Letter to Simon (Class Discussion)

Dear Simon, I would personally like to welcome you to our country. To begin with, the basic primary functions of an operating system (OS) is managing resources such as coordinating the hard drive, internal memory, processor, etc. to make your computer run more smoothly. The operating system also acts as a User Interface with the application Microsoft Office, with the trial version already installed onto your computer. Finally, running applications meaning running all the application software such as Microsoft Word in Microsoft Office which we are going to discuss.

The main three features of Microsoft Office that I am going to discuss with you are spelling and grammar check feature, the status bar feature, and the Word Help feature. These features will be most helpful I believe with your experience as a student and a worker. The first we will discuss will be the spelling and grammar check feature. You will be able to use this feature to correct misspelled words and incorrect grammar in your document. This is most helpful when typing an essay for school and creating a document for the office such as a business proposal.

As you type, Word automatically checks your typing for spelling and grammar errors. When you misspell a word or use incorrect grammar, a red (for the misspelling) and a green (for incorrect grammar) wavy underline will appear underneath the errors. You can go to the incorrect grammar or misspelled word and right click on the word to see the suggestions that Word will give you to put in place of the incorrect word and/or grammar. The next feature we will discuss is the status bar. It is located at the bottom of the current document window that you are creating just above the Windows task bar.

It presents information about the document such as the progress of current tasks. It also displays how many pages in the document and on which page you are currently on. It also displays how many words you have typed which will be very helpful in the case that you may have to write a report with let us say 500 words in it. It also displays your spelling and grammar check icon to let you know if you have any errors. A blue check displayed on the icon means you do not currently have any errors, while a ed ‘x’ mark means you have an error somewhere in your document, whether it be incorrect grammar or a misspelled word. Also, another feature of Microsoft Word, that I will include for you, that you may find useful is the templates. A template is a starting point that is pre-set, all that is needed done by the operator, which is you, is to fill in the blanks or replace pre-written supplements. Examples of templates include business letters, resumes, academic letters, personal letters, statements, etc.

You can view your templates by clicking on the Office Button, then select New, and click on installed templates. The last feature we will discuss is the Word Help feature. It is very useful especially when you are new to Microsoft Word. Any time you are in the process of using Word, it does not matter if you are in the middle of a paragraph, page, or sentence, you can access Word Help to find answers to any of your questions. It responds with a list of search results with different links from many sources that you can click on to display your desired answer.

It will minimize your time learning how to use Word and will reduce your frustrations. You can access it by clicking the Microsoft Office Word Help button near the upper right corner of your Word window displayed as a blue circle with a white question mark in the middle. A specific software application that I have found useful on my computer is Microsoft Office Excel. I have found it useful because I can keep track of my financial records, I can make a spreadsheet of how much money I currently have, how much I have spent, what I have spent that money for, and how much money I have remaining.

I have also actually made a “potty chart” for my three-year-old daughter that every time she uses her ‘potty’ on any given day, she receives a sticker on that chart. I have also made chore charts for my household because I have a couple of friends staying with me until they get on their feet. We rotate the chores every week. Finally, the features of my current course website, E-College, that will help me to achieve success in my academic pursuits are: the main Course Home page where I can keep track of new announcements that my professor has posted; he Grade Book tab where I can check to see what my current grade is and the grades I have made on different assignments; and the email tab that lets me keep in touch with my instructor of any personal matters or any questions I may have that I do not want to be shared publicly. I can also keep in touch with my fellow classmates concerning any assignments that I may not understand and I will be able to ask them for help. Good luck with everything. I hope you do very well in your studies and profession. Your friend, Staci N. Phillips