Finding Your Way Around the Windows Desktop

Windows Vista presents its tools, commands, and structure through a graphical user interface (GUI). Graphical user interfaces include the following types of components:

See Also

For information about how to work with the components of a GUI, see the section "Information for New Computer Users" at the beginning of this book.

For information about Windows Sidebar, see "Using and Modifying Sidebar" in Chapter 7, "Working with Programs."

Depending on your Windows Vista settings and the programs installed on your computer, there might be one or more icons on your desktop, each representing a file, folder, link, or shortcut to a specific item. Windows Vista assigns an icon to every item you see on your computer. The icon might represent a file type (such as a document, a text file, or a database) or storage component (such as a folder, hard disk drive, or CD drive), or it might indicate the default program for opening a file. This visual representation can make it easier to find a file or program you're looking for. When an icon represents a shortcut to an item stored somewhere other than the folder you are viewing, an arrow appears in its lower-left corner.

You can save or move programs and files directly to your desktop, which is represented in your computer's storage hierarchy as a folder. For example, if you download a program or other file from the Internet that you will need to use only once, you might save it to your desktop so you can quickly find it, use it, and then delete it. When you install a program on your computer, a link to the program is added to the Start menu, and you usually have the option of creating a desktop shortcut. (Some installation programs automatically create a desktop shortcut, but others give you the courtesy of choice.) You can create your own shortcuts to programs, to specific folders or files, to network locations, or to Web sites, on the desktop or in any other folder. You delete an item from the desktop as you would from any other folder. When you delete a shortcut, however, you aren't actually deleting the program, folder, or file to which it pointsonly the pointer to that item.

When you purchase a new computer, the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) might already have installed programseither trial or full versionson it as part of a computer system. To make these programs discoverable, the manufacturer might place shortcuts to the programs on the desktop (in addition to those on the Start menu), along with links to "offers" (advertisements) for products and services you can purchase. It wouldn't be unusual to purchase a new computer and find 20 shortcuts already on its desktop the first time you start it up. If you upgrade to Windows Vista from a previous version of Windows, your existing desktop shortcuts and links will still be available.

One of the icons Windows places on the desktop is a link to the Recycle Bin, which is where Windows temporarily stores files you delete. When the Recycle Bin is empty, the icon depicts an empty trash can; when you delete items (but don't empty the Recycle Bin), the icon depicts pieces of paper in the trash can. You can recover deleted files from the Recycle Bin, or you can empty the Recycle Bin and permanently delete the files to free up space on your hard disk.