WINDOWS

The rectangular area appearing on the desktop, when we start an application is called a window. You can have several windows on your desktop at the same time. These windows may be big or small. They may be overlapping others or one beside the other.

Parts of a Window

You can move the window around the desktop, change its size, hide it from your view and so on.

Let us start the Notepad application to learn these operations. Click on Start->All Programs->Accessories->Notepad.

The notepad application window opens.

Windows XP is designed in such a way that all windows are similar. The methods used for resizing, moving and closing the window are the same for all windows.

At the top of the window is the Title Bar. The title bar tells you the name of the application. There is an exception however; Windows Explorer will not show its name in the title bar. The tile bar also contains 3 sizing buttons, at the top right corner.

Minimize Button :

This button is used to reduce the size of the window to a button on the taskbar. Minimizing a window does not close it; it simply hides it from you.

Maximize Button :

Click on this button to enlarge the window to fill the entire desktop.

Resize Button :

This button is used to restore the window to its original size i.e., to the size before you maximized it.

Close Button :

This button is used to close a window. Closing a window will remove its contents from memory and screen.

Menu Bar

Below the title bar is Menu Bar. This displays the various menus available to you. When you click on a menu option, say File, all the sub-options appear as a drop down menu. You can select any one of them by pointing to it with the mouse pointer and then clicking it.

For example, to save a file, you can click on the File menu and select Save from the drop-down list. If you save the file for the first time, you may be prompted to enter the name of the file.

Moving a Window

While working with multiple windows, you may face a situation wherein you need to move a window to a different location on the desktop. You can do so by clicking and dragging the title bar of the window. Please also note that you cannot drag a window when it is either maximized or minimized.

Change the size of a Window

Point to the window border with the mouse. The mouse pointer changes like a double-headed arrow. Click and drag this arrow to increase/decrease the size of the window. To change the length and breadth simultaneously, move the mouse pointer to either of the bottom corners and do the above operation.