Using Cut, Copy & Paste to move data

B) Using Cut, Copy & Paste to move data from one place to another.

1) First of all, select the text, files, folders and/or drives that you wish to copy.

2) Right-click on them & click on Cut or you can also click on Edit ---> Cut for the same purpose. This will copy the information of the data into the Clipboard.

3) Then, right click on the folder/drive/program that you wish to put the copied data into & click on Paste. Or you could also open the folder/drive & then click on Edit ---> Paste. This will put the data into the folder & delete the data from its original position.

4) Thus, you have moved the required data in the required location.

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Using Cut, Copy & Paste to copy data

A) Using Cut, Copy & Paste to make a copy of any data :


1) First of all, select the text, files, folders and/or drives that you wish to copy.

2) Right-click on them & click on Copy or you can also click on Edit ---> Copy for the same purpose. This will copy the information of the data into the Clipboard.

3) Then, right click on the folder/drive that you wish to put the copied data into & click on Paste. Or you could also open the folder/drive & then click on Edit ---> Paste.

4) Thus, you have made a copy of the required data in the required location.

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Cut, Copy & Paste Terms

To understand how to use Cut, Copy & Paste on files, you need to understand the following concepts :

Clipboard : The Clipboard is a place where the information regarding data (text, images, music, videos, etc.) can be stored temporarily.

Paste : This command puts the data from the clipboard (if any data is present on the clipboard) into the folder/drive/editor where this command is used.

Copy : This command copies the specified data into the clipboard. Then, when the paste button is used, the clipboard data is put into the folder/editor/drive where the command is used. So, we get 2 copies of the same file., the original & the new copied file.

Cut : This command works nearly the same as Copy. The only difference is that the file/folder on which the Cut command was used gets deleted after using Paste. Thus, we get only 1 copy of the file, the new copied file. The original file gets deleted.

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Audio File Extensions

As with videos, audio files too have become increasingly diversified with the passage of time. And the PC Beginner may find it tough to remember all of them. So, here is a list of the common audio formats in use currently :

Audio Extension	Type of Format	Description
MP3	MPEG Layer-3	The standard audio extension which is used widely in music, having a high compression ratio
WAV	Waveform Audio	The basic uncompressed audio format.
WMA	Windows Media Audio	The audio format created for Windows by Microsoft.
MIDI / MID	Musical Instrument Digital Interface	The audio format used for musical instruments. It’s size is low as it does not contain the sound itself but just the information for the CPU about the sound to be played .
AMR	Adaptive Multi-Rate Narrow Band	The file format used by sound recorded in Nokia Mobile Phones
AAC	Advanced Audio Coding	The format that is used by Apple, Sony & Nintendo which is designed to be a successor to MP3.
RA	Real Audio	The audio format created by Real Networks.

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Using 7-Zip to compress files

7-Zip is a popular file compression software that specializes in the creation of compressed archives with the file extension *.7z. This type of compressed archive is well-known due to its high compression ratio, ie., it can compress the file size more than most other compression formats. Download it from here. Be sure to download the correct version. The majority of computers are 32-bit, so download the basic 32-bit version of 7-Zip. After downloading it, install it.

Now, to compress a file using 7-zip, follow these steps :

1. Select the files & folders that you wish to compress.

2. Open their right-click context menu ie., right-click on them.

3. Go to 7-Zip ----> Add archive.

4. A window will appear.

a) Select the desired location of the archive at the top of the window in the archive area.

b) Select the Archive format that you want. 7z is recommended due to its high compression ratio. Note that though 7z is recommended, few softwares (like 7-zip & WinRar) support the unpacking of these files. So, you could also use the Zip format as it is widely supported.

c) Select the compression level. It is recommended to use the Ultra level for the maximum compression ratio. It will take the maximum time, but for maximum compression ratio, it is worth the wait.

d) You can use the other features too, like securing the archive through a password from the 'encryption' area & splitting archive files to make it suitable for its data transmission through a Floppy/CD/DVD from the 'split to volumes, bytes' area.

d) It is best for Beginners to let the other options be as it is.

5) Click on OK. The process of creation of the compressed archive will now begin.

6) After the completion of this process, your required compressed archive will be saved in the location that you had selected. You can now open this archive through 7-zip or WinRAR.


So, creating a compressed archive is very easy.

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File Compression

The current hard discs have a lot of space available for storage. Better hard discs with more capacity & lower costs are continuously being developed. In spite of that, hard disc space gets used up quickly because of more content available on the Internet & the increasing speed of Internet connections. Therefore, File compression should be used to reduce the size of rarely used data.

File Compression is an advanced technique by which the size of a file is reduced by an encryption/decryption method. There are various softwares available for the creation of compressed archives. The most popular compression softwares are WinZip, WinRar & 7-Zip. It is recommended to compress all rarely used files with maximum compression to efficiently use your hard disk space.

To learn how to use 7-Zip to compress files, see this article.

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System Informaton

The modern computer works with the help of several important hardwares & softwares. Generally, PC Beginners are unaware about the details of the hardwares/softwares on their computer. But sometimes, it becomes absolutely essential to know details of a particular software or hardware when it has some problems. It becomes a laborious task to find out all the details of all the hardwares/softwares, as one needs to navigate to different areas on the PC. That is why, to view System Information, we should use a System Information program, to check the details of the System in one place.

AusLogics System Information : This is probably the best tool available for viewing PC information which is free as well. It gives a comprehensive collection of the system information, presenting it in a very systematic & logical manner. All the information is arranged neatly in different pages, which can be navigated easily.

(Click on the image to enlarge it)

Note : Screen shots used with permission from AusLogics.

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Basic Screen Capturing

Have you ever felt the need to take a snapshot of the computer screen? Such a snapshot can be very useful to catch an error message on a picture.

To do this, press the Print Screen button (PrtScn) on your keyboard. This will copy the whole screen into the clipboard (?). Paste it into an image-editing software & save the image. Thus, you can take a picture of the screen easily.

To take an image of only the current active window, thus excluding the taskbar, icons, etc., press Alt + PrtScn. This will copy the active window's screenshot on the clipboard.

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