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JAWS Lesson - Working with Windows 95/98 (Overview)

Start My Computer from the Desktop Complete the following three steps to open My Computer using the program icon on the Desktop.

1. Press Tab until JAWS announces, "Desktop, List View Not Selected My Computer. (If you press Tab and JAWS only announces, "Tab", no item is in focus. Press Insert-F6 to move the focus to the Desktop).
2. Select the My Computer icon by pressing M until JAWS announces, "My Computer."
3. Open the My Computer window (Enter Key). When the My Computer window opens, JAWS announces, "My Computer, List View Not Selected 3 1/2 Floppy (A:)." 
   • Reminder: Each time you open a program, Windows places a button for that program on the Taskbar.
   • Start Paint Using the Programs Sub-Menu Complete the following steps to start Paint using the Programs sub-menu.
4. Open the Start menu (CTRL+ESC OR Windows Logo Key). The Start menu appears. JAWS announces, "Start Menu" followed by the selected command.
5. Press P to select and execute the Programs command. The Programs sub-menu appears to the right of the Start menu. The selection cursor appears around the Accessories folder, the first option on the Programs sub-menu. JAWS announces, "Accessories Sub-menu, Programs."
6. Open the Accessories sub-menu (Enter Key). The Start menu and the Programs sub-menu remain open. The Accessories sub-menu appears to the right of the Programs sub-menu. The selection cursor appears around the first command on the Accessories sub-menu. JAWS reads that command.
7. Select the Paint program by pressing the Down Arrow until JAWS announces, "Paint." A selection cursor appears around the Paint command on the Accessories sub-menu.
   • If you know the name of the program, you may press the first letter to open the program quickly. For example, you could press P to open Paint rather than pressing the Down Arrow key to select the program.
8. Open the Paint program (Enter Key). When Paint opens, JAWS announces, "Leaving Menus, Start Button Document "“ Paint untitled." The Start menu closes when the program opens.
   • Start Wordpad Using the Programs Sub-Menu Complete the following steps to start Wordpad using the Programs sub-menu.
9. Open the Start menu (CTRL+ESC or Windows Logo Key). The Start menu appears. JAWS announces, "Start Menu" followed by the selected command.
10. Press P to select and execute the Programs command. The Programs sub-menu appears to the right of the Start menu. The selection cursor appears around the Accessories folder, the first option on the Programs sub-menu. JAWS announces, "Accessories Sub-menu, Programs."
11. Open the Accessories sub-menu (Enter Key). The Start menu and the Programs sub-menu remain open. The Accessories sub-menu appears to the right of the Programs sub-menu. The selection cursor appears around the first command on the Accessories sub-menu. JAWS reads that command.
12. Open Wordpad by pressing the W key. When Wordpad opens, JAWS announces, "Leaving Menus, Start button Untitled - Wordpad, Edit."
    • Each time you open a program, Windows places a button for that program on the Taskbar. After you have completed the exercises in this topic, four buttons should appear on the Taskbar, one for My Computer, one for Paint, one for WordPad, and one for JAWS for Windows.
    • Switching Among Open Program Windows Windows 95 allows you to have several programs open at once. The program window in which you are currently working is known as the active window. The active window always appears in the foreground and may partially or completely cover other windows. To work with another window, you must switch to the window to make it active. Learning how to switch among open programs allows you to use Windows to its fullest advantage.
    • In the following two exercises, you will switch among the WordPad, Notepad, and My Computer program windows using a keyboard shortcut.
    • Switching Among Programs Using a Keyboard Shortcut Complete the following steps to switch among the WordPad, Paint, and My Computer program windows using a keyboard shortcut.
13. Press Insert-T to verify Wordpad is the active program. JAWS announces, "Title Equals Untitled - Wordpad."
14. Switch to Paint by pressing and holding down the Alt key. Without releasing the Alt key, repeatedly press and release the Tab key until JAWS announces, "Untitled - Paint." Then, release the Alt key. JAWS announces, "Untitled - Paint." The Paint program window is now the active window.
    • When you press Alt-Tab, a temporary window with icons representing all the open windows appears on the screen. Each time you press and release Tab, the selection cursor moves to the next icon. JAWS reads the window title. When you release the Alt key, the temporary window closes and the last window title JAWS read becomes the active window.
15. Press Insert-T to read the title bar. JAWS announces, "Title Equals Untitled - Paint."
16. Switch to My Computer by pressing and holding down the Alt key. Without releasing the Alt key, repeatedly press and release the Tab key until JAWS announces, "My Computer." Then, release the Alt key. JAWS announces, "My Computer List View Not Selected 3 1/2 Floppy (A:)." The My Computer program window is now the active window.
17. Press Insert-T to read the title bar. JAWS announces, "Title Equals My Computer."
18. Switch to Paint by pressing and holding down the Alt key. Without releasing the Alt key, repeatedly press and release the Tab key until JAWS announces, "Untitled - Paint." Then, release the Alt key. JAWS announces, "Untitled - Paint." The Paint program window is now the active window.
19. Press Insert-T to read the title bar. JAWS announces, "Title Equals Untitled - Paint."
20. Practice switching between active programs using the ALT+TAB keyboard shortcut.
21. Switch between open programs, and close each one (ALT+F4) one at a time, until JAWS is the only open program. Shut down the computer (ALT+F4 or Windows Key, then up arrow to Shut Down), then Enter Key for yes to shut down dialog box. If the student accidentally activates the JAWS windows, choose cancel (Tab Key) to not shut down JAWS.

End of Lesson

by Sharon Nichols (nichols_s@tsbvi.edu) 

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