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Welcome to today's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Friday, May 11, 2001
In this Issue:
Featured Computer Term: BIOS
Topic: Keyboard Shortcuts
Progressive Learning Series: Printing Iron Ons
Featured Website: HiCitizen
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Today's Featured Computer Term: BIOS
The BIOS is the Basic Input/Output System of a computer --- it's one of the very first parts of a PC to "wake up" when you hit the power switch, and it handles a variety of extremely low-level functions that must be running before any operating system can load and run.
For the computer to boot up (start), it needs a basic input / output system.
The BIOS is the one program that can run without an operating system. In fact, its job is to start up and check on the operating system and the hardware. Your internal devices are initialized before Windows runs; if something is wrong at this level, your BIOS should let you know immediately with an error message.
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Today's Topic: Keyboard Shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts can be one of the fastest methods of navigating through menus and opening new windows. By pressing one or more keys to do a certain task, keyboard shortcuts can be used instead of picking a menu option with your mouse.
Keyboard shortcuts appear next to the commands in a menu.
A popular keyboard shortcut to quickly save a file in Windows is Ctrl+S.
Following is a list of some useful keyboard shortcuts:
Activate the menu bar in programs: F10 or ALT
Carry out the corresponding command on the menu: ALT + underlined letter in menu
Close the current window or quit a program: ALT+F4
Copy the selected item: CTRL+C
Cut the selected item: CTRL+X
Paste the selected item: CTRL+V
Delete the selected item: DELETE
Undo: CTRL+Z
Display Help on the selected dialog box item: F1
Display the current window's system menu: ALT+SPACEBAR
Display the shortcut menu for the selected item: SHIFT+F10
Display the Start menu: CTRL+ESC
Display the system menu for MDI programs: ALT+HYPHEN (-)
Switch to the window you last used : ALT+TAB
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Progressive Learning Series: Printing Iron Ons
Several manufacturers offer special heat transfer papers for their ink jet photo printers. Using a household iron, you can transfer the letter-sized image onto a cloth-based product such as a T-shirt, schoolbag, or hat.
Expect to pay about $1 to $1.50 for each iron-on sheet, perhaps even more. The iron-on sheets are thicker than standard paper, so you may want to play it safe and purchase iron-on papers designed especially for your brand of photo printer. Try to find as small a package as possible, just to try out first.
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Today's Featured Website: HiCitizen
Cut Through Bureaucracy. With this website you can avoid long lines in office buildings or sitting on hold on the phone every time you need to fill out a government form.
Pick your topic from the main page to find out how to register to vote, replace your Social Security card, change your mailing address, and much more. You'll find downloadable versions of the forms you need to fill out and links to the appropriate Web pages.
Not all tasks can be done online in every state, but even if you can't renew your driver's license online, HiCitizen will give you instructions for dealing with your local DMV.
http://www.hicitizen.com |
