The Desktop

The large area that is the upper part of the screen is called the Desktop. Sometimes (to keep you confused!) people may use the term Desktop to refer to everything you see on the monitor after Windows has gotten started.

The main purpose of the Desktop is to hold shortcut icons that will help you work efficiently.

The Desktop is really just a folder inside the Windows folder, so it can hold anything that any other folder can hold. It can be decorated with interesting textures or pictures. We'll discuss how later.

The Taskbar

Across the bottom of the screen we see the Taskbar. Normally it is in view all the time. The Taskbar's main job is to show what applications are currently running.

The middle section of the bar shows a button for each open application. Each button shows an icon with a label that shows the program and the current document, when there is room to see it! The icons and labels for the tasks adjust in size to fit the space on the Taskbar. So if you have several programs running, you may not see much of each one's taskbar icon, as in the illustration which is sized for this small window.

The Taskbar also holds the Start menu button at the far left and the Notification Area at the far right. Other toolbars, such as Quick Launch, Address, Links, Windows Media Player, may also display on the Taskbar.

In WinXP and Windows Vista you may see double chevrons or an arrow on the Taskbar when there are too many items to show in the allowed space. When you click the chevrons, a menu list appears or the space will expand to show the hidden items. In WinXP and in Windows Vista you can choose to group icons from the same program. For example, if you have 7 Word windows open, you will only see 1 button on the Task Bar that shows there are 7 Word windows. Clicking the button's arrow opens a list of the grouped windows.

The Start Menu

Clicking on the Start Menu brings up a list of shortcuts to start your programs. An item with an arrow at the right, such as Programs or All Programs, will open another list. There can be several levels of such lists.

In WinXP and Windows Vista, above the All Programs link is a list of often used programs. Above that is a list of programs that you want to remain in view, no matter how often you actually use them.

In Windows Vista the All Programs link works a bit differently. Clicking on All Programs changes the area directly above to show folders and shortcuts in a folder tree display instead of as cascading menus. Double click a folder to see the shortcuts and other folders inside it. At the bottom of the list, the Back arrow will return you to the original list.

Turning on the computer

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!)

You 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.

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.

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

Options for quitting what you are doing

Recent versions of Windows have choices besides just turning off the computer. Which choices you see will depend on the version of Windows and sometimes on whether the computer is a laptop or not.

Switch user - Lets you switch to a different user account without closing down the open programs. The computer is, of course, left turned on. When you switch back to the original user, all of the programs appear just the way they were before you switched users.

Log off - Leaves the computer on but closes any open programs and returns you to the logon screen. This is useful when the computer is part of a network or there are several user accounts.

Lock - Lets you keep others from using your computer while it is still on. You must re-enter your password to unlock the computer. This feature is primarily available on network computers but can be enabled for stand-alone computers.

Restart - Closes documents and applications and shuts down the computer, but immediately restarts it. This is useful when installing software that requires a restart to finish the installation. Also, a restart can often fix a computer that is behaving oddly. Sometimes you will need to shut down to give the computer a longer rest and cool down than Restart provides.

Shut down - Closes all your programs and turns off the computer. Most programs will prompt you to save any unsaved documents as part of the shut down process.

Install updates and shut down - When one or more updates have been downloaded but not installed yet, the next time you shut down or restart the computer, the update(s) will be installed before the computer is shut down. How long the installation will take depends on the size and complexity of the updates. It can add several minutes to the shut down process AND to the next start up. You may or may not see a message about the installation during shut down. You should see a screen tip about a successful installation when you start up again.

Low-Power Modes

When you are not going to work for a while, you can save electricity and battery charge by putting the computer into a low-power mode. This is especially useful for laptops.

Which choices you have will depend on your version of Windows and on what modes your computer can use. The modes differ in how fast the computer returns to normal and in what happens if power is lost while in the low power state.

Sleep/Stand by - Saves your work to memory and puts the computer into a low-power state. If the computer loses power while asleep, the changes saved only to memory are lost. Waking up from Sleep or Stand By mode is quick.

Hibernate - Saves your work to memory and to the hard disk and then puts the computer into a lower-power state than Stand by does. If the computer loses power while in hibernate mode, your recent work is not lost. Waking up from Hibernation is slower than from Sleep/Stand By.

Hybrid Sleep - In Windows Vista on some computers, sleep combines features of stand by and hibernate. Open documents are saved to memory and to the hard disk.


Windows uses a GUI (Graphical User Interface) so almost everything can be done using mouse clicks on icons and buttons. You don't have to memorize commands or remember keystroke combinations. Instead of typing commands, you can SEE what you are doing. Later, once you know your way around, you will find it useful and often faster to type in commands or use those odd combinations of keystrokes.

Versions

Windows now comes in many different versions and often several flavors for a particular version. Confusing? Probably! Your workplace, friends, and school may all be using a different version. So it is worth a bit of trouble to get familiar with what you might see out there, as well as what you see on your own computer.