How to: Computer (The basics of using a computer)

[aikoels]

Notes:

• Sorry if this has been done, I have searched and have been unable to find anything quite like this on the forums
• I am aware that most people in the forum don't have a use for this, this is more of a guide for people's parents/friends/grandmother, when they need to learn basic things that you don't want to/have time to teach them
• This is a work in progress, as I am using pictures to show everything it takes a while to make, also I plan to update this for windows, then mac, then linux (ubuntu, since it is the most popular/likely to have a computer illiterate person on) The reason I choose this order is because windows is the most popular, and linux doesn't usually have computer illiterate people, however if you want to save $100 and install linux on a cheap computer for your grandmother, and she doesn't know how to use it, you may want to link this guide.
• If you find a typo/something is incorrect/any other mistakes please pm me! (Truly, even if I mix up a to/too I will never get offended by someone correcting me) I want to make this as friendly as possible for new people. (Also message me if I made something too complex, since I know all of this I have a nasty habit of not explaining enough or skipping things)
• I will include tutorials for basic programs for these operating systems as well.
• You do not need much knowledge of computers in order to use this guide (besides how to turn it on, that is helpful)

Each operating system will have its own comment which will be edited to add more as time goes on.

 

Important terms:

Monitor and Resolution: The monitor is what you see your screen through, there are many "resolutions" which basically mean that the higher the resolution, the nicer everything looks (sharper, clearer, ect.)

Here is an example of a low and high resolution image, the way to tell if it is a high resolution is by checking the numbers on it, for example, 1080p is higher resolution than 720p, which is higher than 480p (the p is not important right now). You may of heard of HD (High Definition) on your TV's that is typically 720p. Ignore the number with the DPI below you don't need to know that.

 

Computer/Tower: When we refer to a tower or a computer, we mean the actual machine part. This is usually a rectangular box on the floor near the monitor (the computer is plugged into the monitor). Computers typically look like the image below, but can be built into the monitor, one way you can tell if it is built in by looking for USB ports (I will talk about them in a minute)

Computer built into the monitor:

 

Mouse and Keyboard: The keyboard can be seen in the image above, it is a way to input onto the computer, they mouse is next to it (the keyboard is the large one with all the keys, the mouse is used to move your cursor on the screen). You can either left or right click with a mouse resulting in different actions in each situation.

 

Cursor: Your cursor is the little arrow that you move around on the screen.

Cursor image:

 

USB and USB port: What USB means is not important for you, but what is important is to know that this is one of the ways information is given to and taken from a computer. While there are different types of USB (1, 2, and 3) they are all the same plug, so it does not matter too much, basically just know that the bigger the number, the faster the information can go. Also remember that the slowest part is what the speed is based off of (so a USB 3.0 drive in a USB 2.0 slot will run at USB 2.0 speeds). USB ports are used to plug in things like your mouse and keyboard, they can also be used to plug in a usb drive.

 

USB Drive: A USB drive is plugged into a USB port and used to store information, for example, you can carry one around and have your photos on it, you can put any file type on it (Text, photo, video, ect.) NOTE: Each USB drive does have a max on the information it can hold, I will talk about that later.

 

Hard Drive: Think of a hard drive as a large USB drive, it is located in your computer, and can usually store much much more information (about 500x or more than a USB drive in some cases)

 

Operating System (OS): Your operating system is kind of like the environment around your house. Most computers have a operating system called windows (made by microsoft), some have something called mac (made by apple), and a few have a custom OS that is installed manually, this is called linux, the great thing about linux is that it is open source (This means that they leet people edit how it works, and it also means it is free!) An important thing to know is that almost every program runs on windows, while less will work on mac and linux.

 

Information Storage:

The way a computer measures information is called bytes. There are three setsof "bytes" that you should know, a kilobyte (commonly shortened to KB) is 1000 bytes, a megabyte (MB) is 1000 kilobytes, and a gigabyte (GB) is 1000 megabytes (It works just like grams and other measurements do)

 

You will usually find that a USB drive holds about 2 gigabytes, this means that it holds 2000 megabytes. A hard drive can typically hold around 500 gigabytes, which is much better.

 

Amount of space something uses:

Text file: Text files are very very small, so if you save a file that is just text, it takes up nearly no space.

Photo: A photo is a different story, remember how I talked about resolution above, well, the higher the resolution is the more that the computer needs to save.

Recording/Music: This is not too bad, as it only saves the voice recordings.

Video: This uses up more than anything else due to the fact that it has to store so much information. These files can easily take up a few gigabytes.

 

Another Note: You don't need to over purchase memory storage, if you will only use 8 GB, don't buy a 32GB USB drive. Although if you think you will use it in the future, extra space is not usually much more expensive anyway.

 

Folder: A folder is something that contains files in it. It is much like a folder in real life.

 

Browser: This is the program that you use to get to the internet. You probably have Internet Explorer unless you have installed a different one, if you are on a mac then you probably have safari, and on linux you probably have firefox.

 

Internet: 

While you may actually access the internet through your browser, there are other aspects that you will need to be able to check on a computer.

The first is your internet connection. Your computer is connected one of two ways (probably) Ethernet or Wifi.

 

Ethernet Connection: If you have an Ethernet connection, you have plugged in your computer and it is accessing the internet through that cable (this is usually faster than Wifi), the cable looks something like this:

 

 

Wifi: Wifi is a wireless connection, this allows you to connect without wires, however is usually a little slower than Ethernet. There is also the risk of dropping the signal or having a weak signal which will not let you connect as easily. You can usually see if you have a Wifi connection by looking for this logo:

 

Firewall: A firewall is something that helps protect your computer

 

Virus Scanner: This type of program will help you find viruses on your computer and remove them, they do NOT however stop the virus from being installed, they only remove it after the fact.

 

Congratulations! Have you now learned the very basics that apply to every computer there is! To find out specific information you will need to scroll down and find your specific operating system.

 

More advanced: 

NOTE: You do NOT need to know this to work a computer! This is just more into how computers work, and if you get confused skip it, please don't get turned off by this section. This is NOT important for you at all! This will however be helpful in purchasing a new computer, it will let you know what is better.

 

Parts of a computer:

 

Central Processing Unit (CPU): This is a fairly complex part, and there are a lot of different aspects to this. For the most part it would be better to ask a sales rep to explain the differences between two CPUs to you.

 

Random Access Memory (RAM): This is much like a persons short term memory. It is cleared every time you turn your computer off, but is important when running programs. For example, if you start a program for the first time after turning on your computer it will take a while, but if you quit and restart, it will be faster, that is your RAM at work.

 

HDD (Hard Disk Drive): This is the same as the Hard Drive I talk about above, it is the computers long term memory, the higher the Gigabytes the more it can hold. If you see 1TB that means it holds a terabyte, which means that it holds 1000 GB.

 

SSD (Solid State Drive): This is a much faster version of the hard drive, it typically holds less space (around 100 GB) but will work much faster, for example, you can start your OS is 5 seconds instead of 15.

 

GPU (Graphics Processing Unit): This is usually built into the CPU, but sometimes it is not, in those cases it usually is stronger than a built in one. This is most important in gaming and things like that, it lets the CPU process things like a video game faster.

 

There are other computer parts, but they are not important for this guide as they don't pertain to purchasing computers.

[aikoels]

Windows 7 (some of this pertains to Windows 8, though it may slightly differ)

 

 

Desktop: The desktop is your main screen once you log in, it will probably look like this:

NOTE: The image in the background will be different, that is okay, you will see how to change it later.

 

Windows Basics:

Starting Note: You can make (almost) any program full screen or half the screen by clicking and dragging (hold down the left mouse button) on the top bar area, then drag it to the top for full screen, left for it to take up the left half, right for the right half, then releasing. I have highlighted the area I am talking about below:

Files:

Deleting a file: There a a few ways to delete a file, the first is right clicking the file then clicking on delete or move to recycling bin. You could also just click and drag a file to the recycling bin. Another option is selecting the file then hitting the delete key (DEL) on the keyboard, it should ask if you are sure, click yes. After you have moved this to the recycling bin you will want to empty that. You can do that by right clicking the bin on your desktop and hitting empty. If you deleted something that you want back check if it is still in the recycling bin (act like the recycling bin is a file, double click it, it should open then you can move anything you need out) If the file is not there then you are out of luck.

 

You can access your file through the Windows Explorer, which looks like this:

You should see something like this once you click on that:

Here you can start looking for files, by default you should see some of the most used places (documents, music, pictures, videos) I recommend using these locations for your assorted pictures and files. The reason for this is because it lets programs (and you) find things easily.

 

Let's create a folder for your documents:

1. First go to your windows explorer again:
2. 
3. Then click on documents, there are probably a decent amount of folders there due to programs, but lets ignore those.
4. Right click on anywhere that is not a folder, and hold the cursor over "New", after a second a menu should pop up, click on folder to create one.
5. By default the new folder should be created with the text "New Folder" Highlighted, this means you can change the name of the folder. Lets say you accidentally click somewhere else and it no longer lets you change the name, the way to fix this is right clicking on the folder and clicking on rename.
6. Type in the name of the folder (Lets call it bills)
7. 
8. There are multiple ways to fill up this folder, lets try the most universal which lets you move files from anywhere on the computer
9. Start this off by dragging your opened bills folder to one side of the screen (I bring mine to the right in the photos)
10. Now, right click on windows explorer at the bottom of the screen and you should see this:
11. 
12. Click on windows explorer, you should now have two windows open:
13. 
14. Now drag the new windows explorer window to the opposite side of the screen to get this:
15. 
16. On the left side (the newly opened window) navigate to the file you want to move (You can navigate by clicking on the locations to the left or in the middle (see here)
17. 
18. Now drag over the file(s) that you want moved

Moving files:

There are a few ways to move files to other places, one is clicking and dragging on it, but there are ways that are much easier for multiple files. The first is called shift-clicking, this allows someone to select a start and a finishing file, and select all the files in between, for example here I clicked on Carbon... and Euro Truck... (Note: to do this you click on one file normally, then you hold down shift and click on the end file, it will select everything in between. You now can just click and drag all of these files!

shift click.png

 

But what if you want to be picky and choosy about files, well, then you want to control (CTRL on the keyboard) click. Control-clicking lets you select multiple files, one at a time. You do this by holding down control and then clicking each file. You can also use this to deselect a file, so if you want to move all files in an area except one, then you can shift click and hold down control, then click on the file you want to keep.

 

If you want to move every file in a folder, you can just hold down CTRL (control) and then hit 'a', this automatically selects every file in an area, it also can be combined with control clicking to move all files except a few.

 

In some cases (on your desktop) you can just select an area, do this by left clicking and dragging, then you can select all files in that area.

 

Start menu:

If you look at the bottom left you will see the start button. I have highlighted it below:

 

When clicking on the start menu (left click) you should see this, I have mentioned the components in the image:

 

Desktop basics:

If you right click your desktop, it gives you a few options, I will go into each one:

 

View: This allows you to alter the icons that are on your desktop. Here you can change their size, experiment with this, you may like large or small more than medium (the default). You can access these options by hovering over the view box after right clicking on the desktop.

 

Sort by: Here are some basic sort functions for the applications on your desktop, you can sort by date, name, size, and more, this just lets you stay organized and find programs.

 

New: This section allows you to create some things on your desktop, you can either create a text file, or more. Most importantly, it lets you create a folder. This way you can orgasnize your desktop applications (Work, Personal, Internet, ect.)

 

Gadgets: By clicking on this you bring up a menu which lets you put different things on your desktop (a clock, weather information, ect.)  Double click a gadget to get one. you can click and drag these to move them around. By hovering over it you can see the wrench to access options, or the 'x' to remove it.

 

Personalize: Here is the last thing I am going to go over, this lets you personalize your desktop (select background ect.)

 

 

Personalize your desktop:

Go to the personalizing screen from the desktop (explained above)

1 - Click on the desktop top background button (circled here)

2 - Either choose a picture from the menu or if you have your own click on Browse

3 - Navigate to your file, I will go over this more, but if the picture is on your desktop, click on desktop, otherwise find the file, hit ok.

4 - You should now see all the images in this folder below, click on any of the ones you want (you can turn them into a slideshow) make sure not to delete these photos at a later date!

5 - You should have something looking like this, if so, click on save changes:

6 - You can change the windows color in a very similar way, just click on Window Color on this screen:

7 - Close out when done.

 

The Taskbar

The taskbar is one of the most important things about the windows OS. This is where you can pin your favorite programs, and most importantly, check to see what is going on.

 

Pinning a program:

This is very easy, when you launch a program you should see it's logo at the bottom (like the windows explorer). Just right click on the application at the bottom, and then click pin to taskbar, to unpin the program just right click it and then click unpin from taskbar. 

 

Other information:

An important part of the taskbar is the programs and applications at the right side, while some of them will be displayed to you, there are some that are hidden that you will need.

This is the location I am talking about (Red rectangle):

Another important thing is the arrow (circled in blue in the image above) This allows you to see the hidden programs. It also lets you see what is running in the background, if there is a program you don't want running right click the icon and then click quit.

You can monitor a lot from this area of the taskbar, for example, you can monitor your volume (just click on something to check it, hover over it to check the name) or your internet connection.

 

Virus/Malware/Adware/Bad Stuff

As with any computer, windows computers run the risk of getting some sort of virus. Take note that each of the things above are different, but for this basic tutorial I will not go into that. For the purpose of this guide I will lump all of these types of programs into the term "virus" I don't usually like to lump like this, and I really want to stress that there is a difference, but it is okay if you do not yet understand that difference.

 

By far the best way to stop from getting a virus is by using common sense, however that doesn't appear overnight. You need be able to look at a page and tell whether or not something should be installed. 

 

For example, in this image (from cnet, NOTE: Do not use cnet) there are plenty of download buttons and downloads that claim to speed up my computer. NEVER download something like that.

 

You may also encounter a page that says "You need X to play this video" or "Your software seems to be out of date, click here to update!" NEVER do that either! I am about to talk about which browser you should use, and the one I chose encludes everything you will need! Never update from a webpage either. The only time you should accept to update something is if the actual program launches in your computer and tells you (Not in a browser window)

 

You can tell if someone is running in a browser by looking at the taskbar, you are currently looking at the program with the slightly white background, if that is a browser, ignore the update. (really, windows and the browser below will do everything you need.)

 

While what I said above is very important there are a few programs that can lend a hand. The first one is Malwarebytes. There is a free virus scanner version available here (click on the word here). Also, if you have some money to spare, I would recommend upgrading, it allows things like automation so you don't need to manually scan every time.

 

Internet Connection

An important part of the computer is access to the internet. To make sure you have connection look at right of the taskbar, you should see a computer icon there (it may have the Wifi logo) If you do not have this you need to hook your computer up to the internet.

 

To do this click on the computer icon (it may have a red x or ! on it to show there is no connection) If you see a list of networks that means that you have Wifi set up. From this menu choose the name of your network and click on connect (you may need to input a Wifi password). If you do not see any networks you may have an ethernet connection. If this is the case you need to plug in an ethernet cord (shown above). To do this find your Wifi router, it should look something like this:

 

Plug one end of the ethernet cord in the back of this, and then plug the other end in your computer (just look for the correct port). Give your computer a minute to register the connection and you should be all set!

 

Programs!

The best thing about any computer is the programs, you can listen to music, browse the internet, protect your computer and more with these programs! Also, all of these are free (but some do have paid versions)

 

Installing Programs:

If you have a program downloaded but not yet installed you will need to do this before being able to use it. Start off by finding the file (probably called something like "programName_installer.exe" double click on it, then the "wizard" (installer for windows) will open.

 

Most people say "Just click on the next arrow a bunch." Do NOT do this! That could lead to installing a lot of bad programs and other types of things (like toolbars for your internet browser)

Instead, read each step, click agree on the terms and conditions screen, and make sure you don't have anything checked that you don't want. For the most part you don't have to change anything and can just keep hitting agree, but make sure that nothing along the lines of "Install Yahoo! Toolbar for Internet Explorer" is checked. At the end of this process you should have your new program. 

 

Malwarebytes

I am not going to go over the installation of this, you should just follow my advice above for it.

 

Old Database: 

An important thing about virus protection and scanning is their database. If malwarebytes says its database is out of date, make sure to fix that. I have circled the button to do it below:

Malwarebytes 

 

Scanning: 

To scan you should just click Scan Now at the bottom of the window. Just go through the necessary steps, once the scan is done, you should just allow malwarebytes to do what it wants (accept changes) I am not posting images of this in case of an update, I don't want people looking at outdated pictures and getting confused. But rest assured, malwarebytes is an easy program to operate.

 

Note: Malwarebytes premium lets you scheduale scans, if you do not schedule I would suggest scanning once a week. You can also get real time protection with premium, which malwarebytes free can't offer.

 

Windows Firewall

Here is another program that can help you protect yourself, and the best part is that it is already installed!

 

To use windows firewall go to the start menu, and in the search bar type "Windows Firewall" make sure to click on "Windows Firewall" NOT on "Windows Firewall with Advanced Security"

 

Now on the left click on Turn windows firewall on or off, make sure it looks like this:

Then click ok

 

Now, every time it blocks a program, it allows you to choose whether or not to block it (for the most part you will not want to block them).

 

Google Chrome

While there are many internet browsers to choose from this is my personal favorite, it is especially nice because it already includes many things and automatically updates them. You can get chrome here.

 

Again, I won't explain installing, you should be okay, if you run into problems use internet explorer to search how to install chrome.

 

Once you have everything set up and installed you may want to make a google account, this just lets you keep all of your favorites, I strongly recommend this.

 

Parts of the browser:

 

Favorites:

To add a favorite to the favorites bar for later use you can click on the little star to the right in the search bar. You should then see this:

Make sure that the folder says bookmarks bar, and it will be saved!

 

Extensions: 

This may be getting a little complex, but you can add things onto the base browser for more functionality, you will want to add two important things. Adblock and WOT (Web of Trust). you can get extensions here.

 

Get the extension by typing in "Adblock" in the search to the left then scroll down to the extensions section of the results, you should see something called Adblock, click on that then click on add to chrome (I circled the button here, mine says something different because I have already added it)

 

Repeat this process for Web of Trust.

 

Adblock:

You should now have the red hand to the right of the search bar. This is how you control adblock. When clicking on the red hand you should see a few options, you don't need to worry about most of them. The important ones are "Pause Adblock" and "Don't run on pages on this domain".

 

You will need to use these whenever you have an issue and a page says "You must disable adblock to view this page." Make sure that the page is a good page first as adblock helps hide false download links and popups. Then make the choice, you can either just pause adblock for a few minutes then unpause when you are done, or, if you visit this site a lot, click on don't run on pages on this domain. If you click that a new window will come up, click on slider and make sure only the initial URL is there (It should look like this: "http://www.google.com/*" Not "http://www.google.com/mypage/23453/main.html") accept that change and then you need to refresh the page. To do this you can click on the circular arrow near the left of the search bar.

 

Web of Trust:

This is a very useful extension to use because it helps find out if a site is trustworthy or not. To check web of trust look at the circle to the right of the search bar. This is what tells you the rating of a site. A red circle is bad and means that you should leave it, while a green circle means it is good. You can also click on the circle to see more information.

 

Other Extensions:

If you have installed any other extensions from the earlier link and want to remove them you can click on their icon to the right of the search bar and click remove from chrome.

[aikoels]

Apple OS

[aikoels]

Linux

[Katsu-K1L]

Oh my GabeN this will help me a lot lol, almost everyone i know is retarded as shit when using PC's si

Thank you mai niggwah <3

[Sousuke]

You use a Rodental Input Device to move a block on a bitmap screen.

 

Done

[xrex64]

Make sure you note that there is a difference between a CPU and PC...

[aikoels]

I am thinking of wrapping up the windows tutorial, does anyone know of any important things I missed?

[bradscoolio]

I harness the propulsion of my turds as electricity to power my computer. Should I make a guide on that?

[Kyuubixchidori]

Actually this would be great to because some concepts are so simple its hard to explain. Try to explain to your parents the diffrence between CPUS. Like my dad wants the best, but all he does is web browse. He doesnt need a new I7. 

 

that and the concept of storage. oh my god. my step dad bought a 64 gig sd card for his phone, and wants a 128. my mom had a 32 gig sd card and wants more, guess what? shes only using 4 gigs of her 16 gigs of internal memory. 

 

thank you. you could cover phones to! but theres a lot online about that already. just a suggestion 

[JewishBacon]

I am a 99 y/o man and this helped me out a lot! my great great grandson told me i should overclock my processor.   would you explain how to do this? 

 

 

lol but for real mate. good job

[nohuevos]

 "A hard drive can typically hold around 500 gigabytes, which is more better"

 

 

 

 

[ObeseWalrus]

snip

u really seem to hate zelda don't you m8

[1823alex]

THANK YOU! Now when my mom asks how do I do X I will just say look here. YES Thank You SO MUCH!

[©D0n7H8M3™®]

Your instructions weren't clear enough I got my dick stuck in the toaster

[ShadowCaptain]

You seem to really hate the legend of zelda m8

 

wow dude edit your post, dont quote the hole damn article ><

[ObeseWalrus]

wow dude edit your post, dont quote the hole damn article ><

u can't control me m8

[ShadowCaptain]

u can't control me m8

 

If you don't want to be courteous to people on the forum then do as you please, was a friendly suggestion

[ObeseWalrus]

If you don't want to be courteous to people on the forum then do as you please, was a friendly suggestion

sorry i'm tired and a little stuopid right now

[steffen_anywhere]

@aikoels Wow, I am impressed how much effort you spent into making this good like it is. Must have been so lame to do... Thumbs up!

[aikoels]

 

 "A hard drive can typically hold around 500 gigabytes, which is more better"

 

 

 

 

Woops, meant to say "much better" thanks for pointing that out

[AEA]

Awesome job man

[Guest]

Wow, this is super nice to link people to something this useful. Not useful to me PERSONALLY but super useful FOR me to link to others! Thanks man! Seems pretty well done too. Can't wait until you get the Linux part done! Rad guide/info post man. Props. 

[aikoels]

u really seem to hate zelda don't you m8

Actually those aren't just pictures of zelda, it is a massive folder of gaming pictures that my background goes through, it happened to be in the zelda section when I took all the pics (although I will admit that my profile picture isn't helping my case)

[Sharif]

nice work 

i could recommend this to my friends   :lol: