One of the most significant benefits of the Windows environment is the common user interface and consistent command structure that is imposed on every Windows application.
We begin with an introduction to the Windows desktop, the graphical user interface that lets you work in intuitive fashion by pointing at icons and clicking the mouse.
We identify the basic components of a window and describe how to execute commands and supply information through various elements in a dialog box.
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indows creates a working environment for your computer that parallels the working environment at home or in an office. You work at a desk. Windows operations take place on the desktop.
There are physical objects on a desk such as folders, a dictionary, a calculator, or a phone. The computer equivalents of those objects appear as icons (pictorial symbols) on the desktop.
Each object on a real desk has attributes (properties) such as size, weight, and color. In similar fashion, Windows assigns properties to every object on its desktop. And just as you can move the objects on a real desk, you can rearrange the objects on the Windows desktop.
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Figure displays the desktop when Windows is first installed on a new
computer. This desktop has only a few objects and is similar to the desk in a new office, just after you move in. Figure lb displays a different desktop, one with several open windows, and is similar to a desk during the middle of a working day.
Do not be concerned if your Windows desktop is different from ours. Your real desk is arranged differently from those of your friends, and so your Windows desktop will also be different.
The simplicity of the desktop in Figure helps you to focus on what is important. The Start button, as its name suggest, is where you begin. Click the Start button and you see a menu that lets you start any program (e.g., Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel) on your computer.
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The Start button also contains a Help command through which you can obtain information about every aspect of Windows.
Each icon on the desktop in Figure provides access to an important function within Windows. My Computer enables you to browse the disk drives and optional CD-ROM drive that are attached to your computer.
Network Neighborhood extends your view of the computer to include the accessible drives on the network to which your machine is attached, if indeed it is part of a network. The Recycle Bin, described later in the appendix, allows you to recover a file that was previously deleted.
Double clicking Internet icon starts the Web browser and initiates a connection to the Internet
Each icon on the desktop in Figure opens into a window containing additional objects when you open (double click) the icon. Double click My Computer in Figure la, for example, and you see the objects contained in the My Computer window depend on the hardware of the specific computer system.
Our system, for example, has one floppy drive, two hard (fixed) disks, and a CD-ROM. The My Computer window also contains the Control Panel and Printer folders, which allow access to functions that control other elements in the environment on your computer.
(A folder, called a directory under MS-DOS, may in turn contain other folders and/or individual files.)
The taskbar at the bottom of the desktop shows all of the programs that are currently active (open in memory). It contains a button for each open program and lets you switch back and forth between those programs by clicking the appropriate button.
The taskbar in Figure la does not contain any buttons (other than the Start button) since there are no open applications.