Page 77 - Windows 10 May 2019 Update The Missing Manual: The Book That Should Have Been in the Box
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Chapter 2. File Explorer,
Taskbar & Action Center
Windows got its name from the rectangles on the screen—the windows—
where all your computer activity takes place. You look at a web page in a
window, type into a window, read email in a window, and look at lists of
files in a window. But as you create more files, stash them in more folders,
and open more programs, it’s easy to wind up paralyzed before a screen
awash with cluttered, overlapping rectangles.
Fortunately, Windows has always offered icons, buttons, and other
inventions to help you keep these windows under control—and Windows
10 positively crawls with them.
The primary tool at the desktop is called File Explorer (formerly Windows
Explorer). That’s the program—the app—that displays the icons of your
files, folders, disks, and programs.
Like any well-behaved program, File Explorer has an icon of its own. You
can open a File Explorer window either by clicking the manila-folder button
on the taskbar or the icon in the Start menu’s places list, if you’ve put it
there.
A desktop window opens, and the fun begins.
Universal Window Controls
A lot has changed in Windows since a few years ago. If you’re feeling
disoriented, firmly grasp a nearby stationary object and read the following
breakdown.
Here are the controls that appear on almost every window, whether in an
app or in File Explorer (see Figure 2-1):
