Computer​​ Survival Skills

Or

Things I wish My Mother Had Taught Me

But She Probably Knew Better

CONTENTS

Introduction

This training module focuses on some basics and tips to make your life on the computer easier and more productive.​​ These basic​​ skills and tips​​ are not earth-shattering, but they​​ will help you to avoid many of the little landmines that can soak up hours of your precious time.

Of all the training modules, this one will contain the most with differences between​​ Microsoft Windows PC’s​​ and​​ Apple / Macintosh computers.​​ To make matters worse, different versions of operating systems for each have differences.​​ 

We will try to work through the differences in the documentation for this module. No doubt, updates to the documentation will be needed for clarity.​​ 

But rest assured. You can do the same things​​ in the Windows world as in the Mac world. Just a little differently.

So, without blabbering, let’s get right into it.

TIPS you can’t live without

TIP - The Magic Shortcut Keys to the kingdom

ONCE YOU GET USED TO THEM, YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT THEM.

What are the Magic Keys?

On a PC, you hold down the Ctrl key and press a letter.

On a Mac, you hold down the CMD key and press a letter.

PC keyboard: Ctrl + (a letter)    Mac keyboard: cmd + (a letter)

Magic Keys

We will​​ be referring to these key-combinations throughout the training, so get to know them.​​ (We will practice them later, so you will get your chance.)

Want more Shortcut keys?

For a PC:​​ https://www.computerhope.com/shortcut.htm

For a Mac:​​ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236

TIP - SAVE early, save often

SAVING WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE.

YOU CAN SAVE AT ANY TIME, AS OFTEN AS YOU WANT. THE MORE, THE BETTER.

How often have you typed for an hour and then found that you have LOST all your changes?

SAVE EARLY, SAFE OFTEN -​​ USE THE MAGIC KEYS.

Save – Ctrl-s (Cmd-s on a Mac)

Wow. That was easy.

TIP – Copy / Paste on Steroids

If you don’t use copy / paste, START NOW.​​ 

Copy / paste works almost EVERYWHERE, from ANYWHERE to ANYWHERE.

If you know how to copy / paste, that is great. Now, USE IT EVERYWHERE, FOR EVERYTHING.

If you don’t use the MAGIC KEYS for copy / paste, START USING THEM NOW.

Now, use Copy / Paste with Notepad (PC) or TextEdit (Mac) to avoid formatting hassles.

BE LAZY – Don’t type it, COPY / PASTE IT.

Basic Copy / Paste

OOPS – I meant to put that last sentence, first.

Then I will hold my LEFT MOUSE KEY down and​​ DRAG THE MOUSE, across the sentence I want to move. (I could also start on the left of the sentence and drag to the right.) Now, the sentence is highlighted (pictured above). I NOW LET GO OF THE MOUSE KEY. The sentence stays highlighted.

Now, I could go to the menu and click on “CUT,” because I am going to remove the sentence, and place it somewhere else. (Or I could click on on “COPY,” if I wanted to make a copy of the sentence.

BUT THAT IS A LOT OF EXTRA WORK. IT IS MUCH FASTER TO USE THE MAGIC KEYS.

PC keyboard      Apple / Mac keyboard

So, I hold-down the​​ Ctrl​​ key (or the​​ Cmd​​ key, on a Mac) with my pinky finger, and press the letter, “X” with my index finger (pictured above.)

Voila. I have just​​ CUT​​ the sentence.​​ 

THE SENTENCE IS GONE! (red​​ arrow above.) It’s really not. It is just sitting in a special place, where it can be retrieved later.

Now, I place my mouse in the white area where I want to put my sentence (and CLICK ON THE LEFT MOUSE KEY – pictured above.)

I hold-down the​​ Ctrl​​ key (or the​​ Cmd​​ key, on a Mac) with my pinky finger, and press the letter, “V” with my index finger (pictured above.)

Voila. I have just​​ PASTED​​ the sentence.​​ 

To make it pretty, I place my mouse in front of the sentence, CLICK ON THE LEFT MOUSE KEY, and press ENTER, to move the sentence, and those following it, DOWN A LINE.

Aahh – much better.​​ 

BE LAZY – Don’t type it, COPY / PASTE IT.

Oh, did I already say that??

TIP​​ –​​ Files that won’t open

Some people get used to using one program for everything. To work on something, they will open up the program (for instance, Microsoft Word), and then look for a file that they had previously worked on. Then the frustration hits.​​ 

Some files, created in another program, can’t be opened in the program that you are in (i.e. MS Word).

First, find your FILES folder

On a Windows computer,​​ LEFT-CLICK​​ on the​​ START ICON​​ on the lower-left of the desktop​​ (as pictured above).​​ (Note that some Windows computers have a HOME or Documents folder on the desktop. You can also start there.)

On a Windows computer,​​ LEFT-CLICK​​ on​​ File Explorer​​ (manila-folder icon, pictured above).​​ 

(Note that different versions of Windows organize programs differently, and you might have to do a little more looking through programs to find it.)

On a​​ Windows​​ computer, once you find the File Explorer icon,​​ HOLD THE LEFT MOUSE KEY DOWN AND​​ DRAG it to your​​ Desktop​​ (or to your Ready-Access Programs bar​​ at the bottom of your desktop), so that you can easily get to it the next time you need it (pictured above).

On a Mac – use Finder​​ (either in Menu at upper-left, or in icon in lower-left of desktop, as pictured above).

Make sure you are viewing File Details

Often times, File Managers show you nice icons for your folders (a Windows computer​​ pictured above).​​ 

(A Mac computer​​ pictured below.)

This is very useful in some situations, but not for looking through files.​​ 

A more useful view is File DETAILS.​​ On a Windows computer,​​ LEFT-CLICK on VIEW​​ (as pictured above).​​ Make sure that the “File Name​​ Extensions” box is checked. Now click on “DETAILS” (as pictured above).

On a Mac, in Finder, go to View​​ (as shown below)

Always start with a FILE instead of a program

DON’T​​ START BY OPENING WORD (or any other program).​​ INSTEAD, START WITH A FILE.

A-HAA!​​ The file was a spreadsheet (above). That’s why it wouldn’t open in MS Word.

Find​​ the correct​​ version of a file

How many times have you spent hours, trying to find the latest version of a file that you have been working on? Or maybe, and earlier version? USE THE FILE MANAGER TO SORT FILES BY TIMESTAMP.

I know that I worked on one of these files in the last couple of days. But which one is the latest?​​ 

THE EASIEST WAY IS TO SORT BY DATE OR BY NAME.​​ LEFT-CLICK on DATE (as pictured above).

Voila! Now my files are organized by Date and Time, with the latest versions at the top.

What if I want to find an earlier version?

To organize all the versions together, LEFT-CLICK on the NAME column (as pictured above).

NOW, MY FILES ARE ORGANIZED BY NAME, SO I CAN SEE ALL THE VERSIONS OF THE SAME (OR SIMILAR) NAMES, TOGETHER (as pictured above).

Copy / Paste without Formatting Headaches

Copying from a web page to a Word doc? Or from a Word doc​​ to a​​ different Word doc?

[Dave – need to do these examples on a Mac also]

Welcome to formatting hell.

I WANT TO DROP THE TEXT INTO​​ A SUBSECTION IN THIS DOCUMENT. So,​​ I place the curser right below​​ my subpoint​​ line and do​​ Ctrl+V​​ for​​ Paste​​ (below):

This is my subsection:

WAIT A MINUTE. IT CREATED A NEW CHAPTER IN THIS DOCUMENT​​ (above).​​ I DON’T WANT THAT.​​ AND I DON’T WANT ALL THAT FORMATTING. I JUST WANT THE TEXT, ITSELF, SO THAT IT LOOKS LIKE​​ SUBSECTION IN MY DOCUMENT.

The good news: Using Notepad (on a PC) or TextEdit (on a Mac) relieves most the headaches before they start.

To fix​​ the above problem, I will​​ Undo​​ (Ctrl+Z)​​ the​​ Paste.​​ Then I will bring-up​​ NotePad​​ (or​​ TextEdit​​ on a Mac).

The quick way to do this is to use​​ Search​​ or​​ Run. On a pc, place the mouse over the Windows start icon (in the​​ lower-left​​ of the desktop – (red arrow above)​​ and​​ RIGHT-CLICK.​​ Then​​ LEFT-CLICK​​ on​​ Run.

In Windows, type “notepad” into the window and click on “OK” (pictured above).

On a Mac, just click on TextEdit using Finder (as pictured below).

LEFT-CLICK in the white space in Notepad (or in TextEdit on a Mac) and do​​ Ctrl+V​​ for​​ Paste​​ (pictured above).

Now, highlight the text IN NOTEPAD (OR TEXTEDIT) and​​ Copy (Ctrl+C)​​ from there.

Finally, I can Paste (Ctrl+V) it into this training document, as a subsection (below):

This is my subsection:

Rubber Duck Problem Solving

At Stack Exchange, we insist that people who ask questions put some effort into their question, and we're kind of jerks about it. That is, when you set out to ask a question, you should …

 ​​ ​​ ​​​​ Describe what's happening in sufficient detail that we can follow along. Provide the necessary background for us to understand what's going on, even if we aren't experts in your particular area.

 ​​ ​​ ​​​​ Tell us why you need to know the answer. What led you here? Is it idle curiosity or is this somehow blocking you on a project? We don't need your whole life story, just give us some context here.

 ​​ ​​ ​​​​ Share your research on your problem; what have you found so far? Why didn't it work? And if you didn't do any research … should you even be asking? If you're inviting us to spend our valuable time helping you, it's only fair that you put in a reasonable amount of your valuable time into crafting a decent question. Help us help you!

By the way, are you SAVING as you go along?

DO IT AGAIN, TO MAKE SURE. USE THE MAGIC KEYS.

Save – Ctrl-s (Cmd-s on a Mac)

Wow.​​ This guy is OCD.

TIP –​​ help! –​​ I​​ can’t read the file

This is especially a problem when you send a file from a Windows PC to a Mac (or vice-versa).

How many times have you received a file, attached in an email, that you can’t read?​​ Does it make you want to shoot your friend?

First, make sure that it is not YOUR problem.

On files you can’t read in your email, try DOWNLOADING the file first​​ (as pictured above).

You can SAVE it anywhere​​ (Documents,​​ thumb drive, etc.) Just make sure you know where, so you can find it (as pictured below).

Then, use your File Manger (Windows Explorer, or Mac Finder), to open the file​​ (as pictured above).

Ahh-Haa! This was a MS PowerPoint file. If I have PowerPoint installed on my computer, I can read it.​​ (If I don’t, I am still out of luck. I need to ask the sender to Save the file as something else, that my computer can read (as in the next step).

OK – It’s NOT my problem – Use “Save As”

Somebody has just emailed you that they can’t read the file you sent. If you don’t want to lose friends,​​ use​​ Save As​​ before sending your file.

Many people don’t have the program you used to create the file. Or they have an older version of the program. They won’t be able to read your file when you send it to them unless you Save As something that they can read.​​ 

For example, try saving a Microsoft Word file as an older version “.doc” file, or an “.odt” file, or an “.rtf” file. Many programs, besides MS Word, can read these​​ (red arrows, pictured above).

PDF – The great leveler

Ever have the problem where you formatted a document that exactly fills a page? Or you formatted it with detailed spacing? Or you used special fonts and you want it to look like that when someone reads it?

Then, when you send it to them and they open it in their program, all the formatting is messed-up. The document is now two pages, or the paragraph that ended at the bottom of your one-page document now continues on to two pages. Etc., etc.​​ (as pictured above).

PDF​​ was invented so that people can read your file, whether they have your program or not, or whether they have an older version of your program, or not -- and the document will look EXACTLY like you formatted it before sending to them.

Print To, not Save As a PDF

Print​​ to a PDF (don’t try to Save As)​​ – (pictured above)

First, you need a PDF-write utility. Some computers have it already. Or, you may need to install it.

A nice,​​ free​​ PDF-write utility is:​​ ​​ ​​ PDF Creator.

You can get it here:​​ https://pdfcreator.en.softonic.com/

TIP – BACKUP OFTEN – Use a thumb-drive

BACKUPS WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE!

We always learn the hard way. We go to fine that file that we slaved over for hours.​​ IT’S GONE!​​ Maybe the file (that you SAVED OFTEN) is CORRUPT. Maybe your computer hard drive just died.​​ Whatever the reason, after re-doing all the work,​​ you swear to do backups forevermore.

Do backups OFTEN, the EASY way

You should copy important documents to a backup drive ALMOST AS OFTEN AS YOU SAVE (Ctrl-S).​​ 

USB Thumb Drive      USB Slots

GOOD NEWS. A thumb drive works perfectly​​ (pictured above – left).

JUST PLUG IT INTO A USB SLOT​​ (pictured above – right). USB slots are usually on the FRONT or the BACK of the computer.

On​​ a Mac, your thumb-drive will show up as a new icon on the desktop.​​ [Dave – do a picture of a Mac.]​​ On​​ a Windows PC, you will usually get a notification in the lower-right hand portion of the Desktop (pictured above). IF YOU SEE IT, LEFT-CLICK ON THE NOTIFICATION​​ and CLICK TO OPEN YOUR FILE MANAGER.​​ If you don’t see it, you can still find the thumb drive in the File Manger (next steps).

Then, use your file manager.​​ Either DRAG and DROP the file, or use your​​ Magic Shortcut Keys​​ (LEFT-CLICK on the file you want to copy and do Ctrl-C, then LEFT-CLICK on the target thumb drive or folder, and do Ctrl-V, as pictured above.)

VOILA! Your backup is on you thumb drive.