Windows Basics:
Start Up

 Title: Jan's Illustrated Computer Literacy 101

Clearly you can't start doing your lessons until the computer is turned on. Since you might not be able to finish in one session, we need to be sure right away that you know how to properly shut down Windows, too. So in your first Step-by-Step lessons you will learn how to turn on and shut down your computer. Then you can move on.

It's the shutting down part that seems hard for people to do right!


Where you are:
JegsWorks > Lessons > Windows

Before you start...

Project 1: Windows Basics
    Desktop & Taskbar
    Window
    Mouse Subtopics display
    icon-footprint Start Up
    icon-footprint Shut Down
    icon-footprint Control Mouse
    icon-footprint Control Window
    icon-footprint Context Menus
    Dialog BoxTo subtopics
    Windows HelpTo subtopics
    Summary
    Quiz
    ExercisesTo subtopics

Project 2: Files & FoldersTo subtopics

    Search
    Glossary
Icon Step-by-Step 

Step-by-Step: Start Up

  Icon Step-by-Step

Turn on the computer. There is a push button or a toggle switch, probably on the front. There may be both- a toggle switch on the back and a button on the front! The button will only work when the toggle is On.
(Odds are, your computer is already on if you are reading this on a computer!)

What happens next?

  • Push the On buttonAs the computer boots, it checks itself out. The hard drive spins up to working speed. The power supply fan comes on. The cooling fan for the CPU starts blowing. Other gizmos attached to the computer may power up and make noises, too, like a floppy drive, printer, or scanner. Altogether it may sound like a whole herd of squirrels waking up.

  • Boot screenYou should see some text on the screen as this happens. First the BIOS checks the memory and looks for hardware parts. Programs that run at startup may print messages to the screen. Hopefully they just say that all is OK.

  • Then you will see the Windows startup screen. This picture is different for each version of Windows. There may be different words below the Windows text, depending on what other Microsoft products you have installed.
Windows start-up splash screens
Startup screen for Win98 Startup screen for WinXP Startup screen (Vista)
Win98 WinXP Windows Vista
(just a progress bar on a black screen)
  • In any version of Windows, you may see a login dialog or a Welcome screen that asks for your user name and password. If so, log yourself in again.

Dialog: Log on (WinXP) Welcome screen with user account icons (WinXP)

  • Windows DesktopThe final screen you see shows the desktop and taskbar (and probably a prettier background then the illustration here!). Ready to work!