What is the Desktop?

The Windows Desktop is what you see on your monitor when no programs are running. It's also part of a system used to navigate Windows and operate programs.

This image is of a Windows XP Desktop. Other versions of Windows look a little different, but they all have pretty much the same functions. The picture above shows the desktop with the Start Bar opened. You get this by clicking "Start" button in the lower left corner.

Users can also change the picture that appears on the Desktop (commonly called "wallpaper") to a picture, a solid color, or a blank screen. Users can also add whatever shortcuts or folders they like, or make the taskbar on the botttom disappear when they are not using it. Here's a "screen shot" of my desktop right now, as I am writing this page.

What is the Start Button For?

The Start button can be used to do start programs, navigate the computer, access the Control Panel log off, switch users, or turn off the computer.

Clicking the Start button will open something called the Start Bar or Start Menu.

Clicking on "All Programs" will cause a cascading menu to open, which will contain shortcuts to all of the programs on your computer. You can start the programs by clicking the shortcuts.

You also can click on the folder icons for your documents, pictures, or music, or click "My Computer" to see all of the storage devices on your machine.

Clicking "Control Panel" will take you to a screen where you can make changes to your system.

You can "pin" shortcuts to programs that you use frequently to the upper left corner of the start bar. Some programs do this automatically, whether you want them to or not. You can remove them if you like.

The lower left lists programs that you used most recently. This is a useful feature when you have to stop something you were working on for a moment to do something else.

For more information and tutorials about how to use Windows, please click here to be taken to Microsoft's site.