Learning Resources
Working with windows
Whenever you open a program, file, or folder, it appears on your screen in a box or frame called a window (that's where the Windows operating system gets its name). Because windows are everywhere in Windows, it's important to understand how to move them, change their size, or just make them go away.
Parts of a window
Although the contents of every window are different, all windows share some things in common. For one thing, windows always appear on the desktop—the main work area of your screen. In addition, most windows have the same basic parts:
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Title bar. Displays the name of the document and program (or the folder name if you're working in a folder).
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Minimize, Maximize, and Close buttons. These buttons hide the window, enlarge it to fill the whole screen, and close it, respectively (more details on these shortly).
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Menu bar. Contains items that you can click to make choices in a program.
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Scroll bar. Lets you scroll the contents of the window to see information that is currently out of view.
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Borders and corners. You can drag these with your mouse pointer to change the size of the window.
Other windows might have additional buttons, boxes, or bars. But they'll usually have the basic parts, too.
Moving a window
Changing the size of a window
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To make a window fill the entire screen, click its Maximize button or double-click the window's title bar.
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To return a maximized window to its former size, click its Restore button (this appears in place of the Maximize button). Or, double-click the window's title bar.
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To resize a window (make it smaller or bigger), point to any of the window's borders or corners. When the mouse pointer changes to a two-headed arrow (see picture below), drag the border or corner to shrink or enlarge the window.
A window that is maximized cannot be resized. You must restore it to its previous size first.
Note
Although most windows can be maximized and resized, there are some windows that are fixed in size, such as dialog boxes.
Hiding a window
Hiding a window is called minimizing it. If you want to get a window out of the way temporarily without closing it, minimize it.
To make a minimized window appear again on the desktop, click its taskbar button. The window appears exactly as it did before you minimized it.
Closing a window
Closing a window removes it from the desktop and taskbar. If you're done with a program or document and don't need to return to it right away, close it.
Note
If you close a document without saving any changes you made, a message appears that gives you the option to save your changes.
Switching between windows
If you open more than one program or document, your desktop can quickly become cluttered with windows. Keeping track of which windows you have open isn't always easy, because some windows might partially or completely cover others.
Using the taskbar. The taskbar provides a way to organize all of your windows. Each window has a corresponding button on the taskbar. To switch to another window, just click its taskbar button. The window appears in front of all other windows, becoming the active window—the one you're currently working in.
If the taskbar becomes too crowded with buttons, then the buttons for the same program become grouped into a single button, as shown in the picture below. Click the button to see a menu of the items in the group, then select an item to make it the active window.
Using ALT+TAB. You can switch to the previous window by pressing ALT+TAB, or cycle through all open windows and the desktop by holding down ALT and repeatedly pressing TAB. Release ALT to show the selected window.