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Denver, CO - USA
Mountain Time
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Learning Your Desktop |
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Take Your Pick - Read, Listen and View
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You can read this page or listen to the audio by double-clicking on the play
button  of the Audio Player below. Follow along by scrolling down the page.
This Audio is approximately 9 minutes long.
To watch the VIDEO training - click here.
Length of video training is approximately 13 minutes.
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Getting Acquainted With Your Desktop
Class 101
Let's get started by learning where the desktop is and what gets placed on your desktop.
What is the Desktop?
When your monitor is turned on, the area which lights up is called your computer screen. When your Windows program loads and shows up, this is now your desktop.
Similar to the actual top of a desk, the Windows desktop is where you put the things you're working on. These are the items that you want readily accessible. Move those sticky notes to the bottom, or you won't see the desktop. The desktop is the main screen that appears in Windows where you will find several "icons" already placed there.
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So, let's clear up a few things. With all of the computer and internet "technical" terminology, it can be confusing. The drawings below should help to clarify some differences.
| This piece of equipment is a necessary element of having a computer. It is called a monitor. This is an older style of monitor, and as you can see, it takes up a lot of space on your desk or computer table. |
| On this monitor, the blue area is the same as the computer screen. On older monitors this area is covered with glass. The newer monitors are made of another substance and special care should be taken with them. | |
| This is a newer style of monitor called a flat screen. Notice how much less room this will take of your desk space. |
Desktop Defined
Once the computer is started and your version of Windows loads, you begin seeing various bars and small pictures appear on your screen. This is now your Desktop. The balance of this class describes what each of these icons or bars are, how you will use them, and how to place important notes (not sticky notes) onto your desktop.
What are Icons?
Icons are small pictures or objects that act as shortcuts to open various programs. Usually the picture relates to the function that icon carries out such as opening a file, a program, a web page or possibly carrying out a specific command. Here are a few of the most commonly used icons.
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Commonly Seen Icons
The following are the most common icons found on the desktop of your computer. Many of these programs come preloaded onto a new computer.
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One of the most often seen icons on new computers is the AOL symbol to encourage you can sign up for their ISP (Internet Service Provider) services.
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Internet Explorer is one of the "browsers" that gives you access to the internet. This "shortcut" is used to open a doorway to get onto the internet if you are not using AOL. |
| Outlook Express is the e-mail client that is designed for users to gain access to their e-mail messages by connectng to the Internet service provider (ISP). No matter how many email addresses you have, you can have all of them come to one place on your computer. (Classes to learn more about Outlook Express are located in our Email Training Section.) |
| Outlook is Microsoft's premier email client and is often used by businesses. Not only does it gather all of your emails from various ISPs, it provides a means to organize your tasks, schedule meetings, and view contacts for both personal and business use. Because it is more complicated, we suggest starting out with Outlook Express or Incredimail. |
| This is your Trash Can on your computer. Anything that you delete goes into the Trash, or Recycle Bin. The reason it's called "Recycle" is that you have a chance to recover it, even though you threw it in the trash. Notice the papers showing in the top of the recycle bin. This means it has something in there, which you can now choose to permanently delete or to recover. |
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This Recycle Bin, or trash can, has been emptied. As you can see, there are no papers sticking up out of the top of the can.
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PDF files are opened by using a piece of software called Adobe Acrobat Reader. PDF files are created as a means of protecting the content of the document. Changes are made by using upgraded Adobe Acrobat software and usually only with special permission, or the author's secret code.
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| This is the shortcut to Adobe Acrobat Reader. As the name implies, it simply "reads" PDF files. The software can be downloaded for free on the internet. Using the "reader," there are a number of options available. You can print the document, or save it to your computer, however you will not be allowed to edit it. |
| Zip files are single files that contain one or more compressed files. A zipped file makes it easier to keep related files together when transporting, e-mailing, downloading and storing data. It also makes the download or upload of these files faster and more efficient, especially through emails. In order to open these files, you will need to download a piece of free or trial software called WinZip onto your computer. |
| Mozilla Firefox is a graphical web browser that can be used instead of, or in addition to, the Internet Explorer Browser. It was developed by the Mozilla Foundation along with hundreds of volunteers. It can be downloaded on the internet for free. More discussion about this later in our courses. |
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The My Network Places icon applies to you ONLY if you have more than one computer and you are "networking" them together. This means that they've been connected to each other and you can actually access the data on Computer B through Computer A.
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The "manilla" file folder appearance of this My Documents icon tells you that it is a shortcut to a "folder" not to a program. This folder contains documents that you have created through Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, maybe Pictures, Music, and even Quicken. In essence, it holds the data of what you have created through the programs you are using.
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NEXT STEP
If you have already registered for the 2nd of 10 classes of this Computer Screen & Desktop Basic series of online training, go to Computer Screen 102 Training by clicking on the link. When the new page opens, simply login with your email address and password to enter the training.
If you have not yet registered for this class, click here to do so. In fact, add all the 10 basic classes to your shopping cart at once. They cost you nothing. Come back to take them whenever you want.
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NEED HELP?
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