the desktop is the taskbar. The desktop is where everything that you open piles up. The taskbar's main role is to make it easy to switch from one open item to another. Everything you'll ever see on your screen has a name and a purpose. Virtually nothing on the screen is there purely for decoration (except the wallpaper). Figure 3.4 shows the main components of the Windows desktop and other items. Your desktop may not look exactly like the picture and may not show all the components. Don't worry about that. Right now, focus on learning the names of the most frequently used elements.
Figure 3.4 The desktop, taskbar, and other items.
Here's a quick overview of what each component represents.
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You learn to personalize your desktop in Chapter 10. But here's a quick hint: Virtually everything you'll ever see on your screen, including the desktop, is an object that has properties (characteristics of the object that you can specify, such as color). To customize any object, right-click that object and choose Properties.
● Desktop: The desktop itself is everything above the taskbar. Most programs you open appear in a window on the desktop.
● Desktop icons: Icons on the desktop provide quick access to frequently used programs, folders, and documents. You can add and remove desktop icons as you see fit.
● Quick Link menu: The Quick Link menu provides access to commonly used Windows programs and apps. To see it, right-click the Start button at the bottom-left side of the screen, or press Windows+X.
● Taskbar: A task is an open program. The taskbar makes switching among all your open programs easy. Right-clicking the clock in the taskbar provides easy access to options for customizing the taskbar and organizing open program windows.
● Notification area: This area displays icons for programs running in the background, which are often referred to as processes and services. Messages coming from those programs appear in speech balloons just above the notification area.
● Clock: The clock shows the current time and date.
That's the quick tour of items on and around the Windows 10 desktop. The sections that follow examine some of these items in detail.
The desktop can have any number of icons on it. Most desktop icons are shortcuts to files and folders. They're shortcuts in the sense that they duplicate icons that are available elsewhere, such as on the Start menu. You can open the item associated with a desktop icon by double-clicking or double-tapping on it.
Rules always have exceptions. When it comes to desktop icons, the Recycle Bin is the exception. The Recycle Bin icon exists only on the desktop, and you won't find it anywhere else. The role of the Recycle Bin is that of a safety net. Whenever you delete a file or folder, the item is just moved to the Recycle Bin. You can restore an accidentally deleted item from the Recycle Bin back to its original location.
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To learn more about the Recycle Bin and how to use it, see Chapter 21.
In addition to the Recycle Bin, you have other built-in desktop icons from which to choose. If you want to take a shot at adding icons, right-click the desktop and choose Personalize. In the resulting Personalization page of the Settings app, click Themes, then click Desktop Icon Settings.
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If you don't see Personalize when you right-click the desktop, that means you didn't right-click the desktop. You right-clicked something that's covering the desktop. You learn to close and hide things that are covering the desktop a little later in this chapter.
A dialog box named Desktop Icon Settings appears (see Figure 3.5). It's called a “dialog” box because you carry on a sort of dialog with it. It shows you options from which you can pick and choose. You make your choices and click OK. You'll see menu dialog boxes throughout this book.
Figure 3.5 The Desktop Icon Settings dialog box.
To make an icon visible on your desktop, select (click to put a check mark in) the check box next to the icon's name. To prevent an icon from appearing on the desktop, click the check box to the left of its name to deselect it (remove the check mark). In the figure, we've opted to show just the Recycle Bin.
You can choose a different picture for any icon you've opted to show on the desktop. Click the icon's picture in the middle of the dialog box. Then click the Change Icon button. Click the icon you want to show and then click OK. If you change your mind after the fact, click Restore Default.
Click OK after making your selections. The dialog box closes, and the icons you choose appear on the desktop. However, you might not see them if that part of the desktop is covered by something that's open. Don't worry about that. You learn about how to open, close, move, and size things on the desktop a little later in this chapter.
If nothing is covering the desktop, but you still don't see any desktop icons, they might just be switched off. We cover this topic in the next section.
As you discover in Chapter 10, you have many ways to customize the Windows 10 desktop. But if you only want to make some quick, minor changes to your desktop icons, right-click the desktop to view its shortcut menu. Items on the menu that have a little arrow to the right show submenus. For example, if you right-click the desktop and point to View on the menu, you see the View menu, as shown in Figure 3.6.
Figure 3.6 Right-click the desktop.
The last item on the View menu, Show Desktop Icons, needs to be selected (checked) for the icons to show at all. If no check mark appears next to that item, click the item. The menu closes, and the icons appear on the desktop. When you need to see the menu again, just right-click the desktop again.
The top three items on the menu – Large Icons, Medium Icons, and Small Icons – control the size of the icons. Click any option to see its effect. If you don't like the result, right-click the desktop again, choose View, and choose a different size.
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If your mouse has a wheel, another way to size icons is to hold down the Ctrl key as you spin the mouse wheel. This technique gives you an almost endless range of icon sizes. Use one of the three items in the View menu to get them back to one of the three default sizes.
The Sort By option on the desktop shortcut menu enables you to arrange desktop icons alphabetically by Name, Size, Item Type, or Date Modified. However, no matter how you choose to sort icons, the built-in icons are sorted separately from those you create.
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