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As soon as you log on to the computer, you're greeted with an enormous expanse of near-nothingness, cleverly painted with a pretty picture of a wheat field. Or is it Bill Gates' front yard?
Your Windows destiny, such as it is, unfolds on the computer's screen. The screen that Windows shows you every time you start is called the desktop, although it doesn't bear much resemblance to a real desktop. Try putting a pencil on it.
The first time you start Windows, your desktop looks something like the one shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: The bone-stock Windows XP/Home desktop.
Although the number and appearance of objects scattered on your computer monitor vary depending on who sold you the computer and what was included when you bought it, chances are pretty good that you have only a few pictures — they're called icons — sitting on the desktop. In Figure 1, one icon appears, the Recycle Bin icon, where Windows sticks everything you've thrown away.
 | Your desktop probably looks different from the one shown in Figure 1. For one thing, you're bound to have a handful of icons sitting around. If you bought a new computer with Windows XP preinstalled, chances are good that the manufacturer sold some desktop real estate to a software company or an Internet service provider. If you see an icon you don't like, right-click it and choose Delete. Good riddance to bad rubbish. |
When you get past the verdant fields rolling across your screen, the rest of the desktop isn't very inspiring, although plenty of surprises await as you begin clicking:
- Windows taskbar: Runs all along the bottom of the screen and keeps you posted on what your computer is doing — which computer programs are running, where you're visiting on the Internet, and almost anything else that requires your attention.
- Notification area: Also known to techies as the system tray. This area sits on top of the taskbar on the right side and tells you the time, but it also lets you know what Windows is doing behind the scenes. For example, if you're using a modem to connect to the Internet, little modem lights down here reassure you that the connection hasn't frozen. Other tiny icons in the notification area may control your speaker volume or tell you whether you're logged on to Windows Messenger.
- Start button: Located in the lower left of the desktop. This button gives you access to everything your computer can do. Click it and you see the Start menu — menu being geek-speak for a list of things that you can click.
 | The Windows desktop looks simple enough, but don't be fooled: Underneath that calm exterior sits the most sophisticated computer program ever created. Hundreds of millions of dollars went into creating the illusion of simplicity — something to remember the next time you feel like kicking your computer and screaming at the Windows gods. |
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