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I did this tutorial over one year ago. Don't think anything has changed; but if it has, please feel free to update this information and rock on

Here is a brief tutorial on the Windows XP Desktop:

Above in fig 1.1 you can see an example of the Windows XP desktop, when you first switch on your machine and Windows XP loads it usually looks similar to that shown in our example, although Windows XP by default has a picture for the desktop background.

Desktop refers to the main background area (in our example the white area), you can customise your desktop by adding background pictures, changing the background colour, changing the size of the icons, and more.

In fig 1.1 I have pointed out some areas of interest, we will look at these below.

Introduction to Icons
Icons are small graphical images that can represent your computer's programs, files, folders and printers amongst other things (see fig 1.1).

To activate the program/file/folder that an icon represents you simply double click (two clicks in quick succession) on it with the left mouse button, this will activate the icon and either start a program or open a file/folder.

The icons on your desktop can be renamed by right clicking on them and selecting rename, similarly they can be deleted by right clicking and selecting delete.

It's possible to create your own icons for programs, files, folders, etc.
I will present this to you in another tutorial.

In my example I have two icons, the outlook icon is for example purposes only, by default you will usually just have the recycle bin icon which is explained below:

Recycle Bin
When you delete a file, Windows XP will place the file into the recycle bin instead of deleting it altogether, this allows you to restore the file in case you deleted it by mistake. For example say you deleted a file by accident you could double click on the recycle bin icon to see its contents, and then restore the file back to where you deleted it from by right clicking on it and then selecting restore from the menu that appears.

Note: some files may be too big to be stored in the recycle bin, but Windows XP should warn you if you delete a file that cannot be restored.

Keeping the Desktop tidy

The more you use Windows XP the more your desktop may start to fill up with icons, either because you install more software or you create your own icons.

Windows XP can automatically align and sort your desktop icons to keep the desktop tidy, to achieve this click the right mouse button anywhere on the desktop and a menu will appear (similar to that shown in fig 1.2), hover the mouse pointer over Arrange Icons By and a submenu will appear, from here you can sort your desktop icons by name, size, type and last modified date.

Selecting the Auto Arrange option will automatically align your desktop icons every time you add one to the desktop.

The Desktop Cleanup Wizard will remove any desktop shortcuts that have never been used to a new folder on your desktop called Unused Desktop Shortcuts.

The Win XP Start button
The start button (see fig 1.1) is a very important part of Windows XP, clicking on the start button opens up what is called the start menu, the start menu is used to access your programs, settings, printers and more, we will take an indepth look at the start menu and its functions in another tutorial I will present to you.
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The Win XP Taskbar
The taskbar (see fig 1.1) is another important part of the Windows XP operating system, one of its main uses is to switch between any open programs or documents which I will present to you during another tutorial
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The Win XP Clock
The clock sits on the taskbar (see fig 1.1) and displays the system time, hovering the mouse pointer over the clock will reveal the date, to learn how to change the time and date look for my tutorial on date.

Razz