Datasheet

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CHAPTER 1 GETTING STARTED WITH WINDOWS VISTA
Figure 1.4
Click the Start button
to display the Start
menu, then click the
item you want on
the Start menu itself,
on the All Programs
menu, or on one of
the folders it contains.
Click a folder to
expand its contents;
click again to collapse
the contents again.
Click the Back link to
hide the All Programs
menu again.
◆
The Taskbar gives you quick access to each program that’s currently running. The Taskbar
displays a button for each active program window until it runs out of space for reasonable-
sized buttons, at which point it groups related windows onto a single button (which expands
to show the individual window titles when you click it). To display that window in front of
all other windows, click its button. To minimize a program (removing its display from your
Desktop, so that only the Taskbar button is left), click its Taskbar button again.
◆
The notification area contains items that are useful to have displayed all the time (such as
the clock, which is displayed by default), together with information and alerts (which are
displayed at appropriate times). Because the notification area tends to get overstuffed with
icons, Windows automatically hides those that are inactive. You can choose which icons to
display and which to hide.
◆
The Desktop background is a graphic that you can change at will. From here on, this book
uses a white Desktop background, usually without any icons, so that you can see the indi-
vidual windows more easily.
◆
The Windows Sidebar contains gadgets , small programs that display information for you.
Instead of using the Taskbar to switch from one program to another, you can “Windows Flip”
by pressing the Alt+Tab key combination. Doing so displays a panel of icons for the program win-
dows currently open (see Figure 1.5). Hold down the Alt key and press the Tab key to move the
selection to the program window you want, and then release the Alt key to display that program
window. Hold down Alt+Shift and press the Tab key to move backward through the list.
Windows Flip is handy and has been a feature of Windows for many versions now (although
it used to be called “coolswitching” or simply “Alt-Tabbing”). Along with the new name, Win-
dows Vista introduces a new version of switching: Press Windows Key+Tab to display the open
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