Using Your Desktop : Controlling a Window
A window contains files and folders, or the Graphic User Interface, or GUI, that a program or application uses. Youy can control how the window appears, how big it is, and where it is on your screen.
MENU
The menu items vary within program windows, but they are generally the same in a window showing files and folders. You can (surprise, surprise) customize the toolbars that you see, even get rid of all of them. In a Windows folder window, go to View>Toolbars and play with the choices there. You can also add or delete buttons that are shown above the Address bar. You can delete the Address bar...and so on...
TITLE BAR
The Title Bar, at the very top of the window, tells you what the window is. If you left-click and hold the Title Bar, you can drag the window wherever you want it.
WINDOW BORDERS
The borders of the window can also be dragged to resize the window in any direction. This image is a sample of what you will see. Just place the mouse over the border that you want to drag. It will turn into a double-headed arrow as shown. You can then drag the arrow, and the edge of the window will follow. The corners can also be dragged the same way.
DIRECT WINDOW CONTROLS
The three small buttons in the upper right-hand corner of a window are used to directly manipulate the window.
The MINIMIZE button reduces the program window to the taskbar. The program is still running, but it is removed from the desktop. To restore it to position, just click the applicable button with the program name on the taskbar.
This is the button that will MAXIMIZE the window, meaning it will make the window fill your screen. You can click it again to turn it into a normal window that has space around it. If you sized the window previously using the window borders as described above, then maximized it to fill the screen. It will retrurn to the resized window if you restore it to a normal window. In other words, the previous size and shape of the window is remembered.
This button will CLOSE the window. If you are using a program and click this, it will shut down the program. If you are working on a file and it hasn't been saved, you will be prompted to save before the application shuts down.
Windows 7 Features
In Windows 7, you can grab the Title Bar of a window, and do some neat things. If you drag it to the top of your screen, the window will maximize, or fill the screen. If you have a maximized window, and want to have it shrink down, you can do the opposite: click the Title Bar, and drag it down away from the top. It will go to a regular window.. If you want the window to attach to a side of your screen, drag the Title Bar to that side, and the window will fill that half of the screen. If you have Windows 7, try it.