The files on the start menu are names of programs installed on your PC. A program is software, in the PC world, and whenever you see the word program you should mentally think of it as referring to a software program". Software is an electronic file of computer instructions, written by programmers to give a computer the capability to do things that we users want it to do. A PC can only do what the software programs tell it to do.

You may hear the term application(s). This term refers to the software programs. Another term is operating system (OS). It is the software programs that all PC must have on them in order to function at all. A PC can operate without certain applications, But no PC can function without an OS.

Now I'll explain the three most used buttons on any window. As the name implies, a window is a viewing area on your monitor. However, you don't look through it, you look at it. The software programs written for use via the Windows family of operating system software are called windows programs. Whatever you do with these programs, you do while looking at one or more windows.

On a windows PC, the windows are rectangular areas with writing and icons at the top, bottom and sides of them. There are many things you need to know to use windows. For now, I'll just explain how to open, shrink and close windows.

If you left click the left mouse button once over the center icon (with the twin boxes) you will shrink or expand the window. More than one window can be open at the same time. Therefore it is often necessary to shrink or expand one window to see another and so on.

If you left click the left end icon ( _ ), you will shrink the window down to a place on the task bar (the long bar at the very bottom of your screen) where only the name of the window will be visible. From its position on the task bar, you can at any time, left click it once and restore it to view again. The next two pictures are the taskbar split in two for editorial purposes They show several windows that have been shrunk to the task bar.

Their names are Acrob... PhotoFinish..., etc... The task bar will abbreviate names so that more will fit on the task bar. However, holding your pointer over the name for a few seconds will cause the full name to pop into view so you can read it. Try it, you'll like it.

Left clicking the ( X ) icon closes its window. Every window has these three icons in its upper right corner.

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