Parts of your Windows screen




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  1. Title Bar Icon: A small square in the top left hand corner of the window. By moving your mouse pointer on top of this and clicking once, a menu appears allowing you to select between several options. By double clicking the entire window shuts down.

  2. Title Bar: This is the text at the top of the window. You can move the window around by moving the mouse arrow to the title bar, holding down the left mouse button, and using the mouse to move the window to where you want it (a process called "dragging").

  3. Minimize Button: Clicking on the minimize button will "stuff" the window into a little icon, generally located somewhere along the bottom of the screen. No works is lost when this is done, so the window can be "re-opened" again by double-clicking on the icon.

  4. Maximize/Restore Button: Two buttons in one! When there is an arrow pointing up in the upper right hand corner of the window, clicking on it will maximize your window to fill the whole screen. If there is a double headed arrow (stating your window is maximized already), clicking on it will return the window to it's original size.

  5. Menu Bar: This bar contains words which represent menus. By moving the mouse pointer on top of one of the items, and by holding down the left mouse button, a pop-up menu will appear. To the right is a menu bar with a selected menu.

  6. Menus: Once you have found one of the pop-up menus on your screen, you can select a menu item by keeping the left button down (dragging) and moving your mouse pointer down to the selection that you want. In releasing the button, you select this option. The options to save your work or exit are almost always under a "File" menu. To the right is an example of a menu.

  7. Scroll Controls: Often there is too much material in a window to display all at once. If this is the case, there may be a scroll bar on the right hand side of the window, or another one along the bottom. The box in the scroll bar indicates where in the display you are. You can use the mouse to drag the box up or down, or left or right, OR you may click on the arrows to move the box more slowly. To the left is an example of a scrollbar.

  8. Borders: The outside edge of a window has a very small border. By moving your mouse pointer onto this border, the pointer will change shape. Where on the border you move will indicate what shape it will have, with different shapes being on the sides, top and bottom, and corners. When your pointer is this shape, you can hold down your mouse button and drag it to a new location. This movement will change the size of your window.

  9. Window: A window is an element that contains most, if not all of these pieces. Your main window is your Program Manager. Within that window you may have others. To the right is an example of a window.

  10. Icon: Every icon (little picture) represents a program on the computer. Icons can be moved around within and between windows, allowing you to change the way your window is organized. Holding down the mouse button while on an icon will allow you to drag the icon to a new place. Clicking once on an icon will open a menu which gives your various options for manipulating it. Finally, double-clicking on an icon activates the associated program.

  11. Icon: This is another type of icon.

  12. Mouse Pointer: This graphic indicates where on the screen your mouse is pointing, and also acts as a display of the computer state. If your pointer is shaped like an arrow, you are in an area where you can select icons or click on menus. A watch, or hourglass, indicates that the computer is busy loading a program. A vertical bar (I-beam) indicates that the mouse is on an area where you may type text. There are many more shapes the mouse pointer can take, each having a separate function.



As a note to experts: I have made many simplifications in describing the system in order to make it easier to understand. Please bear with them!

Congratulations on learning the various parts of windows.

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