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A good user manual
The rules should oblige the seller to give the purchaser an operating instrucion of Microsoft Windows XP, along with an item. The lack of an instruction or false information given to customer shall constitute grounds to apply for a complaint because of nonconformity of goods with the contract. In accordance with the law, a customer can receive an instruction in non-paper form; lately graphic and electronic forms of the manuals, as well as instructional videos have been majorly used. A necessary precondition for this is the unmistakable, legible character of an instruction.
What is an instruction?
The term originates from the Latin word „instructio”, which means organizing. Therefore, in an instruction of Microsoft Windows XP one could find a process description. An instruction's purpose is to teach, to ease the start-up and an item's use or performance of certain activities. An instruction is a compilation of information about an item/a service, it is a clue.
Unfortunately, only a few customers devote their time to read an instruction of Microsoft Windows XP. A good user manual introduces us to a number of additional functionalities of the purchased item, and also helps us to avoid the formation of most of the defects.
What should a perfect user manual contain?
First and foremost, an user manual of Microsoft Windows XP should contain:
- informations concerning technical data of Microsoft Windows XP
- name of the manufacturer and a year of construction of the Microsoft Windows XP item
- rules of operation, control and maintenance of the Microsoft Windows XP item
- safety signs and mark certificates which confirm compatibility with appropriate standards
Why don't we read the manuals?
Usually it results from the lack of time and certainty about functionalities of purchased items. Unfortunately, networking and start-up of Microsoft Windows XP alone are not enough. An instruction contains a number of clues concerning respective functionalities, safety rules, maintenance methods (what means should be used), eventual defects of Microsoft Windows XP, and methods of problem resolution. Eventually, when one still can't find the answer to his problems, he will be directed to the Microsoft service. Lately animated manuals and instructional videos are quite popular among customers. These kinds of user manuals are effective; they assure that a customer will familiarize himself with the whole material, and won't skip complicated, technical information of Microsoft Windows XP.
Why one should read the manuals?
It is mostly in the manuals where we will find the details concerning construction and possibility of the Microsoft Windows XP item, and its use of respective accessory, as well as information concerning all the functions and facilities.
After a successful purchase of an item one should find a moment and get to know with every part of an instruction. Currently the manuals are carefully prearranged and translated, so they could be fully understood by its users. The manuals will serve as an informational aid.
Table of contents for the manual
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Microsoft Windows XP ™ A Beginners’ Gu ide Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 Introducing the Desktop ...................................................................................... 1 Windows and their Control .............................[...]
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1 Introduction Microsoft Windows XP is the defau lt operating system installed o n IT Services PC s. An operating sy stem is a piece of so ftware which allows y ou to give instructio ns to the computer. Windows XP has a friendly Graphical User Interface ( GUI ) w hich u ses W indows, I cons, a M ouse and P oin ter (often referred to as WIMP ) . Thi[...]
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2 A window similar to the one below should app ear - the use of My Computer will be covered later in these notes. If the win dow fails to app ear, you may not have double clicked p r operly. Try again. Tip: Pressing <Enter> when an icon is selected also open s the window. Whenever you open a Microsoft Windows XP window, several c onsistent fe[...]
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3 2. Click on this cen tral control bu tton again (no w [Restore Down] ) and the win dow is its original s ize 3. Move the mouse pointer into the blue Title Bar , hold down the left mou se button an d drag the window slightly, to a new position on the screen, t hen release t he mouse butto n 4. Click on the left [M inimize] co ntrol button - the wi[...]
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4 On the far left o f the Taskbar is the [Start] menu button, which will be discussed in detail shortly. On the far right, information such as the c urrent time i s displayed. The ico ns to the right of [Start] provide a quick launch for email etc. Multi-T asking and the Quick Launch Buttons This next exerci se demonstrates how the Taskbar is u sed[...]
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5 This splits the sc reen, allowin g you to see all the open win dows at the same time. Nor mally, you would only have a couple of tasks runnin g when you do th is. Note that you can also Tile Wind ows Horizontally . 4. Repeat step 3 but t his time cho ose Show the Deskt op The display should now sho w the Desktop - all the ta sks have been iconise[...]
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6 6. Try using the c alculator - either click on the buttons pro vided or use the keyboard 7. Close down the c alculator by clicking on the [Close] c ontrol button Other T askbar Facilities On the right-hand side of the Taskbar i s a group of ic ons, some of which may be of in terest. These include (starting at the fa r right): Time/Date displa[...]
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7 Windows XP allo ws you to name a file using as many characters ( excluding / : * ? " < > an d | ) as you like. Having said this it' s a good idea to use 8 o r less characters and to stick to letters, n umbers and hyphen/ underscore. Avoid using a fu ll stop as this usually separates a filename f r om its extension - eg .docx for[...]
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8 The My Document s window displays seve ral icons, on e of which is Greek.doc . To load the file into Word : 2. Move the mouse pointer to the Greek.d oc icon and do uble click the mouse bu tton 3. Click at the end o f the text, to move the typing po sition, then type some more text 4. Click on the top [Close] control bu tton - when prompted, pre s[...]
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9 A new fo lder will be created with the un helpful name N ew Folder . To rename it: 3. Type in the name you want for the fo lder (call this o ne Test - you don't have to delete the original name first) and press <Enter> Note that you can rename a file or folder at an y time by right clicking on the file/folder ico n and cho osing Rename[...]
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10 Send To has made a s econd c opy at the top level in the file structure . This is its o ne weakness - it cannot be used to mo ve files into a specific fo lder on another drive . To test this out an d see what happ ens: 9. Repeat steps 6 to 8 above This time you will be warned that a file with the sam e name already exists. Note the in formation [...]
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11 7. Press <Enter> or clic k on [Yes] to confirm this 8. Repeat step 5 but t his time select the Tem p folder 9. Note the slightly dif ferent wordin g in the Confirm Folder D elete dialog box then press <Enter> or click on [Yes] to con firm this The Recycle Bin The Recycle Bin is w here any files/folders that you delete from the hard d[...]
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12 4. With the mouse pointer awa y from any ic on, hold down the mou se button and drag through the ico ns - a rectangle appear s and any icons it touches are selec ted 5. Release the mou se button and click away fro m any of the icons to c ancel the selection 6. Click on o ne of the icons to select it then hold down the <Shift> key and click[...]
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13 1. Click on the [Sea rch] toolbar bu tton - the Search Com panion appears on the le ft hand side 2. Click on Al l files and folders 3. In the box labelled All or part o f the file name: type Greek 4. Click on the list arrow attached to the Look in: bo x and select My Documents (at the very top) 5. Press <Enter> or clic k on [Search] The fi[...]
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14 Making Backups Though My Document s is back ed up for you by IT Services, you may want to mak e your own ba ckups on a USB pen, floppy/zip disk or cd. This will be particularly impo rtant if you wa nt to work on you r files away from the University (on y our own PC at home) o r if you want to keep files or email whe n you leave the University. I[...]
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15 To re-enable the di sk: 4. Repeat steps 1 to 3 above but at step 3 close the hol e - the slider click s into place Compac t Disks Copying files to a compact disk is n’t qu ite as straightforward as i t is to a floppy or zip disk as it is a two-s tage process. First y ou copy the files into a tempora ry area then yo u write them to c d. This ca[...]
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16 Shortcuts can be deleted like any other file or program ic on. When you delete a shortcut, it only deletes the icon; the o riginal file or program will still exist. 1. Click on the Sho rtcut to Greek.d oc icon to select it 2. Press the <Delete> key to remove it from t he Deskto p 3. Press <Enter> or clic k on [Yes] to confirm the del[...]
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17 7. Use arrow keys to move the typin g position, type some mo re text then pre ss <Alt> then <f> to o pen the [Office Button] Note that the com mands have a letter next to them: 8. Type p for P rint t hen <Esc> to c ancel the print comman d and clo se the window Tip: The <Esc> key can be used to close dialog bo xes (includ[...]
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18 3. Press <F7> fo r Spell Check then <Esc> to [Cancel] it 4. End by pressing <Alt F4> to Exit from Wor d 5. There is no n eed to save the file - type n or click on [No] Screen Dumps It's sometimes usefu l to be able to copy the whole or part of a screen and in sert it as a picture in a document. This is known as a screen du[...]
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19 Using Windows Help In common with the Microso ft Office applications, Windows it self has a large amount of bu ilt-in help available. To load u p Help: 1. Click on the [Sta rt] button o n the Taskbar and select H elp and Support The Help and Support Centre windo w which appears is modelled on a web browser. You have a [Home] button, which alwa y[...]
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20 ™ Trademark own ed by Microsoft Co rporation. © Screen shot( s) reprinted by permission from Microsoft Co rporation. Copyright © 2008 : The University of Reading Last Revised: Decembe r 2008[...]