Hello . . .

In this session you will learn about the work area, called the desktop, the Taskbar, Icons, and common features of windows. And hopefully have some fun along the way. . .  Surfs-Up

A couple of points to note . . .

• When necessary, differences between Windows 95, 98 & NT will be noted in the tutorial.
• This tutorial set is for Newbies. Those new to Win 95, 98 & NT.
• Advanced tutorials will be divided into separate Windows versions.

The Desktop

When you start Windows, the large area, usually teal or greenish in color, is called the Desktop. You can customize the Desktop by adding shortcuts to your favorite programs, background pictures called wallpaper, or by changing its look and function to fit your personality and needs.

Objects on the Desktop are layered, that is to say they are sitting on top of one another, and consequently, can get placed behind other objects or, if not careful lost off of your screen. Its kind of a good news bad news thing - the good news is that you can easily move the objects sitting on the Desktop, and recover any objects which may be hard to reach.

Loosing access to parts of windows or icons on your Desktop doesn't happen often, so don't panic just be purposeful and careful when moving objects on the Desktop. A feature which may be activated on your Desktop holding your icons in position preventing you from moving them is Auto Arrange.

Auto Arrange -To check to see if Auto Arrange is activated on your computer - Right mouse click on the Desktop, in a free unoccupied area. On the pop up menu -place your pointer on Arrange Icons, this will open up the AI cascading menu (so named because it 'cascades' off of the first menu). Look at the last item, Auto Arrange to see if there is a check mark in front of it. If there is a check mark then Auto Arrange is active on your computer and will automatically line up all your Desktop icons starting in the upper left hand corner of your screen.

To Toggle Auto Arrange on or off you follow these same steps, it works like a light switch -If it is on clicking it will turn it off, and if off clicking it will turn it on. If you are not familiar with this type of function then give it a try now to get a feel for how it works. Go a head I'll wait . . .

The order of things, layering -The Desktop is the furthest back object, on top of it sits icons, and in front of icons sit windows (covering icons and your desktop). On top of windows sits the Taskbar along the bottom of your screen covering everything.

Exercise: Desktop layers revealed

To gain a feel of how this works make sure Auto Arrange feature is turned off -see above.

Never click on an icon's title unless you want to rename it.
With that said, click on an icon and drag it carefully down your Desktop, placing its title just behind your Taskbar and release your mouse button. See how you can sandwich an icon between the Desktop and Taskbar -good job!

Now, move it back :-)

The Taskbar

A long rectangle bar normally sitting at the bottom of your screen. In Windows you will see a lot of long rectangle shaped objects. Their last name is always bar, In this example the object's first name is Task :-) In some versions of Windows there are other bars on the Desktop such as the Channel bar, and Tool bar that sits on top of the Taskbar -again with the layering!

On your Taskbar to the far left is the Start button. Buttons - are raised small rectangle or square shaped objects. To the far right on your Taskbar is a set-in area we'll call the System Tray (although its name seems to change for every version of Windows). The time is displayed in this area, along with icons of any software you may be running in the background.

Windows Tip - Layering can be a concept that is hard to grasp at first. For instance, if I were to place a book on my desk and ask you to place your hand on my desk, you would not place your hand on the book on my desk. They are separate objects layered on one another. Yet, many people when asked to place their pointer on their Taskbar will put it on the Start button, Time or other object that may be on their Taskbar. Your Taskbar 'free area' is the gray area around the buttons on it, avoiding the entire System Tray area.

From now on whenever instructed to select something or place your pointer on an object always be right on the object -in a free unoccupied area.

Although your Taskbar is a wonderful tool it can rarely get in the way of certain window components. So let's learn how to move it!

Exercise: Changing the location of the Taskbar

There are two methods for moving the Taskbar.

1. Click on the Taskbar (in an unoccupied area) and drag it to the FAR top of your screen then release it. Be very aggressive, or this method won't work. Click, drag and slam that Taskbar out of your way!

   As was noted in the Windows Primer, only the very TIP of your pointer is recognized by Windows. So although you may have several windows open all symbolized by a button on your Taskbar you can still carefully place your pointer tip on a free sliver of your Taskbar, in-between buttons or just before the System Tray area, and perform this feature of moving your Taskbar. Trust me! It may take practice but you can do it!

   Note: this is not the preferred method for getting the Taskbar out of your way because it still has the potential of being in your way only in a different location of your Desktop.

2. The second method is better because you will fold the Taskbar up out of your way. With your Taskbar at the bottom of your screen -place the TIP of your pointer on the top edge of the Taskbar, until it becomes a black double-headed arrow. Now, click and drag it down, folding it up, and then release your mouse button. Its gone -yippee!

   To restore it place the TIP of your mouse pointer on the sliver of the Taskbar remaining at the very bottom of your screen until your pointer becomes the double-headed black arrow again, and click and drag up, but only drag it up to its original size (.25") and release, or you will have a very big Taskbar!

FYI: Increasing the size of your Taskbar beyond the quarter inch mark is counter productive and has no benefit.
You can move your Taskbar, as in method one, to the Right or Left of your Desktop, as well as, to the top -give it a try!

Icons

Are the same in Windows as in life, they are representative of a bigger item or concept. Just like the little stick man and woman icons on a door which represent to us the concept of bathroom, which we know to include sinks, toilets, paper products and most importantly for the well groomed, mirrors! These little pictures represent the many items that make up a bathroom this makes them icons.

Icons on your Desktop can be representative of applications, documents (also known as files), and folders. Most, but not all, of the icons on your Desktop also happen to be Shortcuts.

Shortcuts - also known as pointers, are simply a icon that looks exactly like the original object icon they point to. For example, you can have the game Solitaire on your hard drive. The software for the game is located inside a folder which is inside another folder on your C: drive, and is represented by a icon and title. To access this game to run it takes you several clicks of your mouse, so you place a shortcut to the game on your Desktop. Now the icon on your Desktop looks exactly like the program icon, but it isn't the program itself just a shortcut providing easy access to you for running the program. If you delete a shortcut, it will not delete the original program.

Shortcuts are relatively easy to made, and can become broken, or no longer function. Most Shortcuts can be recognized by the little black hooked arrow in the lower left-hand corner of the icon, but this is not true of the Shortcuts on your Desktop -at least not from the Desktop view.

Understanding what Shortcuts are, how they work and how to manage them is an important Windows skill, so we will cover them in greater detail later on.

My Computer icon - is representative of your entire computer system. You can use My Computer to check out system resources, find out how much RAM (Random Access Memory) your system has, and gain access to hardware and property settings of certain objects on your computer system.

Exercise: Renaming an object's title

As you can see from the icon on my Desktop you can rename the My Computer icon too. To rename a title quickly -click on the title and count three seconds, one one thousand etc, and click the title again. This will place you in edit mode with the title highlighted in blue. Simply type in your new title and press the Enter key.

Exercise: Discovering system information

To see how much RAM your system has or which version of Windows you have, do the following. Right mouse click the My Computer icon and select Properties from the bottom of the pop up menu. The Property sheet window opens to the General Tab, you can now read the information about your system which is on the General tab. Do not mess with any of the other tabs, they are for advanced purposes. When done reading close the window by clicking the close button (X button in the upper right hand corner of the window).

Recycle Bin icon - is a temporary storage place for files that have been deleted from your C: drive. To empty the Recycle Bin -right mouse click it and select empty from the pop up menu.

A deleted file stays in the Recycle Bin until the Recycle Bin is emptied, or becomes full. At which time the oldest objects inside it will be replaced with any new arrivals. Until that time, you can retrieve files that you have deleted (sent to the Recycle Bin) by double clicking the Recycle Bin to open it, and right mouse clicking the file you want and selecting Restore from the pop up menu.

The best way to delete objects is to Right mouse click them and select Delete from the popup menu, instead of dragging them to the Recycle Bin..

Exercise: Delete and Restore a file

1. Right mouse click and drag, a short distance, any icon on your desktop -this will give you a popup menu with the option to 'Create a Shortcut here' select that option now.

2. Now you have (Trash) a 'copy' of an icon you can delete -Right mouse click your copy and select delete from the popup menu.

3. Double click the Recycle Bin to open it. And look inside for your clone icon -see it? Good.

4. Now, right mouse click your trashed icon and select Restore from the popup menu. And close the Recycle Bin window to see your trash back on the desktop where it started. :-) Fun huh?

   Clean-up time! You don't want more trash on your Desktop -Delete that icon and leave it there this time.

Please note: If you 'delete' from any other source than the C: drive (where your system software is installed) it WILL NOT be stored in the Recycle Bin! For example, if you delete a file on a floppy disk in the A: drive its gone! No restoring possible.

The Date/Time display -to access the D/T settings, if you can see the clock on your Taskbar, just double click the time. The Date/Time properties dialog window will open and you can make adjustments in the time field box just below the clock display by selecting the number(s) you want changed and typing in their replacements. Remember for help selecting -review the Windows Primer page.

If the time display has been turned off on your computer you may still access it by clicking on the Start button | Settings | Control Panel and then double clicking on the Date/Time icon.

Okay, on to Lesson 2