Essential Computer Basics: Understanding Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointers and Networks

Essential Computer Basics: Graphical User Interfaces and Networks

Graphical User Interface Elements

• Windows: A window is an area of the computer screen where you can see the contents of a folder, a file, or a program. Some systems allow several windows on the screen at the same time, and windows can overlap each other. The active window is the one in use.
• Icons: Icons are small pictures on the screen. They represent programs, folders, or files. Most systems have a special area of the screen on which icons appear.
• Menus: Menus give the user a list of choices. You operate the menu by pressing and releasing one or more buttons on the mouse.
• The Pointer: The pointer is the arrow you use to select icons or to choose options from a menu. You move the pointer across the screen with the mouse. Then you click a button on the mouse to use the object selected by the pointer.

Computer Networks

Network: A network is simply two or more computers linked together. It allows users to share not only data files and software applications, but also hardware like printers and other computer resources such as a fax. Most networks link computers within a limited area—within a department, an office, or a building. These are called Local Area Networks, or LANs. But networks can link computers across the world, so you can share information with someone on the other side of the world as easily as sharing with a person at the next desk. When networks are linked together in this way, they are called Wide Area Networks, or WANs.