear sont hel eftoft hesel ectedi tem
toshowt hati tisnowdi splay edont hescr een.

147
Cellpoi nter:I tmarkst heposi ti
onoft hecurrentcellort he
i
nser t
ionpoi nt.Itisspeci alcursorst hati
sr ect
angulari n
shapeandmakest hecurrentcel lappearasifithasdar ker
boundar ies.
TheWor ksheet :Consistsofcells,rowsandcolumns.Dat ai s
enteredher ef ormanipulation.
Statusbar :Itshowst heprocessi ngstateoft
heappl i
cati
on.
Forexampl e,oni t
sleftisthewor dReadywhi chshowst hat
thespr eadsheeti sreadytor eceiveusercommands. '

Wor ksheetlabels:Thesear eusuall

yoft hef ormatSheet1,
Sheet2et c.Awor kbookmayhav eseveralsheets.Itisalso
possibletorenamet hesheetsbyrightcli
ckingont helabels
thenchoosi ng renamecommandf r
om t heshor t
cutmenu
thatappears.Theact i
vesheet(onebeingused)hasi t
slabel
appearing l
ighteri n col
ourthan the rest.To mov et oa
parti
cularsheetinthewor kbook,si
mplyclickitssheetlabel.

Vert
icalandhori
zont
alscr ol
lbars:Cli
cki
ngthear
rowsat
thei
rendsmov esthewor ksheetver
ti
call
yandhor
izont
all
y
onthescreenr
espect
ivel
y.

Worksheetl ayout
Thewor ksheethast hefoll
owingcomponents:Cel
l
s:An
i
ntersecti
onbet weenar owandacol umn.
Rows:Hor izontalarrangementofcel s.Col
l umns:Verti
cal
arr
angementofcel ls.
Range:Isagr oupofr ect
angularcel
l
sthatcanbeselect
ed
andmani pulatedasabl ock.

Navigat i
ngt heMicrosoftExcelscreen
1.Clickcell D5.Not
icethatthecellpointerimmediatel
y
mov est othecellandthenameboxr eadsD5.Ty pingonthe
keyboar dnowi nser
tsentri
esincel lD5asl ongasthepointer
i
sst i
llthere.
2.ClickletterAthatheadsthef i
rstcolumn.Noticethatthe
148
whol ecol umni shighlight ed.
3.Doubl ecl i
ckcel lEIO.Not icethatt het extcur sorf ormsi n
thecel l andy oucannowt ypechar act er sinsidet hecel l.Also
thest atusbarwi l
lnowr eadent erwhi chmeanst hat
Micr osof tExcel expect sy out oent erav aluei nthecel l
.
4.Cl i
ckt hedownar rowont hevertical scr ollbar .The
wor ksheetmov esupwar dsont hescr een.Theopposi te
happenswheny ouclickt heupar r
owont hev ertical scroll
bar.
5.Cl i
ckt herightbut t
onont hehorizont alscrol lbar .The
wor ksheetmov est othel eft.Theopposi tehappenswhen
youcl ickt hel ef
tbut t
onont hehorizont alscr ollbar .
6.Pr esst herightarrowkeyont hekey boar d.Not icet hatthe
cellpoi ntermov esonecol umnt other ightont hesamer ow.
Thiscanal sobedonebypr essingt heTabkeyonce.
7.Pr esst heleftarrowkeyont hekey boar d.Not icet hatt he
cellmov esonecol umnt ot heleftont hesamer ow.Pr essi
ng
givest hesamer esults.

8.Pr
esstheuparr
owkeyont
hekeyboar
d.Not
icet
hatt
he
cel
lpoi
ntermov
esonerowuponthesamecol
umn.
9.Pr
essthedownarrowkeyont
hekeyboar
d.Not
icet
hatt
he
cel
lpoi
ntermovesonerowdownonthesamecol
umn.
10.Pr esstheendkey.Thestatusbarwi l
ldi
splaythe
message" END".I
fyoupresstherightarr
owkey ,thecell
pointerwi l
lmoveri
ghttothelastcellonther
ow.I fthelef
t
upordownkey swer etobepressedinstead,
thecel lpoi
nter
wouldmov etothelastcel
ltotheleft
,toporbottom
respectivel
y.

11.Pressi
ngCtr
1+Homemov est
hecel
lpoi
ntert
othef
ir
st
cel
lofthewor
ksheeti
.e.cel
lAI
.

Cr
eati
ngawor
ksheet
Atit
s si
mpl
estlevel
,cr
eat
ing a wor
ksheetconsi
sts of
149
star
tingthespr eadsheetprogram andent er
ingdatainthe
cell
soft hecur r
entwor ksheet.,Howev er,a per
son can
decidetocreateawor ksheeteitherusingthegeneralf
ormat
orf rom a speciall
ypr ef
ormat ted spreadsheetdocument
caledat
l emplate.

Usingthegener alformat
Whenaspr eadsheetpr ogram i srunningitwillpresentt
he
userwithanewbl ankscr eenofr owsandcol umns.Theuser
canent erdat aint hiswor ksheetandsav ei tasanewl y
creat
edwor ksheet.Ift hisi snotav ail
ablethencl i
ckFil
e
menuopt i
onandsel ectthenew command.Thedi al
ogbox
showni nFigure2. 8wi l
lbedi splayedont hescreen.Onthe
Generaltab,doubleclickthewor kbookicon.Enterdataint
he
newwor ksheetcreated.

Usingat emplate
Cli
ckFi l
emenuopt ionthennewcommand.Ont he
spreadsheetssolut
ionstab,
doublecl
ickthetemplat
ethat
youwi shtocreat
e.Figure2.
9belowshowssomeexampl es
oftempl at
esthatmaybepr esentf
orselect
ion.

NB:Ifthetempl atewassav edpreviouslyonthehar ddi

sk,it
wi
llopen asa new wor ksheetwi th allthepr eformat
ted
f
eatures presentallowing the usert o entersome dat a.
Howev er
,somet emplatesmayr equiretheor i
ginalprogr
am
i
nstal
lati
ondiski nordertobeabletouset hem becausethey
maynothav ebeencopi edt othehar ddiskdur i
ngpr ogr
am
i
nstal
lati
on.

Edi
ti
ngacel lentry
Edi
ti
ngacel lmeanschangi ngthecontent
softhecel l
.
Bef
orethecont entsinacel lcanbe.Changed,t
hecel lmust
besel
ectedbymaki ngitthecurrentcel
l.
Toeditacellentryproceedsasf oll
ows:
.
1.Mov ethecellpointertothecellyouwishtoedit.
2.Doublecli
ckt hefor mulabarforthetextcursortoappear
150
i
nthebar.Thestat
usbarmessagechangest oedit
3.Use t
he keyboardto delet
e and add content
st othe
for
mulabarthenpr essenterkeytoapply.Clickthesave
butt
ononthestandardt
oolbart
osavetheeditedchanges.

Selectingarange
Asy ouhav eexper
iencedwit
ht heprev
ioust
woexampl
es,
wor ki
ngwi t
honeitem atati
mei stedi
ousandt
ime
consumi ng.Usi
ngar angesavesti
mewhenwor ki
ngwi
tha
l
arge. amountofdata.

Ar angei sar ectangularar rangementofcel lsspeci fi

edby
theaddr essofi t
st opleftandbot tom r
ightcell
s,'separat ed
byacol on( :
)egoRangeAI :
CIOi sasshowni nFigure2. 10.
Selecti
ngmul ti
pler anges
Whenusi ngamouse, youcansel ectmorethanoner ange
withoutremov ingt hehighl i
ghtfrom theprevi
ous.Todot his:
Holddownt heShi ftkeyort heCtrlkeywhileyouclickont he
rowheaderoft hesecondr angey ouwantt ohighl
ight.What
happens?Doy ounot icethedi ff
erencewhenhol di
ngdown
theshiftandt hect rlkeys?
1.Shiftkeywi l
l causeal lcolumns/ rowsbetweenthe
select
edandt henewl yclickedcel l
tobehighli
ghted.
2.Ctrlselect
si ndividuall
ycl i
ckedcel l
sorrange.

Hidingrows/col
umns
Youcanhi desomer owsorcolumnsi nordertoseesome
detail
s,whichdonotfi
t,onthescreen.Todot hi
s:
1.Highli
ghtthecol
umns/ r
owsy ouwanttohi de
2.Clickfor
matmenu,poi ntonroworcol umnandcl i
ckhi
de
command.

Savi
ngawor ksheet
Tosaveawor ksheet,
onehast osavetheworkbookinwhich
i
tbelongswit
hauni quenameonast or
agedevicel
ikeahard
di
sk.Theprocedurebelowcanbeusedt osaveawor kbook:
1.Cl
ickFil
emenuopt ionthensel
ectSaveas'
command.
151
Alternativel
y,cl
ickt hesavecommandont hest
andard
toolbar.Thesav easdi al
ogappear s
2.Sel ectthelocationinwhi chy ourworkbookwill
besav edin
theSav einboxt hent ypeauni quenamef ortheworkbookin
theFi l
enamebox.Makesur ethattheopti
onMi cr
osoftExcel
Wor kbooki sselect edundert hesaveast ypebox.
3.Clickt heSavebut t
ont osav e.

Ret rievingasav edwor kbook

Thi smeansopeni ngawor kbookt hatwaspr ev i
ouslysav ed.
1.Cl i
ckFi lemenuopt iont hent heOpencommand.Not ice
thatt he Open command has t hree dot s( called elli
psis)
i
ndi cat i
ngt hatadi alogboxwi llopen,ast heuseri srequi red
topr ovideaddi t
ionali nf ormat ion.Al ternativelyj ustclickt he
Opencommandont hest andar dt ool bar.Theopendi alog
boxappear sont hescr een.
2.Cl ickt heLooki ndr opdownl i
star rowandsel ectthedr ive
orf olderwher et hewor kbookwassav ed.Forexampl e, i
fy ou
sav edi nadi sket t
e,i nser titint hef loppydr ivet hensel ect3
1/2- floppy( A:).A l istoff oldersandf i
lesi nt hedr i
v ewi l
l
appeari nt hel istbox.
3.Doubl ecl ickt hei conoft hewor kbooky ouwantandt he
wor ksheetwi l
lbedi spl ay edi ntheMi crosof tExcelwi ndow.
Not icet hatt hecel lpoi nt erisint hesamecel litwasi nwhen
thewor ksheetwasl astSav ed.
Closi ngawor ksheet
ClickFi let henCl osecommand.Thi sclosest hewor ksheet
butdoesnot
Closet heExcel spreadsheetpr ogr am.Al ternat i
vely,cli
ckt he;
closebut t
onoft hewor ksheetwi ndow
Exitingf r
om t hespr eadsheet
Click Fi let hen Exi tcommand.Thi s cl oses notonl yt he
wor ksheetbutal so t he spr eadsheetpr ogram as wel l
.
Alternat ivelycl ickt hecl osebut t onoft hemai nappl ication
window.
Cel ldat at ypes
Ther ear efourbasi ct y pesofdat ausedwi thspr eadsheet s:
152
1.Labels
2.Values,
3.Formulae
4.Functi
ons.

Labels
Anyt extoral phanumer i
ccharactersenteredi nacel lare
viewedasl abelsbyt hespreadsheetprogr am.Label sare
usedasr ow orcol umnheadi ngsusuallyt odescr ibethe
contentsofther oworcol umn.Forexampl e,ifacolumnwi ll
havenamesofpeopl e,thecolumnheadercanbeNAMES.
Somet i
mes,number scanbef ormat t
edsot hatt heycanbe
used as labels.To achievet hi
s add an apost rophe j
ust
beforethemostsi gnifi
cantdi
giti
nt henumber .Forexampl e,
thenumber1990wi l
lbetreat
edasnumer ic.iftypedinacel l
but'1990willbetreatedasalabel.

Label
sar eali
gned t
ot helef
toft
hecel
land cannotbe
manipul
atedmathemati
cal
ly
.

Values
.,
Thesearenumber sthatcanbemani
pulat
edmathemati
cal
ly
.
Theymayi nclude currency
,dat
e,numbers(0-9)
,speci
al
symbolsort extthatcanbemanipul
atedmathemati
cal
lyby
thespreadsheet.

Formulae
Theseareuserdesi
gnedmat hemati
cal
expressi
onsthat
creat
earelati
onshi
pbetweencell
sandret
urnav al
ueina
chosencell
.InMicr
osoftExcel
,afor
mulamuststartwit
han
equalsi
gn.Forexample,t
heformula
=B3+D4addst
hecontentsof
B3andD4andr
etur
nst
hesum
val
ueint
hecur
rentcel
l.

Excelformulae use cel

laddresses and t
he ari
thmet
ical
operat
orsli
keplus(+)foraddi
ti
on,minus(-
)forsubtr
act
ion,
153
asteri
sk (*)formul t
ipl
ication and forward slash (I
)for
div
ision.
Using celladdr esses,al so called refer
encing,enables
Microsoft Excel t o keep cal culat
ions accur at
e and
automatical
lyrecalcul
atesr esul
tsofaf ormul
ai ncaset he
val
ue i nar eferenced celli s changed.Thi si s call
ed
automaticrecal
culati
on.

Funct i
ons
These ar einbuiltpredef
ined for
mul ae thatthe usercan
quicklyuseinsteadofhav i
ngt ocreat
eanewoneeacht ime
acal cul
ati
onhast obecarri
edoutMi crosoftExcelhasmany
oft hesef or
mul aethatcov erthemostcommont y
pesof
cal
cul at
ions per f
ormed by spr eadsheet s. To add the
contentsofcellB3andD4t hesum functi
oncanbeusedas
shownbel ow:

=Sum (
B3:
D4)

2.
6

Cell r
ef erencing
Acel lreferencei denti
fi
esacel lorar angeofcel l
sont he
wor ksheetandshowsMi crosoftExcelwher etol ookf orthe
val
uesordat aneededt ousei naf ormula.Wi thr ef
erences,
youcanusedat acontai
nedi ndiffer
entcel lsofawor ksheet
i
nonef or mulaoruset hev aluef rom onecel li nsev eral
dif
fer entf ormulae.
Bydef ault,MicrosoftExcel usest heA1cel lreferencingst yl
e.
This meanst hata cel lisi dent i
fi
ed byi ts col umn label
fol
lowedbyt her ownumber .Howev er
,theRlClr eferencing
stylecanbeused.I nthiscase,t hecellisr eferencingbyi t
s
rownumberf oll
owedbyi tscolumnnumber .Thet ablebel ow
givesaf ew exampl esofequi valentreferenci ngusi ngbot h
styles.
A1st yl
e R1C1st y
le
B2 R2C2
C10 R10C3
154
 E20 R20C5

The Rl Clstyl
ei s usefulwhen automati
ng commonly
repeated t
asks usi
ng speci
alrecor
ding pr
ogr
ams cal
l
ed
Macr os.

Relati
vereferencing
Whenper f
ormingt asksthatrequirecellr
efer
encing,youcan
use formulae whose cel lreferences keep on changi ng
automaticall
ydependi ngont heirpositi
oninthewor ksheet.
Thisiscaledr
l el
ativecellr
eferencing.Agoodexampl ewoul d
bei fyout ypet hef ormula=Al +Bli ncellCl
.Ift hesame
for
mul ai s copied to cellC2 t he formula automaticall
y
changest o=A2+B2.

Absolutereferencing
Thesear ecellref
erencesthatalwaysrefertocell
sina
specif
iclocati
on
,oft hewor ksheetev enift heyarecopiedf r
om onecellto
another.To makea f or
mul a absol
ute,add a doll
arsign
beforethelett
erand/ ornumber ,
such as $B$l O.I nt his case,botht he column and r
ow
ref
erencesar eabsolute..

Ref erencingusi ngl abel sandnames

Label sofcol umnsandr owsonawor ksheetcanbeusedt o
refert othecel l
st hatf allwithinthosecol umnsandr ows.I t
i
spossi blet ocr eateanamet hatdescribesthecel lorr ange
thenusei tinsteadofhav ingt ospecifyar angewi t
hact ual
cellr ef
er ences.Suchadescr ipti
venamei naf ormul acan
makei tr eadableandeasi ertounder standitspur pose.For
exampl e,thef ormul a=SUM( SecondQuar ter
Profi
ts)mi ghtbe
easi ertoi dentifythan=SUM( AlO:C20).Inthisexampl e,the
nameSecondQuar terProf i
tsrepresentst herangeAlO:C20on
the wor ksheet .Names can al so be used t or epresent
formul ae orv alues t hatdo notchange ( constants).For
155
exampl
e,y
oucanuset hename .
Tar
if
fstorepr
esentthe
i
mportt
axamount(
suchas7.
0per
cent
)appl
i
edtoimport
s.

Tocr eateanamedr ange

Tocr eateanamedr angeproceedsasf ol
lows:1.Selectt
he
ranget obenamed:
2.Clicki nsi
det henameboxt omov ethetextcursorinsi
de.
Deletet heCel lref
erencet hatisthereandtypeanamef or
therange.
3.PressEnt erkeytoapply.Figure2.13showsawor ksheet
rangecal ledsalesthathasv aluesusedinaformulat ogi
ve
thesum i ncel l
C11.

2.7Basicfuncti
onsandf ormulae
Formulaeperform mathematical
operat
ionsrangingfr
om
verysi
mpl eari
thmeticprobl
emst 9complexscienti
fi
c,
fi
nanci
al andmat hemati
calanaly
sis.

Statisticalfunct ions.
1.Av er age:Itreturnst heav erage( mat hemati
cal mean)ofa
setofv alueswhi chcanbenumber s,arraysorreferences
thatcont ainnumber s.Ifthev alue20i sincellDIOand30i n
ElOt hen:
=Av erage( Dl O:E10)r eturns25ast heav er
ageoft het wo
values.
2.Count :Count st henumberofcel lsthatcont ainv alues
withinar angee. g.
=count( AIO:EI O)manyr etur nav alue5i fallthecel l
shav e
values.
3.Max:I treturnst hel argestv al
uei nasetofv al
ues.It
i
gnor est extandl ogi calv aluese. g.==Max( AlO:EIO)wi ll
returnt hemaxi mum v al
uei nther ange.
4.Mi n:I treturnst hesmal l
estv aluei nasetofv al
ues.It
i
gnor est extandl ogi cal valuese. g.=Mi n(AI
O:EIO)wi l
lret
urn
themi nimum v aluesi nt her ange.
5.Mode: Itret
ur nst hemostf r
equent lyoccurr
ingv alueina
156
setofv al
ues.e. g.=Mode( AIO:ElO)
6.Rank:Ret urnst herankofanumberi nalistbycompari
ng
i
tssi zerelat i
vet otheot hers.Forexampl ei fA 1toAS
containsnumber s7,3.8,
3.8,
1and2t henRANK( A2,Al:
A5,1)
retur
ns3whi leRANK( AI
,AI:
A5,I)ret
urns
5.Thegener alformatisRANK( numbert oberanked,r
ange,
order).

Logicalf unctions
1.If:Itreturnsaspeci fiedvalueifacondi tionisev aluated
andf oundt obet rueandanot hervalueifitisfalse.If( marks
>50, "pass","fail")wi l
l di
splayapassi fvaluesar emor ethan
50el sei twill
di splayf ail
.
2.Count if
:Count st henumberofcel l
swi thinaspeci fied
ranget hatmeett hegi vencondi t
ionorcr i
ter i
a.e.g.suppose
A10: E10cont ainseggs, beans, beans, eggs, eggs,
count if
(AIO:EIO, "Eggs" )wil
lreturn3.
3.Sumi f:I
taddsv aluesi nthecel l
sspeci f
iedbyagi v en
condi ti
onorcr iter i
a.e. g.Forexampl eifAIOt oEl Ocont ai
ns
values10, 50,60, 30, 70, t
osum al lvaluesgr eaterthan50=
Sumi f(AIO:EIO, ">50" ).Thisreturns130.

Mathemat icalfuncti
ons
1.Sum: addsv aluesinar angeofcellsasspecif
iedand
ret
urnsther esulti
nt hespeci fi
edcell.e.
gSum (AIO:
EIO)
addsv al
uesi ntherange
2.Product:mul t
ipli
esv aluesinar angeofcell
sandretur
ns
theresul
tint hespeci f
iedcel l
.Forexampl ei
fA10has30
andBI Ohas
3.Product(AlO:BIO)wi ll
r et
urn90.

Ar
it
hmeticfor
mulae-usi
ngoper
ator
s
Oper
atorFunct
ion

+(pl
us) addsval
uesasspeci
fied
-(
minus). subtr
act
svaluesasspecif
ied
*(
multi
pli
cat
ion) mul
ti
pli
esvalues
157
/(divi
sion) div
idesval
ues.
()parenthesi
s encl
osesargument
stobe
calcul
atedfir
st.

Forafor
mula=(Al+C3)/
E20,iftheval
uei
nE20i
snotzer
o,
ther
esul
tisdi
spl
ayedinthecurr
entcel
l
.

Orderofexecut ion
I
fsev eral.Operatorsareusedi nasi ngleformula;Microsoft
Excelper formst heoperationsi nt heordershowni nTable
2.3.Formul aswithoperatorsthathav esamepr ecedencei.e.
i
fa f ormula contains both a mul t
ipl
icati
on and divisi
on
operatorar eevaluatedfrom l efttor i
ght.Encl
osingpar tof
thef ormul ato becal culated in parenthesesorbr acket s
makest hatpartt obecalculatedf i
rst.

Oper
ator Name Preced
ence
1.- Negat ionasi n-
1 1
2.% Percent 2
2.1\ Exponent i
ati
on 3
3.*and/ ! Multi
pl icati
onand 4
div
isi
on
4.+and- Additionand 5
subtract i
on
6.=,<>,
>,
<,
<=,
>= Relat
ional 6

Tabl
e2.
3:Oper
ator
s'or
derofexecut
ion

2.
8

Edi
ti
ngawor
ksheet

Copingandmov i
ngdata
Spreadsheet soft
ware automates many pr ocesses t
hat
couldhavebeent edi
ousifdonemanually.Forexamplewith
MicrosoftExcel,you can do cal
cul
ati
onsusi ng for
mulae
158
fai
rlyeasi
lyasyougi vet
hedat
aandcor
recti
nst
ruct
ionst
o
theprogram.Copy i
ngandmovi
ngof
,dat
acanalsobedone
quickl
yandeffi
cientl
y.

When datai
s cutorcopied from the worksheet
,i tis
t
emporari
l
yhel
dinast
oragelocat
ioncal
ledthecli
pboard.

Copyingdat a
Tocopyacel lorar angeofcell
s:
1.Highli
ghtthecell
sorr angeyouwantcopied
2.Cli
ckt heEditmenut hensel
ectCopycommand.
3.Selectthecelli
nwhi chyouwanttoplaceacopyoft
he
i
nformat i
on4.From theEditagain,
cli
ckPastecommand.
ThePast ecommandput sacopyf r
om thecli
pboar
donthe
specifi
edlocati
on

Movingdata
Unli
ketheCopycommandwher eadupli
catecopyi
screated,
theMov ecommandtransf
erst
hecontent
softheori
ginal
cell
(s)t
oanewl ocat
ion.

Tomov ear angeofcell

s:
1.Highl
ighttherangeyouwantt omove.
2.From theEditmenu,selectCut.
3.Speci
fythelocationyouwantt omovet
hecont
ent
sto.
4.From theEditmenuagai n,cl
i
ckPast
e.

2.9Wor ksheetf ormatti

ng
Wor ksheetf ormat t
ingrefer
stoenhancingtheappear
anceof
thewor ksheett omakei tmoreatt
ract
iveandappeali
ngto
thereader .Appr opri
ateformatt
ingshouldbeusedtolay
emphasi s, catchattenti
onandbr i
ngotherwiseI
Ihi
dden
detailt
ot hef oreoft hedocument.

Thegoldenr ul
eoff or
matti
ngistousesi mpleclearformat s.
I
tessent i
all
yconsistsofchangi
ngt extcolourandt ypeface
(font
),si
ze,styleandali
gnment.InMi crosoftExcel
,f or
mat
thecell
swhet heremptyornotandtheircontent
swi l
lacquire
159
t
hesetf
ormataut
omat
ical
l
y.

Tof or
matasi ngl
ecell
,makei tthecurr
entcellthenformat
menuopt ionandselectthecellscommandI nt heformat
cell
sdial
ogbox, maketheformatti
ngspeci
fi
cationsthatyou
wishthencli
cktheokbuttontoapply.I
fiti
sar angeofcells,
theymustbehi ghl
ight
edf i
rstbeforef
ormatt
ingt hem asa
blockofcell
s.

Format t
ingtext
1.Highli
ghtthecellsthathavethetexttobefor
mat t
ed.
2.ClickFormatmenut hencell
scommand.Thedi alogbox
appears
3.Selectthefonttabasshowni nthef i
gurebycl
icki
ngi t
.
4.Selectthefonttypee.g.TimesNewRoman.Ot herfont
for
mat ti
ngfeaturesli
kest y
le,si
ze,
under l
i
neandcolourare
avai
lableandcanbesel ect
ed.
5.Cli
ckbut t
ont oapply.

NB:Al ternat
ivel
y,usetheformatt
ingt
oolbartoaccompli
sh
allyourtextformatti
ngneeds.Noti
cethatt
heopti
onsinthe
fontdialogboxar ecommandsont hef
ormatti
ngt
oolbar
.

Format ti
ngnumber s
1.Highlightthecel l
st hathavet henumber stobef ormatt
ed.
2.ClickFor matmenut hencell
scommand.Thedi alogboxin
Figure2.15appear s.
3.Selectt heNumbert abasshowni nthefi
gurebelow.
4.Youcannowchoosenumberf ormatsasexplainedbelow:
Number Meani ng
Gener al gener alf ormatcel ls hav e no speci
fic number
format .
Number Usedf orgener aldi
splayofnumber se.g.2345.23.
CurrencyFordi splayinggener almonet ar
yv al
uese. g.$100,
Ksh.10.
Account ing Li nesupt hecurrencysy mbolsanddecimal
poins.Di splaysdat einchosenf or
mat .
Date Displ
ay stimei nchosenf ormat.
160
Percentage Mul t
ipl
iesthevalueinacellwit
h100and
di
splay' i
tas%.
Text Formatscellstobetreatedastextevenwhen
number sareentered.
Custom Foranumberf or
matnotpr edefi
nedi
n
MicrosoftExcel
,selectcustom thendefi
nethepatt
ern.

Wor ksheetbor ders

You may need t o puta pr i
ntable borderar ound your
worksheetori nar angeofcel l
st omakei tmoreat t
racti
ve
andappeal ing.Toputabor der:
1.Hi ghlightt herangey ouwi sht oinsertborders.From the
format menu, cl
ickcel l
scommand.
2.Clickt hebor derst abandspeci f
ytheborderopt i
onsfor
l
eft,right,topandbot t
om..
3.Fr om t hest yl
eopt ions,selectthet ypeofl i
net hi
ckness
andst yle.Al soselectt hepresetopt i
ons.
4.Clickt heokbut t
on.Thesel ectedrangewi ll
haveabor der
aroundi t.

Format tingrowsandcol umns

Somet i
mes,t hei
nformationenteredinthespreadsheetmay
notfitneat l
yinthecellsetwiththedefaul
theightandwi dth.
I
tther eforebecomesnecessar ytoadjusttheheightofar ow
orthewi dt
hofacol umn.Thest andardwidthofacol umni n
Microsof tExcelis8.43char actersbutcanbeadj ust
edt o
anyv aluebetween0and255.

Changi ngcol umnwi dth

1.Mov et hemousepoi nt
ertother i
ghthandsi del i
nethat
separatest hecolumnheader si.
e.forinstancet heline
betweenAandB.
2.Noticet hatthemousepoi nterchangesf rom acr osstoa
doublear row
3.Cli
ckt hemousebut tonandhol ditdownsot haty oucan
nowr esizet hewidthofthecolumnbydr aggingt othesize
youwi sh.Af terDr
aggingtother equi
redpoi ntreleasethe
161
mousebut
tonandt
heCol
umnwi
l
lhav
eanewsi
ze.

NB:Al t
ernatively,mov et hecellpoi ntertooneofthecell
sof
thecol umnt hencl ickFor mat ,poi nttoCol umnthencli
ck
Wi dthcommandf r
om t hesi
deki ckmenu.Ty peawidthi
nthe
dialogboxt hatr esembl esFigure2. 17t hencli
ckOk.
butt
onto
appl y
.
NB:Tochanget hewi dthsofsev eralcolumnsatt hesame
ti
me, hi
ghlightt hem f i
rstbef
or ef ol
lowingt hi
smethod.

Changi ngr owhei ght

1.Poi ntt ot helinethatseparatestwor ownumber se.g.the
l
inebet ween1and2.Themousepoi nterbecomesadoubl e
arrow.
2.Dr agt hel ineunt i
l t
heheightoftherowi sasrequir
edt hen
stopandr eleaset hemousebut t
on.
NB: Alter nativel
y ,
clickFormatpointtoRowt hencl
ickHeight
fr
om t hesi dekickmenut hatappears.Typetheheightthat
youwi shi nt hedialogboxt hatappearsandt hencl
ickOK
buttont oappl y.

Inserti
ngrowsandcol umns
I,Cl
ickcellA5tomakei tt
hecurrentoract
ivecel
l.
2.cl
ikinser
tthencolumnstoinserta'r
owabov ecel
lA5and
shiftal
ltheotherr
owsdownwar d.
OR

Cli
cki
nser
tthenCol
umnstoinser
tacolumnt
othel
eftof
col
umnAandshif
tal
ltheot
her
stother
ight
.

NB:Alt
ernat
ivel
y,cl
ickinsertt
hencell
stodi
spl
ayt
hedial
og
boxsel
ecttheentir
eroworentirecol
umnopti
onst
oinser
ta
roworcolumnrespecti
vely.

Globalworksheetformatt
ing
Thewor dglobali
nt hi
scaseref
erstotheenti
reworksheet
.
I
nor dert
of ormatthewholeworksheetgl
obal
ly,
itmustbe
162
sel
ectedasawhol e.
Twomet hodscanbeusedt osel
ectawor ksheetgl
obal
l
y:
1.Cl
ickthetopleftcomeroftheworksheetthathasablank
col
umnheaderi .
e.immediat
elyont hel ef
tofA andj ust
aboveI,
OR
2.Pr
essCt r
l+Aont hekey
board.

Noti
cet
hatthewhol
ewor ksheetbecomeshighl
i
ghted.I
tcan
now be f
ormat
ted as one big bl
ock usi
ng for
matcel l
s
command.

Usingaut oformat
I
tallowst heusert oapplyoneofsi xt
eenset soff
ormatti
ng
to&sel ectedrangeont hewor ksheet.Thisqui
ckl
ycreates
tabl
est hatareeasyt oreadandar eat t
racti
vetot
heeye..
1.Selectar angee.g.B1: G7t omakei tacti
ve.
2.Clickformatt henselecttheautof ormatcommandont he
menut hatAppear s.Selectaf or
matf r
om theautoformat
dial
ogboxshowni nFigure2.19.
3.Clickt heokbut t
ont oappl ythef ormattotheselected
range.

2.9Dat amanagement
Att imes,i tbecomes necessar yt o use adv anced dat a
managementt oolst o manage large ,data stored on a
'
wor ksheet.Forexampl e,
ift
hewor ksheethasmanyr ecords,
i
tmaybecomenecessar ytoarranget hem i napar ti
cular
orderusingamet hodcaledsor
l t
ingf oreasieraccesstodat a
i
tems.Ot hermet hodsofdatamanagementi ncludeuseof
fi
l
ters,total
/subtotalf
uncti
onandf orms.

Sort
ing
Tocar r
youtsort
ingproceedasfoll
ows:
1.Hi
ghl i
ghttherangethatyouwishtosor
tbycl
i
ckingi
ts
col
umnheaderl etter
.
2.ClickDatat henSor t.NoticethattheSortbyfi
eldi
s
163
alr
eadyreadingthefi
eldthaty
ousel
ected.Thisf
ieldi
scal
l
ed
thecri
teri
afiel
d.
3.Selectthefiel
dtobeusedast hekeyf orsort
ingandt
he
sortorderasei t
herdescendi
ngorascendingthencli
ckOK
butt
ont oapply.

Fil
teringdata
Fi
ltering is a quick and ef
fi
cientmet hod offi
nding and
wor kingwithasubsetofdat ainal i
st.Afil
ter
edli
stwillonly
di
spl ayt he rowst hatmeett he conditi
on orcrit
eri
ay ou
specif y
.MicrosoftExcelhastwocommandsf orf
il
teri
nglists.
1.Theaut
ofi
l
ter
:Itusessi
mpl
ecr
it
eri
aandi
ncl
udesf
il
terby
sel
ecti
on.
2.Adv
ancedf
il
ter
:Itusesmor
ecompl
excr
it
eri
a.

I
nthi
sPupi
l
'sBookwewi
l
llookatt
heaut
ofi
l
ter
.

Aut ofil
ter
Fil
ter scanbeappl iedt oonlyonel istonawor ksheetata
ti
me.
1.Cl i
ckacel li
nthel istthatist obef i
ltered; usuallytheli
sti s
i
na col umn.
2.Ont heDat amenu, pointtoFilter,andt hen
3.Todi splayonlyther owst hatcont ai naspeci f i
cv alue,
cli
ck
thear rowi nthecol umnt hatcont ainst hedat ay ouwantt o
displayasshowni nFi gur e2.21.
4.Cl i
ckt hev al
uet hati stobedi spl ayedbyt hef ilt
erf r
om the
drop downl ist.e. gintheexampl ebel ow, thesel ect
ed
valuei s34.
NB:Somet imeswhi lel ookingt hroughal istofv aluesona
l
ar gewor ksheet,y oumaycomet oav alueofi nterestand
wantt o see allot heroccur rences oft he v al
ue i nt he
spr eadsheet .Simpl ycl i
ckt hecel lthathast hev aluethen
cli
ckaut ofilt
eront hest andar dt oolbar .Mi crosof tExcel
turnsonAut oFil
terandt henf i
lters-t helistt oshowonl yt he
rowsy ouwant .
164
Subt ot alsfunction
Consi dert hef oll
owingscenar i
o:Acompanyt hathasmany
salesper sons
willneedt oknowhowmucheachoft hem shouldbepai dat
theendofaper i
odbyl ookingati ndividualsalesv ol
umes.
Also,t he gr and t otalforal lt he pay ments has t o be
calcul ated.Ther efore,i
fthesal espersonsar ehel dinal i
st,
ther ewoul dbeneedt ocalculat
et heamountduet oeachof
them.Thi s can be cal l
ed a subt otali nt he li
st.Allthe
subt otalscant henbeaddedt ogethert omaket hegrand
total.Consi dert hefoll
owinglist
:
Name AmountOwed
Stephen ` 6000
Joy 3000
St ephen 2000
Vir ginia 5000
Joy 800
Stephen 200
Vir ginia 5000

Microsof tExcelcanaut omat icall

ysummar iset hedat aby
calculatingsubtotalandgr andt otalvaluesoft hel i
st.Touse
automat i
csubtotals,thelistmusthav el abelledcolumnsand
mustbesor tedont hecolumnsf orwhi chy ouwantsubt otal
s.
Inthisexampl e,thel i
stisfirstsor t
edbyname
1.Clickacel li
nt hel i
stthatwi llhav esubt otalse.g.cellA3.
2.Ont heDatamenucl i
ckSubt otals3.Not i
cet hatallthe
datar angeisnowsel ected.
3.Ineachchangei nbox,sel ectNamef r
om t hedr opdown
l
istbecausewewantasubt otalforeachoft henames.
4.I nt heUsef unct i
onboxsel ectt hesum f unction then
selectt heli
stforwhi chsubt otalswi llbei nsertedint headd
subtot alsboxbychecki ngt heappr opriatelabel.Int hi
scase
i
tist heamountowedf i
eld.
5.Cl i
ckokbut tont oappl yandt hel i
stwi l
lnow hav esub
tot
alsi nsert
ed
Totalsf uncti
on
165
Use t heAutoCalculate featur e i n Mi crosoft Excel to
automaticall
yshowt hetotalofasel ectedrange.Whencel l
s
areselected,MicrosoftExceldi splayst hesum oft herange
ont hestatusbar.Ri ghtcl
ickingt hisfunctiondispl
aysother
functi
onsl i
keMi n,MaxandAv er
aget hatcanalsobeused.
To f i
nd the tot
alofa r ange,hi ghlightitthen cli
ck the
autosum icon∑ont hestandar dtoolbar .

Forms
Af ormi saspeci al
lypreparedtemplatethatt heuserscan
uset oenterdatainawor ksheet
.Iti
sspecificallyfor
matted
to enable userst o ent
erdat ai naf or
matt hatismor e
convenientt othem.I fdat aiscoll
ectedonpaperbef ore
enteri
ngint hecomput er
,thenaform canbecr eat edtohave
thelayoutoft hedat aont hepapertoqui ckendat aent r
y
procedures.Todisplayaform: Cl
ick'
Data,t
henf orm.

2.10Char ts/graphs
Chart
s/ graphsar egraphi
csorpicturest hatr epr
esentv al
ues
andthei rrel
ationshi
ps.Acharthel pst her eadertoqui ckly
seetrendsi ndat aandt obeabl et ocompar eandcont rast
aspects of dat athat would ot her wise haver emained
obscure.Mi crosoftExcelhasbot ht wo-dimensionaland3-
dimensionalchar tst
hatcanbeusedi nsteadoft her awdat a
i
nt he t ablethathas t o-be studi ed f ora long t i
me t o
understandit.

Thev ari
oust y
pesofchar t
sav ail
ablei udecol
ncl umn,bar ,
l
ine.Pie,bubbleand ar ea chart
samongot her
s.Consi der
caref
ull
yt het
ypeofchar tt
hatwoul dbestrepr
esentthebase
dataint heworksheetbefor ecreat
ingone.Forexampl e,if
theaimist odepictt
heper f
ormancei ndexofastudentfrom
FormI -
to3,alinechartwoul dbemostappr opri
atebecause
i
tclearl
yshowst hetrendinperformance.

Typesofcharts
1.Linechar
t-repr
esentsdat
aasl
i
neswi
thmar
ker
sateach
dataval
ueinthex-
yplane.
166
2.Columnchar t
-representsdataasacl ust
erofcol
umns
compar ingvaluesacrosscat egories. .
3.Barchar t-datavaluesarrangedhor i
zontall
yascluster
ed
bars.Compar esv al
uesacr osscat egor
ies.
4.Piechar t-i
tdispl
ay sthecont r
ibuti
onofeachv al
uet oa
grandt otal
.
5.Scatterchart-compar espai r
sofv aluesonthesameaxi s.
Tov iew typesofchar t
s,rightcl i
ckt hechartobjectthen
selectthecharttypecommand.

Creat
ingachart
Achartmustbebasedonv
aluest
hatar
eal
readyent
eredi
n
t
hewor ksheet
.

Tocr eateachar t:
1.Selectt her angeofv aluesf orwhi chyouwantt ocr eatea
chart.
2.Clickt heChar twi zardbut t
onont hestandar dtool barand
thechar twi zarddi alogboxwi llopenasshowni nFi gur e2. 25
3.Clickt het ypeofchar ty ouwi shto.creat e.Iftheof fice
assistantappear s, closei t.Thechar tsub- typepr eviewwi ll
showsev eralstylesoft hesel ectedchar tty pe.
4.Clickt heNextbut tont omov et othedi alogi nFigur e2. 26.
5.Clickt heSer iest abt hent hecol lapsedi alogbut tonont he
l
abel stextbox.
Thiswi l
lshr i
nkt hedi al ogboxsot hatonl yt hecat egor y
l
abel stextboxi sshown.Hi ghlightthedat alabel sf rom t he
worksheet .
6.Cl ickt heExpanddi alogbut tont obri
ngt hef ulldialogbox
i
ntov i
ewt hencl ickt he:Nextbut t
on.Inst ep3oft hewi zar d,
uset heappr opriatet abst otypet hetit
leoft hechar t, showa
l
egend, selectwhet hert odi splaygr i
dli
nesornotet c.Af teral l
thesecl ickt heNextbut t on.'
7.Atstep4determinewhethert
hechar
twillbei
nser
tedin
thecur
rent wor ksheetora new worksheett
hen cl
ick
Fini
shbutt
on(
Figure2.27)
.

167
Mov i
ngandr esizi
ngachar t
Once the charti s created,its si
ze and location can be
changedi nthewor ksheet .Thechar telementi senclosed
i
nsideaboundar ycalledt hechartareaandhencebot hcan
beresizedindependent l
y.Si mplycl
icktheobjecty ouwishto
resi
zeanduset heobj ecthandlesjustlikei
nobj ectstodrag
tosize.Tomov ethechar t,cl
ickinsi
det hechar tareathen
dragtothedesiredposi ti
on.

Dataranges
Adatar angeisar ect
angul ockofcel
arbl lsthatpr
ov i
desthe
basedat athatisusedtocreatethechart
.Inchart
ing,adata
rangeisr ef
erencedasanabsol ut
erangee.g..
=Sheetl!$B$2:$C$8whichmeanst hatthebasedat aisf
ound
onWor ksheet1andabsol uterangeB2:C8.
Toseet
hedat
arangeofachar
t,r
ightcl
i
cki
tthensel
ectt
he
Sour
cedat
acommand..

Labels
Eachrepresent
ationofdat
aonachartcaneit
herbelabel
l
ed
byav al
ue
ortextlabel
.Forexample,inabarchar
tthatcomparesthe
hei
ghtofpupi l
s,eachbarcanbegi
venav al
uelabelt
omake
i
tmor ereadable.

Tolabel:
1.Rightcli
ckthechar
tthensel
ectt
heChar
topt
ions
commandf rom
theshortcutmenu.

2.Cli
ckthel
abl
est
abandchoosewhet
heryouwantv
alueor
textl
abel
s t
hen cl
i
ck OK but
ton to
apply
. .

Headingsandtit
les
Eachchartmusthaveaheadingshowingclear
lywhati
t
repr
esents.ToImakethechartunder
standabl
e,i
ncl
udeaxi
s
168
 t
it
les.

.Toincludeaxist i
tl
esproceedasfol
lows:
1.Rightcli
ckt hechartthenselectt
he.Chartopti
ons
command.
2.Cli
ckt heTitlestabthentypethechartt
it
le(headi
ng)
.And
axi
st i
tl
esr espect i
vel
y.
3.Cli
ckOKbut t ontoapply.

Legends
Thelegendislikeakeyt hatexplainswhateachcol ouror
patt
ernofthedat arepresentati
oni nthechartmeans.For
example,MicrosoftExcelmaygi ver edcolourt
oonedat a
val
ueandgr eent otheother.Wi t
houtal egenditwouldbe
dif
fi
cultt
oknowhowt odifferent
iatethetwoset sofval
ues.

:
Tocr eateal egend:
.1.
Rightcli
ckt hechar tt
hensel
ecttheChartopt
ions
command.
2.Cli
ckt helegendst abandspeci
fythati
tbedisplay
edi
nthe
chartarea.
3.Cli
ckOKbut tontoappl y
.

2.
11

Pri
nti
ngwor ksheet s
Awor ksheetwi l
lfi
nall
ybepr intedf
orshar i
ngwi t
hot hersor
forfi
li
ngpur poses.Ifitcontainsobjectsli
kecharts,itmay
notfi
tonast andardprint
ingpageusi ngthedefaultprint
ing
opti
onsandset ti
ngs.Therefore,Mi
cr osof
tExcelallowst he
usertoprevi
ewandsetupt hepagesofa' worksheetinorder
tofi
tthem ont hehardcopypage.

Pagesetup
1.Cl
ick.
Fil
emenuopti
onthenPagesetupcommandt o
di
spl
aythepageset
updial
ogbox.. .
2.OnthePaget
ab,sel
ectt
heori
entat
ionofthepage.St
udy
169
 themeani
ngsofeachbutt
onsandopti
onsinFi
gur
es2.28.
3.Af
termaki
ngthenecessar
ysel
ect
ions,
cli
ckOKtoapply
.

Printpr eview
Itdisplayst hewor ksheetf rom t hepointofv iewoft hepri
nter
i
.e.exact lyt hewayi twi l
llookwhenpr inted.Beforeusing
thi
scommand, makeIsur et hechar ti
sdesel ected.
1.Cl i
ckt hePr i
ntpr eviewbut tonont hest andardtoolbar
.
2.Thewor ksheetwi l
l bedi splayedi nt
hepr i
ntprevi
ew
windowwi tht hestat usbarr eadi ngpreview.
3.Cl i
ckSet upt ostar tthepageset updialogbox.Tocl ose
thepr eview, cl
icktheCl ose.But ton.
IPrintopt ions

Topr i
ntcl ickFi lethenPr intcommand.Thepr intdial
og,box
appearsasshowni nFi gure2.29.
1.Selectpr i
nt er-thenameboxi nt hi
sdialogboxenabl esa
persont osel ectthepr interthatwi l
lbeusedt opr i
ntthe
document .Al ltheprintersthatar einstal
l
edont hecomput er
willbeavai lablehere.
2.Theprintwhatopt i
onsar e:
(a)Selecti
on-t hi
sprintsthesel ectedwor ksheetarea.
(b)Wor kbook-pr i
ntsallthewor ksheet si
nt heworkbook.
(c)Selectedchar t-printsthesel ectedchartonly.

Pageor i
entation
Asexplainedearli
er,
pageorientat
ionref
erstot
helayoutof
thetextonthepage.Awor ksheetcanalsobepri
ntedon
eit
herlandscapeorportr
aitdependingonthenumberof
columnsacr osstheworksheet.

Pagesandcopies .
Thenumberofcopiesboxspecif
ieshowmanycopiesofa
par
ticul
arwor
ksheetorworkbookshoul
dbepri
nted.

Sometimesonl
ysomespecif
iedpagesinaworkbookare
speci
fi
edforpr
int
inge.
g.i
faworkbookhas100pagesand

170
y
ouwi shtoprintonl
ypages50to60selectthepage(s)
r
angebut t
onthentype50and60int he f
rom,to boxes
r
especti
vel
ybef
orecli
cki
ngt
heOKbut
ton.

Pr
int
ing
Af
tersel
ect
ingal
ltheopt
ions,
cli
ckt
heOKbut
tont
opr
int
.

Somecommonpr int
ingpr
oblems
1.Amessageappearsonthescreensayi
ngthatt
hepr
int
er
speci
fi
edcoul
dnotbefoundinthedirect
ory
.

Possibleproblemsandsol utions
(a)Theprintercouldbeof f
.Switchitonanditwi l
lstar
t
pri
nti
ng.
(b)Thedat acabletothepr i
ntercoul
dbeloose.Makesur eit
i
sf i
rm attheports.
(c)Thewr ongprintercoul
dhav ebeenselected.Selectthe
ri
ghtoneint heprintdial
ogboxandsendt heprintj
obagai n.
(d)Amessageappear sont hescreenreadingthatthereis
paperjam. I

The pri
nteris cl
ogged wit
h a paperjam.Al
ertt
he l
ab,
techni
cianort
heTeachertocleart
hepaperj
am.

171
DATABASES

Chapt
erout
li
ne

3.1I
ntroducti
ont odatabases
3.2Databaseconcepts
3.3Dataorganizati
oninadat abase
3.4Creati
ngadat abaseusingMi cr
osof
tAccess
3.5Edit
ingadat abase
3.6Form desi
gn
3.7searchingforspecifi
crecordsinadat
abase
3.8Creati
ngreports
3.9Creati
nglabels

Int
roducti
ontodat abases
Wear eoftenfacedwi tht heneedt okeep,sear
chfororgiv
e
areportofdailyexper iences.Thisisthereasonwhymany
people use data st orage met hods li
ke recor
ding dai
ly
experi
encesinadi ary.Tradit
ional
ly,humanbeingsusedto
manage data and i nformat i
on manuallybyusing simpl
e
devi
ces. Howev er t hese met hods hav e a number of
weaknesseswhi chinclude

1.Unnecessar ydupl
icati
onofdata
2.Boredom andt i
mewast i
ngespeci
all
ywhensear
chi
ngf
or
aPar t
icul
aritem.
3.Misleadingreport
sduet opoordat
aentr
yand
organisat
ion
4.Poorupdat eofrecordsetc.

Today,computeri
zedsy st
emshav eradi
cal
lychangec4t
he
waydataand i nf
ormationismanagedbyuseofspeci al
progr
amscaledDat
l abaseManagementSyst
em (
DBMS) .

A databaseisacoll
ecti
onofstruct
uredandr el
ateddata
i
temsor gani
sedsoastoprov
ideaconsist
entandcontr
oll
ed
accesstotheit
ems.

172
Databaseconcept s .
Comput eri
seddatabasecr eati
onandmani pul
ationi
s
achievedusingDatabaseManagementSy stem soft
war
e.
Thissoftwarefaci
li
tatesthecr eat
ion,or
ganisati
onand
maintenanceofdat abases.Exampl esofdatabase
managementsof t
war e’si
ncludeMi cr
osoftAccess(Ms
Access),Oracl
e,FoxPr o,Dbase/V,LotusApproachetc.

Thef unctionsofdat abasemanagementsof twar

eareto:
1.All
owt heuseraddordel eterecords.
2.Updat eormodi f
yex i
sti
ngrecords.
3.Organi sedat aforeasyaccess,retri
evalandmani pul
ation
ofrecords.
4.Actas an i nt
erface bet
ween a dat abase and other
appli
cationpr ograms.
5. Ensur e secur i
tyf or the datai nt he database by
safeguardi ngitagainstunauthori
zedaccessandcor r
uption
(damage) .
6.Keepst ati
sti
csofdat ait
emsi nadatabase.
Databasemodel s

Databasesarecl
assi
fi
edaccor dingtothemethodusedt
o
organisedat
a.Themaindatabasemodel sare;
1.Flatfi
le 2.Hi
erarchical
3.Network 4.Relational

NB:Currentdat
abasemodelsarecal
ledobj
ectr
elati
onaland
obj
ect databases.Howev er t
hese model
s wi l
lnot be
di
scussedindetail
sint
hisbook.

Fl
atf
il
es

Inaf l
atfi
lemodel,adatabaseholdsonlyonesetofdataand
i
snotanydi f
fer
entf r
om themanualf i
les.Forexample,t
he
teacher'
sassessmentr eportmayconsi stofperfor
mance
cardsforeveryst
udentinacl ass.Anotherexampleofaflat
fi
ledatabasearethecardsusedi nali
brarybookscatal
ogue.
Thecar dsarear rangedsequential
l
yf oreasyaccesse. g.
173
al
phabet i
call
y using books'ti
tl
es orby author
s'names.
Fi
gur e3.1belowisasampl erecordofaf
latf
il
e.
Name SerahSeki
Admi ssi
on 649
number
Totalmar ks 680
Numberof 10
subjects
Average 68
Positi
on 4
Fi
g.3. 1:
Sampl erecor
dinaf l
atfil
e

Hi
erar
chi
calmodel

Inthi
smodel ,dat
ai temsar earr
angedi nhierar
chical(tr
ee)
for
m asshowni nFigur e3.2.Toaccessl eveltwodataitems,
youhavetof ir
staccessl ev el1datai t
ems.Lev el1item is
cal
ledtherootcomponent .Aspeci f
icsinglepathleadst o
eachit
em atlowerlevels.Hierar
chicalmodel i
srarel
yusedi n
modem databasesy stems.

¬ Lev
el1maindat
aitem
Pat
h
Lev
el2datait
em

Fi
g.3.
2:Hi
erar
chi
cal
dat
abasemodel

Net
wor
kmodel

I
nt histypeoforgani
sation,li
nksar eusedtoexpresst he
rel
ati
onshipbet
weendifferentdatait
ems,for
minganet work
ofit
emsasshowni nFigure3.3.Accesstooneitem canbe
thr
oughmul t
ipl
epathsandf rom anyit
em.Thismodelisalso
rar
elyusedinmodem databasesy st
ems.
Dat
ait
em
Dat
ait
em 2
1 Dat
ait
em
4

174
 Dat
ait
em 3

Fi
g3.
3:Net
wor
kdat
abasemodel

Relationalmodel
Thisi st he most common t ype of model used on
minicomput ers and mi crocomput ers. In this type of
organisation,r elated dat ai t
ems ar e stor
ed toget heri n
structurescal led rel
at i
ons ort ables.Rel at
ionshi
p can be
createdbet weent ablessucht hatar ecordorrecordsf rom
onet abler elat
est oanot herorotherr ecordsi
nanot hertable.
Tables3. 1and3. 2show cust omersandor derstablest hat
arer elat
edbyt wof i
elds;thecustomernumberi nTabl e3. 1
andcust omerI DinTabl e3. 2.Inthiscase,t heorderst able
showst hatonecust omerwi t
hnumber450( BatHor i
)has
madesev eralorders.

Cust
omer Nam Tel
ephone
Number e number
900 Mary 02078907
Koech
230 Peter 0667896
Kari
mi
450 BatHori 04456000
Table3.1:
Cust omer
number
CustomerOrder Date Amount
I
D Number (sh)
90 2380 2/3/
200490000
0
45 811 2/5/
20045000
0
'
-45 234 . 13000
0 3/5/
2004
45 567 3/6/
200413000
0
175
Tabl
e3.
2:Cust
omerI
D

Objector i
entedmodel s .!
Thenextgener ati
onofdat abasemodel wil
ll
ookatr ecor
ds
asobj ectsthatareindependentandr el
atewiththeot her
objectsinthedat abase.Thisconceptisabitdif
ficultto
concept ual
isebecausesuchdat abasesaresti
ll
at
development al
stage.Howev er,
manydat abasest oday
combi neobj ectandrelat
ionalconceptstocomeupwi t
h
objectrelat
ionmodel s.

Featuresofadat abasemanagementsof tware

Mostdat abasesoftwarecont ainsacol l
ectionoff eatures
thatpr ovi
destheuserwi t
hameanst omanipulatedataina
database.These f eat
ures i nclude Tables/fil
es,Quer i
es,
Report s generator
s, Form i nt er
face and a comput er
programmi ngl
anguagewi thi
ni t.Microsof
tAccessdat abase
softwar ethatwi
llbeconsideredi nt hi
sbookhast wodisti
nct
featuresusedt oaut omateoper ati
onsnamel yMacrosand
Modul es.

Tables/fi
lest
ructure
Thisi sadatabasest r
ucturet hatisusedt ohol drel
ated
records.Tabl
esar eor ganisedi nr owsandcol umnswi th
each r ow representi
ng a r ecord while each column
represent
scommonf iel
dsineachr ecor
d.Tabl
e3. 3showsa
tabl
eofsixrecordsandeachr ecordismadeupoff ourfi
elds.

FI
RST MIDDLE LAST ADDRESS
NAME NAME NAME
MBUGUA STEPHEN KI
MANI 250
KERUGOYA
ADERA NELSON ODUOR 396HOMA
BAY
MARGAR JUDY WEKESA. 761NAIROBI
ET
GATO PATRI
CIA MUI
LA 170TALA

176
MWELU LUCY. MWENI 390
KANGUNDO.
KOECH PETER KORI
R 605KERI
CHO

Tabl
e3.
3:Tabl
eofsi
xrecor
dsandf
ourf
iel
ds

Quer
iesandquer
ylanguage

Aquer yisadat abaset oolusedt osear chfororquest iona

databaseonspeci f
icrecords.Becauseaquer yi saquest ion
posedt othedat abase,itr et
urnsar esultfort heuser .In
Micr osof tAccess,t hisr esulti s cal led a dy naset.For
exampl e,assumey ouwor kwi ththeNat ionalI
rri
gationBoar d
(NIB) ,youmaywi shtodi splayal lthosef ar
mer sfrom Mwea
RiceI r
rigat
ionSchemewhodel i
veredr i
cei nJanuar ytot he
Nat ionalI r
rigationBoar d.Youcanuseaquer yobj ector
statement stogett herequi redrecor ds.
Thequer yst atement sar ewr i
ttenusi ngaspeci allanguage
called
Struct uredQuer yLanguage( SQL) .Theusercr eatesa,quer y
bywr iti
ngSt ructurequer ylanguagest at ementssuchas:
Select
FarmerNumber ,Name, Mont hofDel i
very
From
Del i
v er
yTabl e
Wher e
Mont hofDel ivery=" Januar y "

For
ms/
scr
eeni
nput

Af ormi sagr aphicali

nterf
acet hatresemblestheor di
nary
paperf ormsusedt ocoll
ectdata.Howev er
,adatabasef or
m
enablest heusertov i
ewandent erdat aint
oatable.Figure
3.4showsasampl ef
orm usedf orent er
ingastudent's
mar ksscor edinfoursubjectsand.thedat eofadmi ssion.
Formi nterf
acei samor econv enientandeasywayof
enteri
ngandv iewingrecordsfrom at able.

177
Repor
ts

Mostdat abasesy stemspr ovi

det heuserwi that oolf or
generati
ngreport
sf rom anunderl
yi
ngtableorquery.I
tisthe
reportgenerat
ort hatpr ovi
destheuserwi thameanst o
specifyt
heoutputl ayoutandwhatistobeout putorpri
nted
onar eport
.Table3. 4showsasampl ereportf
orempl oyees'
salar
ies.
NetPayRepor t

fayr
ol/
no .
Last
.Name Fi
rstName...
Basi
c sal
ary
PAYE Netsal
ary
.

07 WanguiGrace sh80,
000.00 Kshs7,
300.
00 sh
72,
700.
00
09 Ochi
engMbenga sh37,000.
00 Kshs3,
800.
00
sh33,
200.
00
13 Mumbua Pet
er sh22, 000.
00 Kshs2,
300.
00
sh19,
700.
00
20 MbuvaiSi
cily sh60,
000.00 Kshs5,
700.
00 sh
54,
300.
00
Table3.
4:Samplerepor
t

Macr
os

Somedat abasesoft
wareprovidest heuserwit
hat oolcal
led
amacr o,t
hatcanbeusedt oaut omatef r
equent
lyperfor
med
procedur
esort asks.Forexampl e,i
fyouf r
equentl
yusea
parti
cul
arf or
m wheny ou st
artadat abaseprogram,y ou
needt ocreat
eamacr ot hataut omatestheopeningoft he
form.

Pr
ogr
ammi
ngmodul
e

Wheny ourdatabasebecomesmor eandmor ecompl ex,you

mayneedamor epowerful
toolthanthemacrostoaut omate
yourdatabaseoperat
ionsfur
ther.Somedatabasesof t
ware
comewi ththeirowncomput erlanguagesassoci
atedwi th
178
them.Forexampl eMi crosoftAccesscomeswi t
halanguage
calledVi sualBasicincludedasaModul ei
nt hesoftware.
Usingt hi
sf eat
ure,youcancr eat
eapr ogr
am thatwi
llpri
nta
quer yresultoverandov eragainunti
lacertai
nconditi
oni s
true.Thiscanbei l
lustratedusingasimplest
atementli
ke;

Pri
ntSt
udentRepor
tunt
ilNumber
ofSt s=40(
udent Notar
eal
commandanyway).

NB:Forthepur
poseofthi
sbook,onl
ytabl
es,f
orms,quer
ies
andrepor
ts,
havebeencov
ered.

Dataorgani
sat
ioninadatabase
Oneoft hefuncti
onsofadat abasesystem i
st oorganise
dataforeasyaccess,retriev
alandmani pul
ati
on.Datai s
organi
sedfrom thesi
mpl estfQfll
1caledaf
l iel
dtoav ery
complexstr
uctur
ecaledadat
l a,base.

Fiel
ds
Afieldi
sacharact
eroralogical
combi
nat
ionofchar
act
ers
thatrepr
esentdat
aitem.Forexampl
e,i
naclassl
i
st,t
he
studentnameisafiel
d.

Records
Thi
sisacol l
ecti
onofr el
atedfiel
dsthatrepresentasingl
e
enti
ty.Anexampl eofarecordisthestudentreportcardthat
maycont ainthe.student
'sname, admissionnumber ,cl
ass,
tot
almar ks,averageandgr ade.

Fil
es/tabl
es
Af i
lei
sacol l
ect
ionofrel
atedrecords.Forexample,t
he
students'
fil
einaschooldatabasecontainsthedetai
l
sofal
l
thestudentsint
heschool.

Database
Thi
si sthehi
ghesti
ndataorganisat
ionhi
erarchythathol
ds
al
lrel
atedfil
es'
ortabl
es.Forexample,aschooldatabase
179
 maycont
ainst
udent
sandst
afft
abl
es/
fil
es.

Creati
ngadat abaseusi ngMicr
osof tAccess
MicrosoftAccess( MsAccess)i sapackagei n Micr
osoft
Offi
cesui t
eusedf orcr eat
ingandmani pulat
ingdatabases.
Becauset her
ear edi ffer
entver
sionsofMsAccesssuchas
Ms Access 95/ 97/ 2000 and XP,a gener alapproach for
carr
yingoutt askshasbeenadopt edinthisbook.Howev er
mostoft heill
ustrationsarebasedonAccess2000i nor der
tomai nt
ainconsistency .

Start
ingMi crosoftAccess
1.From Windowsdeskt op,cl
i
ckthestartbutton.
2.Select
.Mi crosoftAccessfrom t
heprogramsmenu
3.Inthedialogboxt hatappearswhenMi crosoftAccess
star
ts,cl
ickBl ankAccessdatabaseasshowni nFigure3.
5
thenOK.

4.TheSaveAsdialogboxappears.SeeFigure3.
6.Thisl
etsy
ou
speci
fythenameandl ocat
ionwherey ourdat
abasewil
lbe
stor
ed.Cli
ckCreatet
osav ethedatabase.

5.Micr
osof
tAccessdatabaseobject
swindowisdi
spl
ayed
fr
om whi
chIy oucanchoosethetypeofobj
ectt
ocreat
e
suchastabl
es,for
ms,queri
esetc.

Mi crosoftAccessscr eenlayout
Li
ket heot herappl i
cationsdi scussed ear
li
er,MsAccess
applicati
onWi ndow hasat itl
ebar ,menubar ,toolbarsand
statusbar .Howev eri nsteadofhav i
ngawor kar ealiket
hat
ofMsWor d orEx cel
,i tprovidest heuserwi than object
window f rom whichy ouchooset het ypeofanobj ect
towork
withsuchast ables,forms, r
epor t
se,tc.SeeFi
gure3. 7.

.Exit
ingf
rom Microsof
tAccess
BecauseMi cr
osof
tAccessconsumesalargeamountof
comput ermemoryitisadvi
sabl
etoexi
tfr
om theappl
i
cati
on
atendofeachwor ki
ngsession.
180
Toexi
t:
Fr
om t
heFi
l
emenu,
cli
ckexi
tthecl
osebut
tonont
het
it
lebar
.

Guidelineondesi gni ngagooddat abases

Todesi gnagooddat abasewhi chwi l
lr equi relittl
et i
met o
maintai n, consi dert hef oll
owi ng:
1.Caref ul l
yst udyt her equi rement soft heuseri nor dert o
defi
neal l thedat ai nput s,out put sandr elationshi psr equi r
ed.
2.Desi gnadr aftdat abaseont hepapert odet ermi net he
numberof fi
lesort abl esr equired.
3.Dividet hei nformat ioni ntosepar atef i
elds, recor dsand
tabl
est oal l
owf l
exibi l
ityinmani pulatingt hedat abase.Thi s
processofdi v i
dingi nf or mat i
oni ntoi ndependentt abl esto
avoidr epet i
ti
onofdat aent riesi temsi sr ef erredt oas
normal izingadat abase.
5.Def ineaf ieldf oreacht abl et hatwi l
lbeusedt oi dentif
y
eachr ecor duni quel y.Thi sf ieldi sr ef erredt oasapr imary
key
6.Gi vet hemosti mpor tantf ieldst hef i
rstpr ior i
tywhen
construct ingat ablest r
uct ur e.Impor tantf i
el dsar et hose
thatareusedi nsor ting' andquer yi
ngt hedat abase. "
7.Desi gndat aent ryf ormsneededf ort hedat abase
Creatingat able/ fi
lest ructure
Todef ineat ablest ruct ure:
1.From t heMi crosof tAccessobj ect swi ndow, clickt he
tabl
est abt hennew
2.From Newt abledi alogbox,sel ectDesi gnVi ewFi gure3.8
appear s.:
3.usingt hegr i
ddi spl ay ed, ent erauni quenamef oreach
fi
eldint het able.Af ieldnamemustst ar twi thal etterand
canbeupt oamax i
mum of64char acter si ncludingl etters,
number s, spacesandpunct uat i
on.
4.Chooset hecor r
ectdat at ypebef oreaddi ngt henextf ield.
Bydef aul t, MsAccessi nser tsTextasadat aty pe.Fi gure3. 8
showsv ariousdat at y pesusedi nMsAccess.
6.Tosav et het able, clickt heSav ebut tonont hest andar d
181
tool
barorsav ef
rom t
hefi
l
emenu.
7.Accesswill
askyouwhethery
ouwantt
ocr
eat
eaPr
imar
y
Key,cl
ickYes.

Descri
pti
onoff i
elddatat
ypes
Thet y
peofdat atobeusedi nadat abasemustbeclear
ly
defi
nedf orthepurposeofmanipulati
onandst or
age.For
example,ifafi
eldistobeusedf orcalcul
ati
on,i
tmustbe
defi
nedasanumber .Thedat
atypesal l
owedinMsAccess
i
nclude:

Text
Thist
ypeincludesalphabeticl
ett
ers,numbers,spacesand
punct
uati
on.Usethi
sdat at y
peforfi
eldsthatdonotneedto
be used f or calculat
ions such as names, pl aces,
i
denti
fi
cati
onnumber setc.Thist
ypeoff i
eldaccommodates
amaximum of255char acter
s.

Number
Thesear
ef i
eldsmadeupofnumeri
cnumber
s0t
o9t
hatar
e
tobemanipulat
edmathemat
ical
l
y.

Memo
Thisi
safi dmadeupofal
el phanumeri
c(bothalphabeti
cand
numeri
c)data.I
nsteadofusingTextusethi
sdat atypei
fyou
need to enter sever
alpar agr
aphs of text because i
t
accommodatesamax i
mum of32000char acter
s.

Date/Time
Usedt oidentif
yaf iel
dasei theradat eort i
me.Thi sis
because dat e/t
ime v alues can be mani pulat
ed
mathemat icall
yi n a dat abase.For exampl e,you can
cal
cul at
et heageofaper sonf rom t hedateofbirt
ht othe
curr
entdat a.
Currency
Usedt oidentif
ynumer i
cvaluest hathav edeci
malsor
fr
actions.Uset hi
sdatatypeespeci all
ywhendeal i
ngwi t
h
monet aryvaluessuchasf eesbal ance,amountsoldetc.
182
AutoNumber
Thisisanumer i
cv alueusedi fyouwishMsAccesst o
automati
cal
lyincr
ementt hevaluesinaf i
eld.Forexample
whenenteri
ngal istoff ort
ystudentsandy ouhaveaf i
eld
l
abeledSt
l udNumber ,thenumber swil
li
ncreasebyoneevery
ti
mey ouenteranewr ecord.

Yes/ No
Thisisal ogi
calfi
eldwher
eanent
ryi
sei
theray
esorano,
trueora
false.Forexampleafiel
dmayr
equi
rey
out
oanswerwhet
her
youar eamal eorafemale.

OLEObj ect
OLEst andsforObjectl
inki
ngandEmbeddi ng.Thi
stypeof
fi
eld is most ly used with graphi
cal user int
erface
appli
cati
onsforinser
ti
nggraphi
calobj
ectssuchaspictures,
drawingschart
setc.---
-¬

Fieldproperti
es
Asy oucreatemor eandmor ecompl ext ables,youwillfi
nda
need to use t he fi
eld pr
oper ti
es to speci fyf i
nerdet ail
s
relat
edt of i
eldsandt hetableent ri
esexpect ed.Thef i
eld
propert
ies depend on t he type of-the field sel
ected.For
examplewheny oucli
ckonaTextf i
eldt hent heGener altab
youwi l
lseepr opert
iesassociatedtot extdat atypeasshown
i
nFi gur
e3. 9.¬Thev ari
ousproper t
iesar e:

Fieldsize
Thi sall
owstheusersett henumberofchar acter
sinaf i
eld
i
nst eadofthedef aul
t50f ortextf
iel
dsfornumericfi
eld’
s
i
nt egerandlongi nt
eger,Byte,Si
ngleandDouble.
I
nt egerandlongerinteger:Acceptnumberswithnodecimal s.
By te:Canonlyacceptanumberf r
om 0-255.
Singleanddoubl e:Acceptnumber swithdeci
mals.Singl
e
accommodat esupt o38deci malplaceswhil
edouble,
accommodat esupt o308.
183
For
mat
Det
ermineshowi nf
ormationappear
sont hescr
eenand
whenpri
nted.Forexample,youcanformatanumberto
sci
ent
if
ic,cur
rency,per
centageorgeneral
for
mat.

Decimalplaces
Fornumberandcur r
encyfiel
dsy oucanspecifyt
henumber
ofdecimalplaces.
Inputmask ,
Inputmask aut omat i
call
yfor matst he f
iel
d ent
ryintoa
specif
iedformat.Forexampl e,ifyouenteranumbersuch
as02000I00409874andt hei nputmaski ssetas000-
(00000)-
000000, i
tisautomaticall
ydispl
ayedas020-(
00100)
-409874.Thispropertyismost lyusedtof or
matphoneand
addressentri
es.

Capti
on
Thisi
samor edescr
ipt
ivenameforafi
eldtobeusedi
na
tabl
eorafor
m displ
ay.Forexampl
ethecapti
onfor
StuNamecouldbeStudentName.

Defaul tvalue ,
Thisisav aluethatwi llappearautomat i
cal
lyint
hedat asheet
orformi f'nothingisent eredbytheusert ochangeit.For
exampl e=Dat e- ()automat i
call
ydisplaysthecurr
entdatein
adat ef i
eld.
Validat i
onRul e
Logicalexpr essionr estr
ictsthev aluestobeent eredi na
fi
eld.'Forexampl e,ifyouwantt or estri
ctmarksenteredina
fi
eldtov al
uesbet ween
,zeroandahundr ed,type>=0And<=100.

Validati
onText
The message t hatappears once t he v
ali
dat
ion r
uleis
viol
ated.Forexample,youmaycr eateav al
i
dat
iontextf
or
the abovev al
idati
on r
ule Ito di ay "
spl Entera number
between0 and 100"whenev ert heuserent er
sIav al
ue
184
out
sidet
hisr
ange.

Required
Determinesifanent
rymustbemadei nthefi
eldbefor
eyou
proceedtothenextfi
eldorr
ecord.Forexample,
ifapr
imar
y
keyisrequir
ed,youmustenterbef
oreyouproceed.

All
owZer oLength
Thisal
lowstheusert
oproceedwi
thoutmaki
nganyent
ryi
n
thefi
eldsetasZerol
engt
h.

Indexed
AnI ndex,f
acil
it
atestheorgani
sati
onofrecordsforeasy
search.Apr i
marykeyisanexampl eofanindexsettoNo
duplicat
estocont r
oldoubleent
ryofarecord(redundancy
).

Pr
imar
ykeyandI
ndexes

Anindexisadatabasefeatur
eusedt ospeedupsear chand
sortoper
ati
onsinat abl
e.Akeyf i
eldal soref
erredtoasa
pri
marykeyisaspecialindexthatenforcesuniquenessi
na
tabl
esothatonerecor
disnotent er
edt wice.

MsAccessusest hepr i
mar ykeyt osear chfordatast or
edin
atableaswel lasdef i
ner elationshipsbetweent ables.Once
af i
eldissetaspr imarykey ,itsdat asheetisaut omatical
l
y
i
ndexedorsor tedusi ngt hepr imarykey .
Tosetapr i
marykey :
1.Opent hetableindesi gnv iew.
2.Selectthefi
eldy ouwantt osetast heprimarykeyby
cl
icki
ngi ntherowheadert ot heleftoftheFiel
dName.
3.Cli
ckSetPr i
mar ykeybut tonont hetoolsbar.Akeyshoul d
appearont heleftofthef iel
dnameasshowni nFigure3.10.

Toseeanotherfi
eldasanindexotherthant
hepr
imar
ykey
:1.
Openthetabl
eindesignvi
ew.
2.Ensur
ethatnonofthefi
eldsisselect
edasapr
imar
ykey.
185
3.Clickt heI ndexesbut tonont het oolbart hatisl ocat
ed
nexttot hepr i
mar ykey.Thei ndexdesi gngridisdisplayedon
thescr eenasshowni nFi gure3. 11.
4.Int hei ndexnamecol umn,t ypei nthenamey ouwantt o
giveto t
heindex.
5.Int heFi el
dNamecol umn,cl ickt hecelltodi spl
ayadr op
downl i
st.From t hedr opdownl i
st,selectthef i
eldtouseas
anindex.
6IntheSor tOr dercolumn, selecteitherascendingor
descendi ng.
7.Inthel owerpor ti
on,speci fywhet heryouwantt omaket he
fi
eldapr i
mar ykeybysel ectingy esf orpri
mar yanduni que,
andIgnor eNul lst oensuret hatdat ai sent
eredi ntothefiel
d
beforepr oceedi ng.
8.Closet hedi alogbox .

Ent
eri
ngdat
aint
oat
abl
e

Toent er/
appenddat aintoatable:
1.Opent hedatabasei nwhichthetableisl ocat
ed
2.ClicktheTabl estabt hendoubleclickt hetabl
eyouwant
toaddr ecor
dst o.
3.Entereachrecor dfiel
dbypr essi
ngt het abkeytomov eto
thenext.Oncey our eachtheendoft her ecordandmovet he
cursortoanew r ow theprev i
ousr ecordi sautomat
icall
y
saved.

Edi
ti
ngadat
abase

Modi
fyi
ngt
heDat
asheetv
iew

Toadjustthecol umnsi ze:

1.Pointt
ot hecol umnbor derbet
weenthefi
eld'
sheadert
hen
dragtother equiresi
ze.
2.Alt
ernat
ively,cli
ckont heformatmenuthenpointt
o
columnandcl i
ckonwi dth
3.Typethedesi redwidth
186
Toadj ustrowhei ght
1.Poi nttot heborderbetweentworowsintherowheader
andt hendr ag.
2.Alter nat
ively,
usef ormatmenu,t
henRowhei ght.
Tor eor derfiel
ds:
1.Sel ectthecol umnoft hef
iel
dyouwishtomov eby
pointingt othedesi r
edf i
l
ename.
2.Dr agt hecolumnr ightorl
eftt
othetopofthefiel
dwher
e
youwanty ourfiel
dtoappearandthendrop.

Modi
fyi
ngt
het
abl
est
ruct
ure

Oncey oucr eateat abl e,y oumayneedt oaddmor ef i

elds,
remov esomef i
elds,r eor dert hef i
eldsorchangef ieldsdat a
types and pr oper ti
es.Bef or ey ou modi fyt he t ablei tis
i
mpor tantt osav eacopyt oav oidl osingev er
ythingi ncase
youmakeami stake
Tomakeacopyofy ourt abl e:
1.From t hef il
emenu, clicksav eas/ expor t
2.From t hedialogboxt hatappear s, choosewhet hert osav e
toanot her( external)dat abaseort hecur rent.
3.Ty peanewnamef ory ourt ableandcl ickOK.
Tomodi fytheor i
ginal table:
1.Opent het ablei ndesi gnv iewbycl i
ckingt hebut tont hat
l
ooksl i
keapenci landasetsquar epl acedont heedgeofa
ruler
.
2.Sel ectt hefieldorf iel
dst obemodi fi
edandmaket he
necessar ychanges.
3.Clickt heSav ebut tont osav et hechanges.
NB:I fat ablecont ainsdat aandy oumakechangest othe
fi
elddat at ype,MsAccessmayr ef uset oi mpl ementt he
changes.To av oidt hispr oblem,exi twi t
houtsav ing and
deleteal ltherecor dsf r
om t het ablet henr eturntot hedesi gn
view.Youcant heni mpor tacopyorcopi esoft abl esy ou
backedup.
Toi mpor tat ablef rom anot herdat abase:
1.From t heFi lemenu,poi ntt oGetExt ernalDat at hencl i
ck
187
I
mpor t
2.From thedialogboxthatappears,selectthedatabaseyou
wishto
i
mpor tdatafrom thencli
cktheImportbut t
on.Objectsdial
og
boxisdisplay
edasshowni nFigur
e3. 12.
3.From theobjectsdial
ogboxdisplayed,cli
cktheTablestab
4.Selectthetable(
s)youwishtoimpor tthenclckOK.
i

For
m desi
gn

Tablesdispl
aymanyr ecordsatoncef r
om t hedatabaseand
i
nsomecasesy oumaynotbeabl et oseesomef i
elds
properl
y.Aformisani nt
erfacethatenablestheusertov i
ew
andmakedat aentr
iesint
oanunder l
yingtablemor eeasily
.
Fi
gur e3.13showsasampl efor
m usedt oenterrecordsinto
abookst abl
e.

In Microsof
tAccess,af or
m i sdesigned using gr
aphical
objectscaledcont
l r
ols.Acont r
olisanobjectsuchasat ext
box,checkbox,commandbut t
onorshapest hatyouplace
onaf orm desi
gngridt odisplaydataorper for
m acti
ons.
Therear etwotypesofcont rol
sy oucanpl aceont hegr i
d:
boundandunboundcont rol
s.Aboundcont rolisonewhose
sourceofdat aisaf i
eldinat ableorquerywhi l
eunbound
controli
sacontrolt
hatisnotconnectedtoanydat asource.

You desi
gn ormodifya form lay
outbydragging t
hese
cont
rol
stot her
equir
edposit
ion.Fi
gure3.
14showsaf or
m
l
ayoutgri
dforat
ablecal
l
edexam entry
.

Cr
eat
ingaf
orml
ayoutusi
ngf
orm wi
zar
d

Tocr eat
eaf ormlayout,youcanei
therusetheform wi zar
d
orstartfr
om scrat
ch.Usingtheform wizar
dy oucancr eat
e
ei
theracol umnar,atabul
aradatasheetorajustif
iedform
l
ayout .
Columnarf or
m:Thef iel
dsforeachrecordaredisplay
ed
188
downacol umni .
e.eachv aluedi splay sonasepar at
el i
ne
wi t
hf ieldl abel st ot hel eft.Tabul ar:Recor dsar edisplayed
from l eftt or i
ghtacr osst hepageandl abel sappearatt he
topofeachcol umnandeachr owr epr esent sanewr ecor d.
Dat asheet :Thef or mr esembl esat abl edat asheetv i
ew.
Just i
fied:Oner ecor doccupi est hewhol ef or m.
Tocr eateaf orm usi ngt hef orm wi zar d:
1.Opent hedat abasef orwhi cht hef ormi st obecr eated
e.g."EMPLOYEES"
2.Cl i
ckt heFor mt abt hen, New.Fr om t heNewf orm dialog
boxt hatappear s, cli
ckFor m Wi zard.
3.Sel ectt het abl ey ouwantt ocr eat eaf ormf orthenNew, A
dialogboxappear s.
4.Cl i
ckt henameoft het ableorquer yt hati ncludesthedat a
youwantt oaddi nt ot hef or m,andt hencl ickOK.
5.Fr om t hef ieldsl i
stwi ndow, sel ectt hef ieldst oaddi nto
thef or m bycl icki ngt he>but t
onorcl i
ck>>t oaddal lfi
elds
then
6.Fr om t hel ayoutdi alogbox, selectt hel ayouty ouwi sht o
usee. g.St andar dt hen.cl ickNext .
7.Int heFor mt itl
edi al ogbox, typet henameoft hef orm
thencl i
ckFi nish.MsAccesswi llaut omat icallydispl
ayt he
form ont hescr een.

Cr
eat
ingaf
orm usi
ngaut
ofor
m wi
zar
d

Youcaneasi l
ycreateaf or
m usi heAut
ngt oform wi
zar
d.
Thiswizar
dcr eat
esaf ormf ory
ouautomatical
l
ybyasking
youveryminimal questions.Thefor
mi ncl
udesallt
hef
ields
fr
om theselectedtable.

Toconstructanautoformtabular
.
1.Makesur eyourdatabaseisopen
2.Cl
icktheFor mtab,thenNew.
3.I
nt henewf or
m dialogbox,sel
ectanaut
ofor
mlayoute.
g.
col
umnar
4.I
nt he"Choosethetableorquerywheret
heobj
ectdat
a
189
comes"sel
ectthetabl
eyouwishtocreat
eaf ormfort
hen
cl
ickOK.Theform wit
hal
lfi
eldswil
lbedispl
ayed.
5.Cli
ckt
heSav ebutt
ontosavetheform.

Cr
eat
ingaf
ormf
rom scr
atch

1.Openy ourdat abase

2.Inthedat abasewi ndow, cl
i
cktheFor mtabthenNew
3.From t
heNewf or m di
alogbox,sel
ectDesignvi
ew
4.Inthe"Chooset hetableorquerywherethe-obj
ectdata
comes"sel ectthet abl
ey ouwishtocreateaformforthen
cl
ickThef orm wi t
hal lfi
eldswil
lbedispl
ayed.
Toaddcont rol
sont othegr i
d:
1.Cli
cktheViewmenu, then.Fieldli
stcommand.Thetabl
e
youselect
edfiel
dsli
stisdi spl
ayed.
2.Draganddropeachf ieldandarrangethem ont
hegr
id.
3.Savetheform bycl
ickingont hesavebutt
on.

Dat
amani
pul
ati
ngi
naf
orm

Addi
nganddi
spl
ayi
ngr
ecor
ds

Thef orm pr
ovidest heuserwithnavi
gat
ionbuttonslocated
atthebot t
om thatcanbeusedt onavi
gatet
hef orm
Thef uncti
onsoft hebut t
onscanbesummar izedfrom leftt
o
ri
ghtasf oll
ows
1.Displaysthefir
str ecor
dinthetabl
e
2.Displaystheprev i
ousrecor
d.
3.Displaysthenex trecord
4.Displaysthelastrecord.
5.Addanewr ecor d.

Formatt
ingfi
elds/contr
olsinaform
Toformatfi
eldsinaf or
m;
1.Opentheformindesignv i
ew
2.Toresi
ze,cli
ckthecontrol
sthenposi
ti
ont
hepoi
nteron
190
 theoutl
ineofthecontr
olt
hendr agtother
equir
edsize.
3.Tomov e,cli
ckthecont
rolandposit
iont
hepoint
eronto
thepl
acehol derori
nsi
dethecontrolt
hendragtot
he
requi
redlocati
on.

Searchingf orspeci
ficrecor
dsi nadatabase
Onemaj orreasonforuseofacomput eriseddatabaseisthe
abi
lityt o search and retr
ieve speci
fici nf
ormation more
eff
icientl
y.Rat herthan sear chi
ng through endless fi
l
ing
cabinets,y ou simply enter an instructi
on and let the
databasedot herest.Tosear chfordatai nadatabase,Ms
Accesspr ov i
destheuserwitht wosearchtools:
1.Findcommand 2.Quer ies'

Usingt hef i
ndcommand
Wi thal argedatabase,theFindcommandsav esy ourt i
me
wheny ouneedt omov ear ecordpoi ntert oapar t
icular
recor d.
Tosear chf orarecord:
1.Fr om Edi tmenu,cl i
ckFind.Thef i
nddi al ogboxappear si n
whi chy ouspecifythef i
eldy ouwantt osear chf ori nt he"
FindWhat "boxasshowni nFi gure3.16.
2.Ty pet henameoff iel
dy ouwi sht osear chfori nt heFi nd
Whatt ext box..
3.Int heSear chbox( Fi
gure3.16),specifywhet herto:
(a)Sear chAl l
(b)Sear chDownt oupor
(c)Sear chupt obottom
4.Int hemat chbox, youcansel ectoneoft hemat cht ypes:
(a)Anypar toffi
eld-Asl ongasast r
ingofchar acter stobe
sear chedar epresentinawor d,thenal lthewor dshav i
ngt he
stri
ngwi ll
besear chede.g."Berg"fndsBer
i ger,i
nsel bergetc.
(b)Whol eFiel
d-Sear chesf ort hewhol ef i
eldforexampl e,
"Ber g"
willnotr eturnBerger,i
nselbergbutspeci fi
call
yber gifitisin
thedat abase.
191
(c)St artofField-Speci f
iest hat,thesear chedwordshoul d
startwi t
ht hespecif
iedsear chst ri
nge.g."Berg"
5.Insear ching,youcanal socheckoruncheck;
(a)Mat chcase-Fi ndsonl yt extthathast hesamepat t
ernof
upperandl owercaseast heonespeci f
iedi ntheFindWhat
box.
(b)Sear chFi el
dAsFor mat ted-Sel ect(check)t ofinddata
basedoni tsdi
splayf or
mate. g.'adatest or
edasanumber
1/5/98but
displayedas05- Jan-98
(c)Sear chOnl yCur rentField:-Selecttosear chthroughall
recordsf orthecurrentfi
eldonl y.
6.Af tery ousett hesear chcondi ti
onscl icktheFindFi r
st
button.
7.I fy ouwantt o searchf ort hesecondr ecord orother
recordswi ththesamef i
eld,clickFindNextbut ton.

Youcanuseawi ldcar
de. g.aster i
sks(*)ifyouarenotsur e
oft hecor r
ectsear chwor dt hatwi llfi
ndal lrecordsthat
mat chthespecifiedsearchstring.Forexampl e,ifyouwi sh
tosearchf orallnamest hatst artwithlett
er"J"inaschool
database,typeJ* .Allnamest hatstartwithJe. g.John,
JaneJoy ,JoyceandJameswi ll bedispl
ayed.

UsingQuer ies
Quer i
esar ethef astestwayt osearchforinformati
onina
database.A quer yi sadat abasefeatur
et hatenablesthe
user t o display specifi
cr ecords as wellas per for
m
calculat
ionsonf i
eldsfrom oneormul ti
pletabl
es.Youcan
analyseat ableortablesbyusingeitheraselectquer
yoran
action query.Howev er,onlyt he sel
ectquer i
es wil
lbe
discussedindet ai
linthisbook

Selectquery
Thisisthemostcommont y
pequer yusedforsear
chingand
analysi
ngdatainoneormor etabl
es.Selectquer
yl et
sthe
userspecifythesear
chcri
ter
iaandt herecordsthatmeet
thosecrit
eri
aaredi
spl
ayedi
nady naset
192
Actionquer y
Thesear equer i
esthatareusedtomakechangest omany
recordsonce.Theyar emost l
yusedtodelet
e,update,
adda
groupofr ecordsfrom onetabl
etoanotherorcreat
eanew
tabl
ef r
om anot hertabl
e.

Thefourtypesofaact i
onqueriesfoundi nMicr
osoftAccess
are:
1.Update-Updatesdatai natabl
e.
2.Appendquer y-addsdat ai
nat ablefr
om oneormor e
tabl
es.
3.Maket abl
eQuer y-Createsanewt ablefr
om adynaset.
4.Delet
eQuer y-Delet
esspecifi
edr ecor
dsfrom oneormor e
tabl
es.

Creat i
ngasel ectquer y
1.Ensur et hatt hedat abasey ouwantt ocr eateaquer yforis
open.
2.Cl i
ckt heQuer ytab, t
henNew.
3.Fr om theNewquer ydi al
ogbox, chooseei t
hertocr eatea
quer yfr
om i nDesi gnv i
eworusi ngaWi zard.
4.Todesi gnf rom scr atch,cli
ckDesi gnVi ew.TheShow
Tabl edialogboxappear sfr
om whi chy oucanaddat ableor
tablesy ouwi sht ocreateaquer yforasshowni nFi gure3.17.
5.Cl i
ckt het ablef r
om t hetable/quer yli
standt hencl ick
Add. '
6.Cl i
ckCl oset ocloset heshowt abl
edi alogbox.
7.Thequer ydesi gngr i
dopens.I nMi crosof tAccessi tis
caledQuer
l yBy -Exampl e.Thisletstheusert odesignaquer y.
Figure3. 18i sQBEgr idf oratablecalledExam.

Partsoft hequerygrid ¬
Fi
eldr ow-Fiel
dsf r
om atableortablestobeusedar e
arr
angedi nthi
sr ow.Eachf i
eldshouldoccupyitscol
umn.
Sortrow-Bycl icki
ngthedownar r
owi nthesortcel
l,
youcan
specifythesortorderi
.e.ascendi
ng, descendi
ngornosort
.
193
Showr ow-Bycl i
ckingtheShowbox ,
youspeci fywhet herto
displaythef i
eldint hequer yresults: Whentheboxi snot
checked, thef i
eldwi l
lnotbedi splayed.
Crit
er i
arow-Thi siswher eyout ypecondi ti
onal stat
ement
thatwi l
lbeusedbyt hequer ytodi splayspecificrecords.
Orr ow-Usedt ospecifyanal ternativeconditi
one. g.ifyou
wantt odi splayrecordswi thaf i
eldcalledCitywi t
hitems
NairobiorEmbu, t
ypeNai r
obiincr iter
iacellandEmbui nthe
Orcel l
.
Toaddf i
el dsintothequer ygr i
d:
1.Opent hequer yindesi gnview
2.Fr om thef i
eldli
stoft heunder l
yingtable,drageachf i
eld
andpl acei ti
nt hefieldrow

Specify
ingthesear chcriteri
a
Inordertosear chforapar t
icul
arsetofrecor
ds,youhav et o
enteraconditi
onal stat
ementorst atementsi
nthecr i
teri
a
row.Forexampl ei
fyouhav eat abl
ecall
edempl oyeeswi th
oneoft hefi
eldsassal ary
, youcandispl
ayallt
heempl oy ees
earni
ngmor et hanShs.5,000, byty
ping>5000inthecr i
teria
row,salar
ycolumn.

Todef i
necrit
eria,useeit
herr el
ati
onalorlogi
caloperator
s.
Relat
ionaloperatorsincl
udel essthan«),great
ert han(»,
great
erthanorequalt o(>=),l
essthanorequalto« =),not
equalto«»andequalt o(=).Logi
caloper
atorsi
ncludeAND,
ORandNOT.

UseANDt odisplayv al
uesi naspecifi
cr ange.Forexampl e,
todisplayrecordsf r
om t heempl oyeest abl
ewi thsalar
ies
above4000butl essthan6000,t ype,>4000AND<6000on
thecri
teri
arowi nt hesalarycolumn.Alltheempl oyeeswho
meetthiscondit
ionwi ll
bedi spl
ayed.

Use OR i
fyouwishtogeteit
heroneoftwov al
ues.For
exampl
eifyouwi
shtogett
hoseemploy
eesei
theri
nNair
obi
OREmbu.
194
I
fy ouwanttodispl
aydatainapar
ti
cul
arrangeuset
hewor
d
Between.Forexample,
inst
eadoft
ypi
ng,>4000AND<6000,
ty
peBet ween4000And6000.

I
fy ouwanttoli
stal
lrecordsexceptthosethatyoudonot
wanttoseeuseNOT.Forexampl eifyoutypeNOT6000i n
thesalar
ycolumnoftheempl oyeestable,
allemploy
ees
recor
dswi l
lbedi
spl
ay edexcept.t
hosewi t
htheirsal
aryas
6000.

Todi splayrecordsy ouarenotsur eoft hef i

eldnamebutat
l
easty oucanr ememberaf ewchar acters,useLI KEandthe
wildcards.Wi l
dcardsare
special sy
mbol smost l
yanast er
iskandaquest i
onmark
usedi nplaceofot hercharacters.Forexampl e,t
odispl
ayall
namesst art
ingwith"Sm"f ol
lowedbyanyot hercharacter
,
typeLikeSm?Li ke*/*/1993listsrecordscr eatedin1993
regardlessoft hedayormont h.

Savingandr unningt hequer y

1.Clickt heSavebut tonont hestandardt ool
barorsav e
command from t hefi
lemenu.
2.Int henameboxt hatappear s,typeinthenameoft he
queryt hen clickOK.
3.Tor unthequer yindesignv i
ew, cl
icktheRunbut tonon
thetool barasshowni nFi
gur e3.19orRuncommandf r
om
theQuer ymenu.
4.Youcanv i
ewt her esult
sofy ourqueryanyot hert
imeby
selectingthequer y,thenclickingtheOpenbut t
onf r
om the
databasewi ndow.

Sort
ingthedynasetTosortady naset
:
1.I
nt hesortr
ow,cli
ckthedownar rowthatappear
sto
specif
ythesortor
derie.ascendi
. ngordescendi
ngofthe
desi
redfiel
d.
2.Displ
aythedynaset.
195
Modifyi
ngandupdat ingaquery
Todelet
ef i
eldsfr om t hequer
ygrid:
1.Openthedesi redQuer yi
ndesignview.
2.Sel
ectthef i
eldcol umny ouwishtodelete
3.ChooseDel et
ef r
om t heEdi
tmenu.
4.Cli
cktheSav ebut tont osavet
hechanges

Toadjustt hecolumnsi zei naquer y

1.Opent hedesiredquer yi ndesi gnv iew.
2.Posit
iont hemousepoi nteratt heboundar ythatsepar ates
col
umnst hendragi ttother equiredsi ze.Alt
ernatively,
doubleclickthe boundar ytoaut of i
tcellcontent.
3.Cli
cktheSav ebut tont osav ethechanges
Tomodi fyacr i
teri
ast atement' selectquer y,
1.Opent hedesi r
edquer yindesi gnv i
ew.
2.Modifyt hecri
teri
ast atement sasdesi red,3.Cli
ckt heSav e
butt
ontosav echanges.
4.Totestwhet herthechangeshav ebeenef fected, cl
ickthe
Runbuttont odisplayther esultsoft hequer y.

Performi ngcal cul

at ionsi naquer y
Unliket ables,queriesl ett heuserper form mathemat i
cal
calculationsonnumer icdat a.Youcanper for
m cal
culati
ons
i
naquer ybyusi ngt heTot alfuncti
onsorbycr eati
ngbasic
formul as
Creatingbasi cfor
mul ae
Tocr eat eaf ormulat hatcal culatesthetotalmarksinan
under l
y i
ngt ablee.g.Ex amst able:
1.Openy ourqueryi ndesi gnv iew
2.Inanempt ycell,pr ef
er ablyt heimmedi atel
astf i
eldcel
l,
typeanexpr essi
ont hati ncludesaf i
eldnameofy ourchoi
ce
suchas:
Total:[Mat h’s)+(Phy sics)+( Chemistry)asshowni nFigur
e
3.20

Mat
h’s Phy
sics Chemi
strTot
al:
196
 y (
Math’s)
+(physi
cs
)
+(Chemistr
y)
Exam Exam Exam
.
√ √ √ √

Fi
g.3.
20:
Creat
inganar
it
hmet
icexpr
essi
on

3.Youcant hensett hecr iteria, andot herquer yoptions.

4.Sav et hequer yandr uni t.Ther esultsoft hecal cul at
ions
willbedi splay edi nt hedy nasetasshowni nFi gure3. 21.
Howev er ,thisf i
eldi snotaddedt ot heunder ly
ingt abl
e(s)
becausequer yr esult
smustal way sbebasedont hemost
curr entdat ai nt hedat abase.
Usi ngTot alfunct i
ons.
Wi thaquer y,youcananal yzeal l recordsf ieldsusingt he
i
nbui l
tf unct onssuchasSum,
i Av er age, Minimum and
Maxi mum et c.Touset het ot al f
unct i
ons:
1.Openy ourquer yindesi gnv iew.
2.Cl ickt heTot alsbuttonont hequer yt oolbar.
3.Sel ectt hef ieldy ouwantt oanal yze.
4.Foreachf i
eldt obeanal y zed, clickitscel lintheTot al r
ow,
andt hensel ectanyoft hef unct ionsasshowni nFigure3. 22.
Sum:Addsal lthenumer ical dat ai tems.
Av g; Calcul atest hemeanofal lnumer icdat aitemsi nt he
fi
eldcol umn.
Min:Ret urnst hemi nimum v aluef rom thef ieldcolumn.
Max:Ret ur nst hemaxi mum v aluef rom t hefieldcolumn.
Count :Ret urnst henumberofi temsf i
eldcol umn.
5.Setcr i
ter i
aandot heropt ionst hencl ickrunt opr eviewt he
resul ts
6.Sav et hequer y.

Pri
ntingaquery:
1.Openthedatabasewindowoft hedatabasecont
aini
ngt
he
queryyouwanttoprint
2.Cl
ickthequerytabthenthequeryyouwanttopri
nt.
197
 3.From t
hefi
lemenu,cl
i
ckpr
intSett
hepr
int
ingopt
ionst
hen
cl
icktheOK.But
ton.

Creatingasel ectquer yf r om mul ti

pletables
Wheny ouusef iel
dsf rom mor et hanonet ablei naquer y,
thereshoul dbeacommonl inkorr elati
onshi pbet weent he
tabl
es.Ther ear ethreet y peofr elationships
1.One–t o-One
2.One- to-Many
3.Many- to-Many
Inaone- to-oner elat i
onshi p,f orapar ti
cul arfieldi none
tabl
e( themai nt able),t her eisonl yonemat chingr ecor din
the related t able and v ice v ersa.I n a one - to -many
rel
ationships,f orapar ticularf i
eldi nonet abl ether ear e
severalmat chingr ecor dsi nanot hert abl
e.Thi sist hemost
commont y
peofr elationshi p.Forexampl e,aper sonmay
makeoneor der,orsev er alor ders.Fort hisinst ance,t hereis
onlyoner ecor dwi ththatper son'sdet ail
ssayi ncust omers'
tabl
e,y ett her e are sev er alrecor dsr elated t ot he same
personi ntheOr derstabl e.
Inamany- to-manyr elat ionship, f
orpar t
icularr ecordsi n
onet ablether earesev eral matchingr ecordsi nt heot her
tabl
eandv i
cev ersa.Thi si snotv erycommon.

Def i
ni ngr elationshi pbet weent abl es
1.Makesur ey ourdat abasei sopen.
2.Fr om Tool smenu, chooseRel at ionshi ps.Ther elationship
dialogboxappear s.
3.Sel ectt het abl est oaddt hencl ickt heAddbut ton..
5.Tocr eat er elationship, cli
ckont hecommonf i
eldanddr ag
ittot hesecondt able.Thef iel
dsusedt ocreatethe
relati
onshi pmustbeoft hesamet y peandpr operties.
6.ToEnf orceRef erent i
alI ntegrity
, rightcl ickthel i
nej oiningthe
twot ablest hencl ickEdi t.AnEdi tr elationshi
pdi alogbox
sucht heonei nFi gure3. 23wi l
lbedi splayed.
7.Makesur eEnf orceRef erentialInt egr i
tyi scheckedt oensur e
thatal lrecor dsent eredi nther el atedt ableexistsint he
198
pr
imar
ytabl
e.

8.Cl
i
ckOKt
ocl heEdi
oset trel
ati
onshi
pdi
alogbox.

Tocr eat
eaquer ybasedonr elatedtables
1.Startthedatabasewi ndowandcl i
ckt heQueriestab,
2.Selectdesignviewandcl ickOK.
3.From theshowt abl
edialogbox, cl
ickt hetabl
esy ouwant
tobasey ourqueryonandt hencl i
ckAdd.
4.Relati
onshipbetweenv ar
ioust abl
eswi llbedi
splayedas
showni nFigure3.24.Addt hef i
eldsfrom bothtablesint
o
theQBEgr id.
5.Sav eandRunt hequer y.

Cr eatingreports
Repor tsar eused t o summar izeand presentinformation
from adat abase.Agooddat abasesoftwareshouldenabl e
theusert ogener atedatabaser eport
sandpr i
ntt hem for
present at
ionanddi str
ibut
ion.Thisprocessisrefer
redt oas
formalpr esentati
ons.Aswi thf or
ms,ar eportl
ayouti salso
desi gnedbypl acingcont r
olsont other eportl
ayoutgr i
das
showni nFigure3.25.

Par t
sofar epor tlayoutindesi gnv i
ew
Repor tHeader -
Thiscont ainsunboundcont rolsthatdi splays
ti
tleoft herepor t
.
PageHeader-Cont ainsheadi ngorlabelsdat aitemst obe
displayedi nev erycolumn.
Detail-Hol dsboundcont r
olst hatdi
splaydat aitemsf orthe
tableorquer yitwascr eatedf rom.
Pagef oot erhol dsacont rolthatistobedi splayedonev ery
pagesuchast hepagenumberanddat e.Forexampl e=Now( )
displayst hecur rentdateandt i
measseti nt hesy stem clock.
Repor tf ooter-Usedt odisplaysummar yfrom ar eportsuch
ast hegr andt otalfornumer icaldatainapar t
icularfield
column.
199
Creat
ingarepor
tusingrepor twi
zard
Justl
i hef
ket orm wizar
d, r
eportwizar
dtakestheuser
thr
oughanumberofst epsbyanswer ngaf
i ewquesti
ons
andMsAccessaut omatical
lydoestherest
.

Tocr eat ear epor tl ay out :

1.Ensur et hatt hedat abasei sopen.
2.Cl ickt heRepor ttab, thenNew
3.Fr om t he/ NewRepor tdialogbox, clickRepor tWi zardt hen
4.Sel ectat abl eoraquer ythent hef i
eldst obeaddedt ot he
repor tthencl icknext .
5.Thewi zar dasksy ouwhet hery ouwi sht oaddanygr oup.
Gr oupi ngi susedt ocat egoriser ecor dsusi ngapar ti
cular
fieldf orbet terpr esent ati
on ori fy ou need t o per form
calcul ationsonagr oupofcommoni tems.Forexampl e,t o
cat egor ise books i n a l i
br ary dat abase accor ding t o
ISBNNumber ,doubl ecl i
ckt hef i
eldt hencl i
ckNext .(Fi
gur e
3.26) .
6.I n. t
hedi alogboxt hatappear s,sel ectt heSor topt i
oni f
you wantt o sor tt he r ecor ds.You can al so cl i
ck t he
Summar yopt ionsbut toni ncasey ouwantMsAccesst o
per for m cal cul ations on numer i
calf i
elds.I n summar y
opt ionsdi alogbox,sel ecttheSummar yopt ionsy ouwant
per for mede. g.Sum,Av erageet c.asshowni nFi gure3. 27.
Cl i
ckOKt ocl oset hesummar yopt i
onsdi al
ogboxt henNext .
8.Fr om t hel ay outdi al ogbox,sel ectt het ypeofl ayoutsuch
as st epped,bl ock et c.Sel ectpage or i
ent ati
on i .
e.ei ther
por traitorl andscapet hencl i
ckNext .
9.I nst yledi alogbox, speci f
yt her epor tstylebysel ecting
eitherbol d, casualet c.
10.Fi nallyent erthenameofy ourr epor tthencl ickf i
nish.
Ther epor twi l
l bedi splay edont hescr eeni npr i
ntpr eview
mode.

Creat
ingarepor
tindesi
gnvi
ew
Justl
ikewi
thfor
ms, y
oucancreat
ear
epor
tindesi
gnv
iew
200
bypl
aci
ngcont
rol
sont
her
epor
tdesi
gngr
id.

Todesi
gnar
epor
tindesi
gnv
iew:

.'
1.Int hedat abasewi ndow, clickt heRepor tstabt henNew.
2.Int heNewRepor tdial ogbox, clickDesi gnv i
ew.
3.Clickt henameoft het ableorquer yy ouwantt ogener at
e
arepor tf rom.
4.Clickt heOKbut t
on.Youwi ll
getar epor tdesigngr id
wherey oucanpl acedat acont rols.
5.From t hev iewmenu, cli
ckFi eldLi st.
6.Todesi gnt helayout,dr ageachf ieldf rom t hef i
eldlistto
thelay outgr i
danddr opi twher ey ouwantt hedat acol umn
toappear .
7.Oncey oufini
shpl acingcont rols, clickt heSav ebut t
on.
8.Int hesav easdi alogbox, ent ert henameoft her eportand
cli
ckOK.
9.Tov iewt hereport,cli
ckt hePr intPr eviewbut ton.
Alt
ernat i
vely,
cli
ckPr intPr eviewf rom t hef il
emenu.

Modifyi
ngar eportlay
out
Tomodi f
yheader sandfooter
s:
1.Openthereportindesignview.
2.Cli
ckthereportheaderorfootery
ouwanttomodi f
y.
3.Maket henecessarychangesandthencli
cktheSave
butt
on.
4.Cli
ckthePrintPrevi
ewbut t
ont ovi
ewthechanges.

Toaddmor econtr
olsontothereportlayout:
1.Openar eporti
ndesignv i
ew.
2.Displaythefiel
dli
stbycl i
cki
ngtheFi eldli
stbutt
onor
usingtheVi ew.
3.Selectoneormor efi
eldsint
hefieldlistanddragvi
ewto
theRepor tdesigngri
d.

Tor
esi
zeormov
eacont
rol
:
201
1.Cli
ckatoncetoselectit.Posit
ionthemousepoi nt
ertoon
thepl
aceholder
,unti
lthemousepoi nterchangestoadouble
-si
dedarrow.Dr
agthepoi ntertoresi
zet hecontr
ol
2.Tomov eacont
rol,sel
ecti tandplacet hemousepointer
ontheplacehol
deruntili
tchangest oahand.

Cr eatingl abel s
Al abel isast ickerorpi eceofpaperputonani tem f orthe
pur poseofi dent i
fication.Exampl esofst i
ckersaremai l
ing
l
abel s, l
abel ont hef loppydi skwher ey ouwr i
teyourname
etc.Usi ngt her epor tlabel wi zard, Microsof tAccessl etsy ou
easi l
ycr eat el abelsofdi ff
er entsi zes.
Tocr eateal abel usi ngt her epor twizar d,
1.Opent hey ourdat abase
2.Fr om t hedat abasewi ndow, cli
ckt heRepor ttabt henNew
3.Fr om t heNewRepor tdialogbox, selectLabel Wizar dt he
tableorquer yfrom whi cht hel abelsar et obegener at ed
from.
4.Label wi zar dst artsr unningasshowni nFigure3. 28.
5.Fr om aser iesofdi alogboxesdi splay ed,specifythel abel
size,f ont,andf iel
dst obei ncl udedi nt hel abel,
whet hert o
sor tthel abel s,thenameoft helabelt hencl i
ckFinish.

Modi f
yingl abels
Justasy oucanmodi fyar eportoraform, youcanal so
modi f
yal abel bymani pulati
ngt helayoutcontrols.
Tomodi fyal abel,
1.From y ourdat abasewi ndow, cl
icktheRepor ttabthenthe
DesignVi ewbut ton.
2.Thelabel designgridi
sdi splayed.Editthelayoutas
desi
red, saveandcl osethedesi gngrid.
3.Tov i
ewt hemodi fi
edlabel,cl
ickthePr evi
ewbut tonfr
om
thedatabasewi ndow.

Pri
nti
ngthereportandlabel
s
Befor
eyouprintarepor
toralabel,youshoul
dfi
rstsetthe
pageopt
ionsi.e.t
hemar gi
ns,papersi
zeandori
entati
on.
202
1.Opent hedatabasethatcont ainstherepor
tyouwantt
o
pri
nt.
2.Cli
cktheRepor ttab,selectthereportyouwantt
opri
nt
thencli
ckthePr evi
ewbut ton.
3.From theFi
lemenu, cl
ickPr i
nt.
4.Setthepri
nteropt i
onsi .
e.theprintert
ype,
pri
ntr
angeand
numberofcopi es.
5.Cli
ckOKt opr i
nt.

203
DESKTOPPUBLI
SHI
NG(
DTP)

Chapt
erout
li
ne

1I
4. nt
roduct i
on.
2Def
4. init
ionofdesktoppubl i
shing.
3Pur
4. poseofdeskt oppubl ishing.
4Ty
4. pesofdeskt oppubl ishingsoftware.
5Desi
4. gningapublication.
6Mani
4. pulat
ingt
extusi ngt hetoolbox
7Edi
4. t
ingapubl i
cation.
8For
4. mat ti
ngapublication.
9Pr
4. i
nt i
ngapubl i
cation.

Intr
oduct i
on
Hav ey ou ev erasked y our
sel fhow newspaperand book
publishingcompani esmanaget opr oducepubl i
cationst hat
areat t
ractiv
ewi thcr eativel ayoutsand gr aphicsi nl arge
volumes?Theydo t hist hrough a speci alprocesscal l
ed
publishing. Publ i
shing i s t he pr ocess of pr oduci ng
publications l i
ke newspaper s,car ds,pamphl ets,pi ct
ur es,
calendar set c.thathav especi altextandgr aphicall ayout s
anddesi gns.Thet raditi
onalmet hodofpubl i
shi
ngi nvolved
drawi ngandwr i
ti
ngmanual lyonwoodenormet all
icboar ds.
Thear t
wor kwoul dt henbepai ntedwi t
hinkandpr essedon
paper stopr oduceapr intout.Thiswasav erytedi
ouswor k.

Todaythear tofpublishi
nghaschangedbecauseoft he
adventofpersonalcomputersandsmal
lerpr
int
erst
hatare
abl
et opri
nthighquali
tytextandgr
aphi
cseveninanoff
ice
orathome.

Definiti
onofdeskt oppublishi
ng( DTP)
Deskt op publi
shing referstot he process ofpr oduci
ng
publicati
onsl i
kecar ds,newspaper setc.bydesigningtheir
textandgr aphicslayoutandi nser
ting,edi
ti
ng,formatti
ng
andpr i
nti
ngoft extandgr aphicalobjectsusingaspeci al
deskt op publ
ishing soft
warei nstal
led on computers.The
204
term desktopmeanst hatallthepublishi
ngpr ocessescan
now bedoneonadeski nt heof f
iceorathomeusi nga
personalcomput er!The differ
ence between a deskt op
publisherandawor dprocessoristhatadeskt oppublisher
softwaregivestheusermor etoolsandcont r
oloft hepage
l
ay out,textmanipul
ati
onandgr aphicdesignt hanawor d
processor.

Howev eritisi
mpor t
antt onot ethatsomewor dprocessor s
todayhav ealsobeeni ncorporatedwi t
ht extandgr aphic
formatti
ng and editi
ng t ools.Hence a t hi
nl i
ne exi sts
betweent hem andthedeskt oppubl ishers.Forexampl eyou
candesi gnafullpubl
icati
oni nMi crosoftWor dbyusi ngt he
avail
abledrawi
ngandpi cturetools,createcolumnset c.

Examplesofdesktoppubl
isher
sincludeAdobePageMaker,
Corel
Draw,Micr
osoftPubl
isherandVent ur
a.Thi
sbookwil
l
useAdobePageMakert odemonstratetheconcept
sof
deskt
oppubli
shing.

Pur poseofdeskt oppubl ishi ngsof t

ware
Deskt opPubl i
shingpr ogr amsar everypopul arinpubl ishing
because t hey gi ve t he per son desi gning publ ications
(typeset ter)al otofcont rol on:
Graphi c desi gn: Usi ng deskt op publ i
shing sof twar e,a
typeset tercan cr eat e and edi tv ery compl ex t extand
graphicalobj ectsl i
ke pi ctur es tot he finestdet ai l
s.For
exampl e, t
hesof twar eprov i
dest heuserwi thrulersandr ul
er
guidest hatcanbeusedt opl aceanobj ecti nexact l
yt he
cor r
ectposi ti
on.
Pagel ay outdesi gn:Wi thadeskt oppubl i
sher,theusercan
beabl et odesi gnapagel ay outbyset tingconsi stentpi cture
andobj ectl ocations, divi
di ngapagei nanumberofcol umns
and cr eat ng l
i ay ers. A l ayer can be v iewed as t he
arrangementofobj ectsont opofeachot herwi tht heoneon
topbei ngont hef ir
stl ayere. g.t extcanbeononel ay erwhi l
e
graphicalobj ectsonanot her .Thereforethet extlay ercanbe
205
mani pulatedsepar atef r
om t hegraphicalobjectlayerlikef or
exampl et extmov es separatef rom t he objects.Anot her
goodexampl ei sy oucanmaket hegr aphi
calobjectl ayer
tr
anspar enti nor dert omaket het extinal ayerbehi ndt he
objectv i
sibl
e.
Pri
nting:Becauset hemai npurposeofanydeskt oppubl isher
i
st opr oducepubl icati
ons,t hi
scannotbeaccompl ished
withoutpr i
nting.Deskt op publishing sof t
war et her efore
helpst heuserpr epar ewhati sreferredt oasanar twor kin
commer cialcir
clesf orprint
ing.

Typesofdeskt oppubl ishingsof twar e

Therearet womai ntypesofdeskt oppublishingsoftware:
Graphicalbased:Theyar especi f
icall
ydevelopedt oeditand
for
matgr aphicobjectsl i
kepi ctures.Exampl esareAdobe
Photoshop, CorelDr
aw, harvardgr aphicetc.Thisdesktop
publi
shershav esuperiori magehandl i
ngcapabi li
ti
esli
ke
sett
ingresoluti
on,bri
ght ness, contrast,cr
oppi ngandfil
li
ng
i
magesofal lty
peswi thcol our.

Layoutbased:These t y pes of desktop publ i

shers are
specifi
cal
ly developed t o cr eate dif
ferent page layout
designsfortextandpi ctures.Hav eyouev erwonder edhow
thecompl i
catedfrontpageofanewspaperi sdeveloped?It
i
sdi ff
icul
ttoachievesuchwi thoutagoodl ayoutbasedDTP.
Good exampl es ofl ayoutbased deskt op publi
shers are
AdobePageMakerandMi crosoftPubl
isher.

Designi
ngapubl icati
on
Publi
cati
onsvaryi ndesignandf or
matti
ng.Forexample,
a
cardhasapar t
iculardesignlay
outthati
sdiff
erentfr
om a
newspaper.Therefore,publ
icat
iondesi
gnsdeterminehow
theyarecl
assif
ied.

Typesofpubl
icati
ons
I
tispossi
blet
opr oducedif
ferentt
ypesofpubl
i
cati
onsusi
ng
adeskt
oppublishi
ngsoftware.Ther
earesever
alt
ypesof
206
publi
cat i
onst hatcanbepubl ishednamel y:
Cards:Thesemaybef orweddi ngsandot herspecial
occasionsl kegr
i aduationsandf orcongr atulat
ions.
Certi
ficates:Toshowcompl et i
onofcour sesandspeci al
events.Theset y
peofpubl icationsar ev erysensiti
ve
becauset heymustbedesi gnedt odi scour ageanyt ypeof
dupli
cat i
onorcount erfei
ts.
Newspaper s,magazi nes,pamphl etsandnewsl et t
ers:Have
newst argetingagr oupofpeopl e.Theymayhav emanyt ex
t
andgr aphicallayoutsanddesi gns.
Books:Ar ebul kypubl i
cationswi thmanypagesbound
togetherint hesamepubl icat i
on.
Calendars:Apar tfrom showi ngdat es,theyar eusedby
compani est oadv ert
isethei rpr oduct shencemostoft hem
haveheav ycatchygr aphics.

RunningAdobePageMaker
Curr
ently PageMakerversions 6.5 and 7.0 ar ethe most
commondeskt oppubli
shingsof t
waredev elopedbyAdobe
PageMaker . Other Adobe pr oducts i ncludes Adobe
Photoshop mai nly used f or edi t
ing and f ormatt
ing
photographs,Adobeill
ustrat
orusedf orcr eati
ngcompl ex
fr
eehandar twor
ksuchasdr awingsandl ogoset c.

Start
ingAdobePageMaker
1.Cli
ckt heStar
tbuttonandt henpoi nttoPr ograms
2.From theprogramssi dekickmenu, pointt oAdobegroup
thenselectPageMaker .Figure4. 1showshowt ostart
PageMakeri natypicalWindowsenv i
ronment .
3.ThePageMakerpr ogram st artsandprov idesthe
DocumentSet updialogbox.I ft heDocumentset updialog
boxisnotdisplayed,thencl i
ckFi l
emenuandsel ecttheNew
command.
4.IntheDocumentSet updi al
ogboxsi milartotheonei n
Figur
e4. 5specif
ythepubl icationsetupopt ions.
5.Cli
ckOKt oappl ythesel ect
edopt ions.Apubl i
cat
ion
207
wi
ndowsi
mil
art
otheonei
nFi
gur
e4.
2isnowdi
spl
ayed.

PageMakerscr eenlayout .
The PageMaker appl ication wi ndow l ooks l ike most
applicationwi ndowsf orpr ogramsy ouhav eusedbef ore.I
t
alsohasat i
tlebar,menubarandscr ollbar
s.Howev er,you
willnot et hatunl i
kemostoft heMi crosoftapplicati
onsy ou
hav eusedbef ore,AdobePageMakerdoesnothav east atus
baroni tsappl i
cati
onwi ndow.Themostnot abl
edi ff
erence
betweenadeskt oppubl ishi
ngsof twaresuchasPageMaker
andawor d-processingsof twaresuchasMi crosoftWor dis
thatadeskt oppubl i
shingsof t
war ehasi tspr i
ntablewor k
areacent eredonapast eboar dasshowni nFigure4. 2.
The PageMakerpubl i
cat i
on wi ndow i s made up oft he
foll
owi ngl ayoutcomponent s:

1.Thepast
eboar
d.3.Thet
ool
box.5.Rul
ers

2.Thepri
ntabl
earea. 4.Mast
erpages.
6.Cont
rolpall
ete.

Thepast eboard
Apast eboardisalar
geblankareawhereyouplacetextand
graphi
cal obj
ectsbefor
earrangi
ngthem neat
lyonthe
pri
ntablewor kar
eaenclosedwithmargi
ns.

Thepr i
ntablearea
I
tisthear eathatl
ooksl
ikeapagesurroundedbymargi
nson
thepasteboard.Anyobj
ectort
extthatispl
acedonthe
pri
ntabl
ear eawill
bepri
ntedbythepri
nter.

TheTool box.
Thisisasetofbut
tonsthatcont ai
nsvari
oustoolsy oucan
uset ocreat
eandmanipulateyourpubli
cati
onithast he
foll
owingtools
Linetool Polygont ool Rotat
et ool
Rectangletool Handt ool Texttool
Ell
ipsetool Pointert
ool Croppingtool
208
Constrai
nedtool
Rectangl
ef r
ame
tool
Ell
ipsefr
ame
tool
Polygonframe
tool
Zoom tool

209