Learn Computer Basics

Using Function Keys in Excel

2009-05-09T03:21:00.000-07:00

There is a lot that we can do with the Function Keys in Excel. Let us see the various function keys and their functionality with reference to Excel.

Key Description

F1 Displays the Microsoft Office Excel Help task pane.

CTRL+F1 Displays or hides the Ribbon component.

ALT+F1 Creates a chart of the data in the current range.

ALT+SHIFT+F1 Inserts a new worksheet.

F2 Edits the active cell.

SHIFT+F2 Adds or edits a cell comment.

CTRL+F2 Displays the Print Preview window.

F3 Displays the Paste Name dialog box.

SHIFT+F3 Displays the Insert Function dialog box.

F4 Repeats the last command or action.

CTRL+F4 Closes the selected workbook window.

F5 Displays the Go To dialog box.

CTRL+F5 Restores the window size of the selected workbook window.

F6 Switches between worksheet, Ribbon, task pane and Zoom controls.

CTRL+F6 Switches to the next workbook when more than one workbook is open.

F7 Displays the Spelling dialog to check spelling.

CTRL+F7 Performs Move command on the workbook when it is not maximized.

F8 Turns extend mode on or off.

SHIFT+F8 Helps to add nonadjacent cell(s) to selection of cells using arrow keys.

CTRL+F8 Performs the Size command when a workbook is not maximized.

ALT+F8 Displays the Macro dialog box to create, run, edit, or delete a macro.

F9 Calculates all worksheets in all open workbooks.

SHIFT+F9 Calculates the active worksheet.

CTRL+ALT+F9 Calculates all worksheets in open books, even if they haven't changed.

CTRL+F9 Minimizes a workbook window to an icon.

F10 Turns key tips on or off.

SHIFT+F10 Displays the shortcut menu for a selected item.

CTRL+F10 Maximizes / restores the selected workbook window.

F11 Creates a chart of the data in the current range.

SHIFT+F11 Inserts a new worksheet.

ALT+F11 Opens the Microsoft Visual Basic Editor to create a macro.

F12 Displays the Save As dialog box.

How to take a snapshot of the contents on your screen?

2009-05-05T01:10:00.000-07:00

All of us have noticed the button called ‘Print Screen’ (Prnt Scrn) at the top of the keyboard on the right side. It will be usually located at the top row.

It is used to make screenshots of your desktop screen. Whenever you want to capture your desktop as an image, just hit the ‘Prnt Scrn’ button once, and it will take an exact snapshot of your monitor screen. Now, the screenshot is in the clipboard. How to save it?

Now if you want to save it, just open the paint application. Paste the image which is there in the clipboard by pressing “Ctrl+v”. The image is visible on the Paint window. Now if you want, you can edit it as you wish and save it.

Suppose you want to take a snapshot of one window on the screen but not the entire screen. How do we take it then? Let’s see. Make the window of which you want to take a snapshot, the active window. Just click on its title bar to make it active. Now, while holding down the Alt key, press the ‘Prnt Scrn’ button. You got a screenshot of your favourite window. Follow the procedure mentioned above to save it.

Hope this helps!

Statistics computation through Calculator

2009-04-20T21:46:00.000-07:00

Let us see how we can use the calculator to do statistical computations. Open the Calculator (Start -> Run-> Type calc and press Enter).

From the View menu, select the "scientific" option to turn it into scientific mode.

Are you able to see a button named "Sta" on the left side?

Now, let us see how we can use this.

To calculate sum, average and Std.Deviation of given numbers execute the

following steps

1) Enter the first number.

2) Click Sta button. (you will see Statistics Box. The entered

numbers are in Statistics Box)

3) Click RET

4) Click Dat button.

5) Enter the next number.

6) Click Dat button.

7) Repeat step 5 and step 6 until you exhaust all the numbers.

8) Click the s button.

9) The Standard Deviation of the entered numbers is displayed.

10) Click Sum you will be shown sum of the numbers entered.

11) Click Ave you will be shown average of the numbers entered.

If you click the LOAD button of Statistics Box, the highlighted number

in the display area of the Statistics Box will be loaded into the display

area of calculator display area.

If you click CD button of Statistics Box, the highlighted number in the

display area of Statistics Box will be deleted from the list of numbers.

If you click the CAD button of Statistics Box, all the entered numbers

are deleted.

How to put the monitor to sleep when not in use?

2009-03-25T05:41:00.000-07:00

By letting the monitor to sleep when not in use, we can save energy and help the environment. Let us now see how we can do that? It is nothing but turning off the monitor when it is not being used.

Follow these steps:

1. Right-click the desktop, and then click Properties.

2. Display Properties dialog box appears. Click the Screen Saver Tab and Click Power Button.

3. Power Options Properties dialog box appears. From the Turn off Monitor pull down, select a time to automatically turn off your monitor.

4. For a laptop/notebook computer, both Plugged in and Running on batteries must be set.

5. Click OK twice.

Now what happens is that, the monitor will be automatically put to sleep when the computer is idle for the time specified in the above setting. We can always reactivate it by moving the mouse or pressing a key.

Just try doing this to save the environment!!

How to switch to a Classic start menu in XP?

2009-02-20T02:12:00.000-08:00

Many of us are very much used to the way the Start Menu appears in the older versions of windows and may not be comfortable with the XP style start menu. So, how do we get back the start menu which we are familiar with? Let's see that today.

Just move your mouse over the Start menu button in the bottom left corner of the desktop and right click on it. You will be able to see a menu like the one below. It may not be exactly the same like this but a similar one.

Are you able to see properties there? Yes, click on it to get the start menu properties window like the one given below.

Are you able to see two options there? One a 'start menu' and another one called 'Classic start menu'. OK. Here, I have selected the option called start menu which will display the XP style start menu.Now, If you want to get the appearance of Windows 98 or other older versions, then select the classic start menu option as shown in the figure below and click apply and OK.

Now, are you able to see the start menu appear as you wish?

Thank you. Have a Nice day!!

Alt-Tab - Task Switcher

2009-02-05T22:10:00.000-08:00

Suppose you are working with multiple tasks at a time and you want to switch between tasks without using the mouse. Today let us see how to do this with a keyboard shortcut.

Alt-Tab is the keyboard shortcut known as Task Switcher for switching between top-level windows without using the mouse. Alt-Tab can switch to any running program. The list of tasks is kept in an order with the most recently used tasks at the front.

How to do it? First press the Alt key and hold down. While Alt is down, press and release the Tab repeatedly, to move the cursor through a list of tasks. A special task selection window appears the first time Tab is pressed with Alt down. When the Alt key is released, the task selection window closes and switches to the selected task.

The Alt-Tab behavior is defined by a set of rules, of which some important ones are stated below.

The task list appears as soon as Tab is pressed with Alt down, whenever there is more than one task.
The task list remains open until Alt is released.
Tab moves the cursor forward in the list; Shift-Tab moves it backward.
Esc while Alt is still down, aborts the action.
The windows are listed by their "Z-order".
Switching to a window moves it to the top of the Z-order sequence.
When the Alt-Tab window is not in use, Alt-Esc lowers a window, placing it at the bottom of the Z-order sequence. This sends it to the end of the list.
Minimizing a window also sends it to the end of the list , with the exception of some applications like Outlook.

How to add a shortcut to your desktop?

2009-02-02T05:54:00.000-08:00

Today let us see another tip which is probably a simple one, but very useful.

At times, we may have some favorite files which we may want to access quite frequently. What should we do then? We’ll have to go to the location where it is stored and then open the file, which is obviously time-consuming. Right? Yes, but how else can we do it then?

You can do it by creating shortcuts. You can create shortcuts on your desktop that enable you to open the file/folder by simply double-clicking the mouse on it.

To add a shortcut from a file to your desktop

1. Locate and open the folder in which your file is stored and select the file that you want to create a shortcut to.

2. Right-click the file, click Send To, and then click Desktop.

You’ll see the shortcut on your desktop like the one below.

This shortcut has an arrow in the lower-left corner. We can identify any shortcut with this arrow symbol. The real file will not have this arrow.

If you move the mouse over the shortcut, you can see the location of the file.

We can open the file by double-clicking this shortcut. Another point to note here is, we can also delete a shortcut. Deleting a shortcut will not delete the original file. Only the shortcut will be deleted. Nice. Isn’t it?

Try creating shortcuts and enjoy quick access. Good day!

How to minimize all open windows with just one click?

2009-01-29T01:37:00.000-08:00

Often, we tend to work with multiple windows open at the same time. Suddenly, we may want to see some information stored on our desktop. Only if we minimize all open windows, would we be able to see the desktop. It would definitely take time. So, in such a situation, how to see the desktop with just one click?

Here is the solution:

In the previous article, I wrote about how to display the quick launch toolbar. Do you remember?

In the quick launch toolbar, there is an icon named "Show Desktop" (as shown in the figure below).

Clicking on this icon will minimize all the open windows and show the desktop. If you click it again, it will restore the windows to their original position.

Alternatively, if your keyboard has windows key (usually will be between the Ctrl & Alt keys in the keyboard), then press winkey and 'D' key. This works exactly the same way as "Show Desktop" icon. Pressing this Winkey & 'D' combination for the second time would restore the windows to their original position.

Pls try it out and see. Let us see more such tips in the coming articles. Good luck!!

How to display the Quick Launch Toolbar in Windows XP?

2009-01-21T22:35:00.000-08:00

The Quick Launch Toolbar is a list of shortcuts to our favorite programs. It appears next to the ‘Start’ button in the taskbar. We can use the Quick Launch Toolbar to open programs with a single click. If you are not able to see it in your taskbar, don’t worry! We can enable it in no time.

Right-click your taskbar, click Toolbars, and then click Quick Launch. Here it is!!

Windows XP displays the Quick Launch bar, which by default shows shortcuts for opening Microsoft Internet Explorer and for displaying your desktop. If other programs have added shortcuts to the Quick Launch bar, they too would be displayed.

To start a program, just click the shortcut.

With the Quick Launch bar displayed on your taskbar, your favorite programs are just a click away.

Do we really need a blog for Basics?

2009-01-21T03:47:00.000-08:00

Before I start writing anything about computers, I want to just share with you how I got this idea of creating a blog for teaching computer basics.

Naturally, some of you may be wondering why a blog for basics when the technology has advanced to a very great extent?

Let me explain one incident which happened when I was working in an Operations support project. You will be kinda convinced then.

Some time back, We(Me & my team) used to give operations support to the end users of an application. Once when one of my team members tried to help a user over the phone, he had asked her to open a file.

Then she told him, "I'm not seeing any files here. All I could see is some yellow things". Yellow things??? He was wondering what she was referring to? But within a few seconds, he understood. Do you want to know what she was referring to? She was referring to folders!!!

Later When he narrated this to me, for the first time, I started realising that still there are quite a lot of people around the world, who need some guidance on computer basics and windows basics especially.

Even now, I know some elite people who stumble, who don't know how to operate when the mouse doesn't work for some reason and many more stuff like that. Even people who are in the IT field??!!

If you are a basic user, you can expect to get some really useful information here. Experienced and advanced users, kindly excuse me. You may not get anything new immediately from me. But definitely, I would require your feedback and valuable suggestions for improvement.