Windows: it does more than you think!

What is Windows?
Windows is a kind of computer program called an operating system. That means that it's a program that controls and manages how your computer works. Windows is the operating system that is written by Microsoft programmers.

Your computer is like a black box, even if your computer happens to be white or blue. You can't tell what is happening inside. Actually, it really doesn't matter what's happening inside as long and the computer does what you want it to do. However, somehow you have to store stuff in the black box, use stuff in the black box and find stuff in the black box. You also expect that black box to be able to do certain things. The operating system, is the program that lets you interact with the black box!

There are other brands of operating systems. Macintosh computers have their own operating systems. Another type of operating system that is becomming popular is Linux. Even Windows has quite a few versions. The first version of Windows that was widely used was Windows 3.1. This version looked and worked very differently from the next version, which was Windows 95. If you buy a new computer, it probably has the Windows XP version. If you work for a company with a network, you may use a Windows Server version because there is a version especially for servers. This type of Windows asks you to sign in before you can use the computer.

Windows is GUI (gooey)
GUI stands for Graphical User Interface. All that means that that it has pictures! Each picture means something and represents something that is inside the computer. This is a good thing because old computers only showed a black screen with a few cryptic letters of a code that you had to learn to do anything. Windows is a much easier way to interact with the black box.

Every machine has some sort of interface that lets you operate that machine. Your car has some button or knob that turns on the headlights. It is also possible to make a car that turns on the headlights if you kick the tires, but the interface isn't made that way! Learning to use a computer is mostly learning how to use the interface.

The Windows
The Windows operating system shows you what is happening in the computer by opening various windows. The first window that opens is your desktop. It is the only window you can't close. All of the other windows are like pieces of paper and books on your desk; they represent some sort of work (or play) that you are doing.

Some windows are called dialog boxes. Dialog boxes are usually small boxes that pop up when you have asked the computer to do something, but it needs more information. For example, when you tell the computer to print something, it often pops up a dialog box asking you things like how many copies to print.

The Windows Desktop
The desktop holds icons and the taskbar.

There are many kinds of pictures in Windows. Two kinds are buttons and icons. Buttons represent commands. You use buttons to boss your computer. Icons are a way for you to see the things inside the "black box" so you can use them. There are five basic kinds of icons.

1. Drive icons:
   Drive icons represent the storage places in your computer. Computers process and store information, and the drives are its warehouses. They are some of the few moving parts on your computer. You can often hear them spinning the disks. The disks are the actual storage.