until the name of the program you want to switch to appears above the icons. Then release the Alt key.
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The Tab key is usually just to the left of the letter Q on the keyboard.
Figure 3.10 Alt+Tab window.
You can also use Windows+Tab to switch between running apps. Pressing this key combination or clicking on the Task View button on the taskbar opens the task view, where you can click or tap the app you want to make active.
You can use options on the taskbar shortcut menu to arrange all currently open program windows. To get to that menu, right-click an empty area of the taskbar, or right-click the clock in the lower-right corner of the screen. Figure 3.11 shows the options on the menu.
Figure 3.11 Taskbar shortcut menu.
The four options that apply to program windows on the desktop are similar to the options you get when you right-click a taskbar button that represents multiple instances of one program:
● Cascade Windows: Stacks all the open windows like sheets of paper, fanned out so that all their title bars are visible, as in Figure 3.12.
● Show Windows Stacked: Arranges the windows in rows across the screen, or as equal-sized tiles.
● Show Windows Side by Side: Arranges the windows side by side. As with the preceding option, if you have too many open windows to show that way, they're displayed in equal-sized tiles.
● Show the Desktop: Minimizes all open windows so that only their taskbar buttons are visible. You can see the entire desktop at that point. To bring any window back onto the screen, click its taskbar button. To bring them all back, right-click the clock or taskbar again and choose Show Open Windows.
Figure 3.12 Cascaded program windows.
The best way to understand these options is to try them out for yourself. Open two or more programs. Then try each of the options described to see the effect on your open program windows.
As a rule, program windows can be any size you want them to be, but this rule has a few exceptions. For example, the tiny Calculator program can't be sized at all. Some programs shrink down only so far. But in general, most open program windows can appear in three sizes:
● Maximized, in which the program fills the entire screen above the taskbar, covering the desktop.
● Minimized, in which only the program's taskbar button is visible, and the program window takes up no space on the desktop.
● Any size in between those two extremes.
Often, you want to work with two or more program windows at a time. Knowing how to size program windows is a critical skill because working with multiple program windows is difficult if you can't see at least a part of each one.
A maximized program window enlarges to its greatest window size, which in many cases causes it to fill all the space above the taskbar. This makes it easy to see everything inside the program window. If a program window isn't already maximized, you can maximize it in several ways:
● Click the Maximize button in the program's title bar (see Figure 3.14).
● Grab the title bar and move the window to the top of the screen. Pause for a moment and then release the mouse button.
● Double-click the program's title bar.
● Click the upper-left corner of the window you want to maximize and choose Maximize. Optionally, right-click anywhere near the center top of the window and choose Maximize.
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Few buttons on the screen show their name. But you can find out a button's name just by touching the button with the tip of the mouse pointer to display a tooltip.
Figure 3.13 The Maximize button in a title bar.
Figure 3.14 The Minimize button in a title bar.
If you want to get a program window off the screen temporarily without losing your place, minimize the program window. When you minimize the program window, the program remains running. However, it takes up no space on the screen, so it can't cover anything else on the screen. When minimized, only the window's taskbar button remains visible. You can minimize a window in several ways:
● Click the Minimize button in the program's title bar (see Figure 3.14).
● Click the program's taskbar button once or twice. (If the program isn't in the active window, the first click just makes it the active window. The second click then minimizes the active window.)
● Right-click the program's taskbar button or title bar and choose Minimize.
Between the two extremes of maximized (hog up the entire desktop) and minimized (not even visible on the desktop), most program windows can be any size you want them to be. The first step to sizing a program window is to get it to an in-between size so that it's neither maximized nor minimized. You can do that in one of two ways:
● If the program window is currently minimized, click its taskbar button to make it visible on the screen.
● If the program window is currently maximized, double-click its title bar or click its Restore Down button to shrink it down a little. Optionally, use the Cascade Windows option described earlier to get all open program windows down to an in-between size.
Minimize versus Close
Everything that's “in your computer,” so to speak, is actually a file on your hard disk. The stuff on your hard disk is always there, whether the computer is on or off. When you open an item, two things happen. The most obvious is that the item becomes visible on the screen. What's not so obvious is the fact that a copy of the program is also loaded in the computer's memory (RAM).
When you minimize an open window, the program is still in memory. You can tell that because the program's taskbar button is still on the taskbar. When you want to view that program window, click its taskbar button to make it visible on the screen again. It shows up looking exactly as it did before you minimized it.
When you close a program, its
