Computing Fundamentals

& Basic Microsoft Office

Copyright 2011 infonetPORTALS

Edited by Babatunde Savage

ABC

SIMPLE
STEPS
SERIES

Computing Fundamentals
Fundamentals & Basic Microsoft Office

ABC Simple Steps Series

AN INFONET PORTALS BOOK

www.infonetportals.com
Designed and edited by
Studio 426 Company
This edition published in 2011 by
Infonet Portals Limited
P. O. Box 75744
Victoria Island, 101007,
Lagos.
For sale or distribution in Nigeria only.
Copyright
All rights reserved. No parts of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording
or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the copyright owners.
Trademark
infonetPORTALS
logo are
infonetPORTALS, and the
trademarks of Infonet Portals Limited.
All other trademarks are properties of their respective owners.
Cover Picture
Abacus: A frame with beads which moves along horizontal rods.
It is used as a tool or toy for counting.
It was invented by the Chinese and believed to be
the first form of computer.
All enquiries regarding any extracts or re-use of
any material in this book should be addressed
to the publishers.
Copyright 2011
Infonet Portals Limited, Lagos
Printed by
Leo Solomon Ventures

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Copyright 2011 Infonet Portals Ltd. All rights reserved.

Computing Fundamentals
Fundamentals & Basic Microsoft Office

ABC Simple Steps Series

Contents
Unit 0

Preface

Unit 1

Computer The Basics

Unit 2

The Internet and The World Wide Web

Unit 3

Windows Basics

Unit 4

Introduction to Microsoft Office XP

Unit 5

Microsoft Word Working with a document

Unit 6

Microsoft Word Formatting & editing a document

Unit 7

Microsoft Word Using tables & graphics

Unit 8

Microsoft Excel Creating & planning a worksheet

Unit 9

Microsoft Excel Formatting a worksheet

Unit 10

Microsoft Excel Creating charts

Unit 11

Practice Sessions

Unit 12

Glossary of Terms

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Copyright 2011 Infonet Portals Ltd. All rights reserved.

Computing Fundamentals
Fundamentals & Basic Microsoft Office

ABC Simple Steps Series

UNIT

PREFACE

According to the European Commission, the importance of ICTs lies less in the
technology itself than in its ability to create greater access to information and
communication in underserved populations.
Information and communication technology (ICT) has become, within a very short
time, one of the basic building blocks of modern society. Many countries now regard
understanding ICT and mastering the basic skills and concepts of ICT as part of the
core of education, alongside reading, writing and numeracy.
While great effort is put into developing and deploying better, faster and more
complex IT systems, the human element is often ignored. An investment in
technology can be largely wasted if users are not given sufficient training to use it
effectively and to be proficient with new software.
Most young men and women in Nigeria first feel of the computer is through Cyber
Cafs and usually only know how to use the browser for surfing the World Wide
Web, without a knowledge of using any of the application softwares.
To fill this gap therefore, infonetPORTALS has compiled this book in the learning of
Basic Computing and Microsoft Office suite as a means of bridging the digital divide.
Because of its popularity and wider audience of usage, the Microsoft Office suite, is
usually the beginners first contact in learning IT applications.
Since the purpose of this book is to help first timers mainly, its content has been
restricted to the learning of basic Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel only. Further
learning and/or training should be sought for advance users and learning of other
application software.
The Microsoft Office 2003 is one of the most recent versions of the Microsoft
integrated application suite series that has helped personal computer users around
the world to be productive and creative.
In each chapter session, step-by-step numbered guide highlighted in an orange
box, has been included showing the exact sequence of keystrokes needed to
accomplish a task. This has been further reinforced with screen shots to show what
to expect at important points of reference.
An extensive Glossary of Terms has been added as a point of reference, to aid
beginners on meaning of terms used in this book and also beyond the scope of this
book.

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Copyright 2011 Infonet Portals Ltd. All rights reserved.

Computing Fundamentals
Fundamentals & Basic Microsoft Office

ABC Simple Steps Series

UNIT

COMPUTER THE BASICS

INTRODUCTION
A computer is a set of gadget that assists us in performing information-related
tasks. With it we can maintain an address book, prepare a report for a class, create
slides for teaching and play video games. This is usually done by accepting raw
data and processing them to meaningful information to be further processed.

Notebook or Laptop Computer

Desktop Computer

The computer can be divided into two major parts with each part having a
subdivision:
1. Hardware
o CPU and RAM
o Input devices
o Output devices
o Secondary storage devices
2. Software
o Application Software
o System Software

HARDWARE
The hardware is the physical part that can be seen and touched and makes up the
computer system. It can be grouped into the following categories:
1. CPU and RAM
(a) The Central processing unit (CPU
CPU or Processor)
Processor is the chip that carries out
instructions it receives from the software residing inside the computer.
(b) The Random access memory otherwise known as the RAM is the primary or
temporary memory that holds initial instruction or information from the CPU. The
speed of the CPU and RAM are an important factor in determining the speed and
overall performance of a computer

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Copyright 2011 Infonet Portals Ltd. All rights reserved.

Computing Fundamentals
Fundamentals & Basic Microsoft Office

ABC Simple Steps Series

2. Input Devices
An input device captures information from various kinds of gadgets and translates it
into a form that can be processed and used by other part of the computer. Input
devices include:
o A mouse or touchpad for notebooks
o Keyboard
o Scanner
o Digital camera (including camera phones).
3. Output Devices
An Output device presents processed information from the computer into a form
that one can understand in human sensible form. This can be in soft copy (display
on the monitor) or hard copy (printed on paper). The most common form of output
devices are:
o Monitors
o Printers; and
o speakers
Monitor is an output device which looks like a TV and it display information to you
on a screen.

CRT Monitor

A Printer is an output device that creates a hard copy or paper version of

processed information. The most common printers are inkjet printers and laser
printer.
printer The dot matrix printers which is fast fading away and are been used mainly
in the banking industry is another type of printer.

Mono-laser printer

Inkjet printer

Speakers are output devices that allow you to hear information since most of
todays computers applications are multimedia-based. This means they include
sound, text, graphics, video, and animation.

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Copyright 2011 Infonet Portals Ltd. All rights reserved.

Computing Fundamentals
Fundamentals & Basic Microsoft Office

ABC Simple Steps Series

4. Storage Devices
A Storage device stores processed data and information for use at a later time.
Storage devices fall into two main types:
o Magnetic Storage Devices
o Optical Storage Devices
(a) Magnetic storage Devices
(i) Floppy disk The 3.5-inch floppy disk is the most common storage device and
holds 1.44 MB of information. This can be read through a floppy disk drive. Floppy
disk is widely used due to their transportability. They are however about to be
replaced due to their low capacity for storage.
(ii) Hard disk is a magnetic storage medium that usually comes in a computer
system, consisting of one or more platters or disks. Hard disk can hold more
information than any other magnetic storage option.

3.5 Floppy disk

Hard disks

(b) Optical Storage Devices

Optical storage devices use a laser to read and write information. Optical discs can
store more information than their magnetic counterparts.
Note When referring to magnetic disks the word disk ends in k
k while in that of
optical disc, the word disc ends in c
c.

A CD/DVD pack

Most of the software you buy comes on CDs or DVDs.

DVDs Both are removable storage
devices. Usually you will need an appropriate drive to read information from and
write information to a CD or DVD.

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Copyright 2011 Infonet Portals Ltd. All rights reserved.

Computing Fundamentals
Fundamentals & Basic Microsoft Office

ABC Simple Steps Series

SOFTWARE
SOFTWARE
Software is
information.
o
o

the set of instruction the computer hardware obeys to process

There are two major types of software:
Application Software
System Software

1. Application Software
Application software is the software that allows you to perform specific tasks such
as writing a term paper, surfing the Web, keeping a home budget, and creating
slides for teaching and presentations. Application software most time come as a
bundle
bundle
Software suite
bundle or Software
suite of different but related application packages. Microsoft
Office XP is an example of software suite.

Spreadsheet Application software used in creating graphs

2. System Software
System software is the software that details how your computer carries out
technology-specific tasks. There two types of system software:
o Operating system software; and
o Utility software
(a) Operating System Software is system software that controls your application
software and manages how your hardware devices work together. Windows, Linux
and Mac OS (used by Apple computers).
(b) Utility Software is software that provides additional functional powers to the
operating system. The most important utility software is the anti-virus software. It
scans for and eliminates virus within the computer

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Copyright 2011 Infonet Portals Ltd. All rights reserved.

Computing Fundamentals
Fundamentals & Basic Microsoft Office

ABC Simple Steps Series

UNIT

THE INTERNET AND THE WORLD WIDE WEB

WHAT IS THE INTERNET?

The Internet is simply a vast global network of net-worked computers all connected
to each other through which connects millions of people all over the world.
The World Wide Web (WWW) or the Web for short is the Internet in a linked
multimedia form. Although most people use the terms Internet and the Web
interchangeably, there is actually a distinct difference between the two. The Web is
only a subset of the whole Internet that provides us with a friendly way of
organising and viewing the information available on the Internet not all the
information, but certainly a large portion of it.
The World Wide Web is a network of sites that can be searched and retrieved by a
special protocol known as a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

The Web physically consists of your personal computer, Web browser software, a
connection to an Internet Service Provider (ISP), computers called server that host
data, and routers and switches,
switches which direct the flow of information.
Each computer connected to the Internet is owned or used by people and
organizations with information and expertise to share. Being a member of the
Internet `club`, is therefore like being a member of an enormous global library.
You can access information from anyone or anywhere in the world on just about
any topic you can imagine. It is interesting to note that, you dont just have words,
but can look at pictures and moving images, sometimes accompanied by sound and
you also get the chance to communicate with authors of the web site. Once you can
have access to the Internet, the whole world will be at your fingertips.
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Copyright 2011 Infonet Portals Ltd. All rights reserved.