Using Windows Explorer

Part

Description

Title bar

Displays the name of the program or window.

Minimize button

Minimizes a window, hiding it from your screen but keeping it running in your computer's memory, ready for quick use. You can minimize a program you're not using so that it is still running, but out of sight.

Maximize/Restore button

Depending on the size of the window, this button toggles between maximize and restore. Here's what each one does:

 Maximize: Enlarges the window so that it fills the entire screen. This lets you see more of the contents of the window. The Maximize button only appears when the window isn't maximized, or doesn't fill up the entire screen.

 Restore: When a window is maximized, or fills up the entire screen, clicking the Restore button returns the window to its previous size.

Close button

Closes the window or program when you've finished working with it, removing from the screen and the computer's memory.

Menu

Controls what the program does. The items listed on the menu change from program to program, but the menu's location doesn't—it's always perched near the top of a window, right below the Title bar.

Toolbar

Some (but not all) windows and programs have one or more toolbars, which contain buttons you point to and click to access frequently used commands.

Main Window or Document Area

This is where all the action takes place—where you work on whatever you're working on. If you were using on a word processor, this is where your letter would appear; if were browsing the Internet, this is where the Web pages would appear.

Scroll bar

Sometime a window is not large enough to display all the information at once. When this happens you use the scroll bar to move, or scroll through the information in the window.

Status bar

Displays information such as instructions, messages about the state of the computer, or your location in the window.