href="#x8_x_8_i26">FIGURE 3.3 The Windows Start menu.
At the left of the Start menu are a small number of buttons, one of which gives you access to your account settings. The button has either a stylized picture of a user, or your account picture. You can click or tap on the button to lock the device, sign out, or change account settings. Other buttons on the left portion of the Start menu give you access to File Explorer, Settings, and power options.
The right portion of the Start menu contains tiles for various apps, gathered into groups. To open an app from the Start menu, just click or tap its tile. The left side of the Start menu provides quick access to the most recent and frequently-used apps, and you can open those apps just by clicking or tapping on them. If you don't see the app you need, click or scroll through the alphabetical list of all of the apps on the device to find the one you want.
TIP
Click a letter heading in the apps list to open a matrix where you can select a specific letter.
Using the Windows Desktop
The Windows desktop is the electronic equivalent of a real desktop. It's the place where you keep stuff you're working on right now. Every program that's currently open is usually contained within some program window. When no programs are open, the desktop and all your desktop icons are plainly visible on the screen.
What's on the desktop
Users upgrading from previous Windows versions are familiar with the Windows desktop, the primary place for users to start their work in earlier versions of Windows. You work with programs on the Windows desktop in much the same way you work with paper on an office desktop. With Windows 8.x, the Start screen was intended to replace the desktop as the primary work environment. In Windows 10, however, the Windows desktop is still very much a part of Windows, and it's the environment in which you run legacy Windows applications and modern Windows apps – you no longer need to switch between the Start screen and the desktop to switch between legacy apps and Windows apps.
The desktop may get covered by program windows and other items, but the desktop is still under there no matter how much you clutter the screen. It's the same as a real desk in that sense. Although your real desktop may be completely covered by random junk, your desktop is still under there somewhere.
Below 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.
TIP
You learn to personalize your desktop in Chapter 9. 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 an empty place on the taskbar or on 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.
About desktop icons
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.
TIP
To learn more about the Recycle Bin and how to use it, see Chapter 19.
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.
NOTE
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
