Using Personal Computers

Since there are many thousands of different applications it is not possible to go into any detail, but some features are common to most applications, so we will look at these. We will also look in general at some common types of applications.

Microsoft Works is aimed at the home and small office user. It is less powerful than the others, but is relatively inexpensive (less than £50 at the time of writing). The other packages are aimed at professional users and are more powerful but more expensive (typically £150 to £300 depending on the version selected). Microsoft Office is probably the most common. Office 97 is the current version but Office 2000 will be released shortly.

Some computer manufacturers "bundle" one or other of the suites with their computers - either "free" or for a reduced additional cost. This can give a considerable saving over buying the suite separately.

Note that there are other packages available, and if you are willing to shop around it is possible to get some good deals on the less well known packages. However, if you are going to be exchanging files with other people a lot (more of which later) then it is probably best to use the same package as them.

They may or may not be installed on any particular computer as they are options which can be selected when Windows is installed. If one of them is not installed it can be added later (as long as the install CD or .CAB files are available) by choosing Add/Remove programs from the Control Panel (under Settings on the start menu). Choose the Windows Setup tab, highlight Accessories (click on the word - don't click on the tick box!) and click the Details button. Then choose which programs you want to add and click OK

A template is an outline file intended to save effort when a common file layout is used repeatedly, such as a letter template with your address already filled in at the top.

There are a couple of other ways of opening existing files not listed on the slide to the left. Many programs show a short list of the most recently used files on the bottom of the File menu - clicking on one of these will open it (if it has not been moved to a different folder since it was last saved).

Also, you may use the Documents section of the start menu, which also lists recently opened documents. Again this only works if they have not been moved.

Some programs which use the "Multiple document interface" have easier ways of switching between files, such as "tabs" at the top, bottom or side of the screen, which can be used instead of the Window menu.

1. Select the data to be moved. If it's text, this can be done by:
   1. Dragging the mouse cursor over it; or
   2. Holding down the Shift key whilst moving the cursor with the cursor keys.

For other types of data, the method will vary. For graphics, it's sometimes necessary to click on a Select button before using the mouse to select the area.

1. Either Cut or Copy the data, using one of the following methods:
   1. Choose Cut or Copy from the Edit menu; or
   2. Click the Cut or Copy buttons on the toolbar (Cut is usually a scissors icon, and Copy looks like two pages); or
   3. Type Ctrl-C for copy or Ctrl-X.
2. Move the cursor to the destination. This could be another place in the same file, another file opened in the same program, or a completely different program (for example, when pasting a picture into a word processing document).
3. Paste the data to it's destination. To do this, either:
   1. Choose Paste (or Paste Special - see below) from the Edit menu; or
   2. Click the Paste button (usually a picture of a page and a clipboard); or
   3. Type Ctrl-V.

Note that there are times when you cannot cut and paste. Some programs will not allow you to paste particular types of data. For example, you cannot paste a picture into a text editor.

• Embedding means that a complete file is embedded inside another. For example, a picture file from a program such as CorelDRAW! might be embedded into a Microsoft Word document. This means that a complete CorelDRAW! file is stored inside the Word document file - one file inside another.
• Linking means that instead of placing the actual data (i.e. whatever you pasted or inserted) inside the destination file, the program stores information on where to find that data. This information would include the path (i.e. the drive, folder and filename) to the file containing the linked information. The position of the linked data within the destination file would also be stored.

Once you have embedded data into a file, you may modify, move or delete the source file, and it will not affect the data in the destination file. Similarly, if you edit the version embedded in the destination file, the source file will not be affected in any way.

However, if you have linked data into a file, then any changes you make to the source file will be reflected in the destination file. Likewise, if you edit the embedded object in the destination file, you may change the source file. Note that I say may change rather than will change. It depends on exactly how the data is linked, but that is a topic which is beyond the scope of this discussion.

If you link data into a file, the link will only work as long as you do not move (or delete) the source file. If you move the source file, the data may still appear in the destination file, but it will no longer change automatically when you edit the source file, and you will not be able to edit the source file from within the destination file.

So when should you link and when should you embed?

• Embedding is probably the most common of the two methods. It is a good choice if you want to create a self-contained document and don't want it to change, and is often the default action if you just choose Paste rather than Paste Special. You don't need to worry what happens to the source file once you have embedded the data - you can even delete it if you want to save disk space. However, the destination file can get very large if you embed a lot of data. For example, these notes were created with Microsoft Word and contain embedded Microsoft PowerPoint slides. To date, the word documents occupy about 10 Mb of disk space - far too big to fit on a floppy disk!
• Linking is particularly useful if you want to keep several files or documents which contain the same data up to date. This is best illustrated by an example. Consider a company which has a spreadsheet which contains it's master price list. They have several brochures for different products, each of which includes the price of that product. By linking the relevant parts of the spreadsheet into the brochures, the brochures will be automatically kept up to date - whenever they are printed, they will include the current price from the master price list in the spreadsheet.

Linking can also be useful if you are including the same data in a number of files and want to save disk space. However, with the size of modern hard disks, this is not usually a good reason, especially since in practice you will not always notice a lot of difference.

Before leaving this subject, there are a few other points about linking and embedding which should be mentioned:

1. It is possible to link or embed data so that rather than the data itself appearing in the destination file, an icon is shown. The icon will be appropriate to the type of data which has been linked or embedded. Double-clicking the icon opens the linked or embedded file.
2. If you move or copy a file containing linked or embedded data to a computer which does not have the program used to create the source file installed on it, you will (usually) still be able to see the data in the destination file, because an image of it is stored in the file. However, you will not be able to edit the embedded data on that computer.
3. It is possible to paste data into a file without either linking or embedding. In this case, only the image of the data is stored. Depending on what type of data it is, you may or may not be able to edit it in the destination program. For example, if you copy and paste text from a text editor into a word processor, you are not embedding or linking, but you can still edit the text. However, if you paste a picture into a word processing document without either embedding or linking (for example, by selecting an option such as Picture or Device Independent Bitmap in the Paste Special dialogue box) you will not be able to edit it.
4. Note that embedding and/or linking are not always possible - it depends on the programs being used. The above discussion is a general one which should apply to most programs, but each program is slightly different and you will find exceptions.

For example, consider the situation where two people use different word processing programs - call them program A and program B. If the person with program B wants to edit a file created by the person with program A, they generally have three choices:

1. The person with program A can Export the document by saving it as the correct type for program B. Program B can then open it as normal.
2. The person with program A can save the file as normal (i.e. file type A). The person with program B can then import it into program B.
3. The person with program A can export the file as a third type (call it type C). This can then be imported by program B.

1. In general, newer programs will include filters for older programs, but not the other way around. This also sometimes applies between different versions of the same program.
2. Filters are not always automatically installed when you install a program. You may have to specify which you want by choosing the Custom install method. However, they can usually be installed later, if required.
3. Importing and exporting are not perfect. The file may not look quite right when it is loaded into the second program. Even if it looks right, some of the hidden formatting properties may be lost. For example, if a document has automatically generated contents list (generated from the section headings in the document), it may become normal text in the destination program and no longer be updated automatically.
4. It is not always possible to import and export between programs - you may not be able to find a common file type which both understand.