GUI Basics

Icons

• There are several small 2D or 3D graphical images scattered over the desktop are called icons.
• It represents various items found on a desktop in simpler form which is used in several work of computer.
• These Icons may also be found on the toolbars and in the menus of several computer application software such as MS Office Suite(Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel etc.).
• Icons are more user-friendly compare to text-based commands and hence helps even a lay person to use computer easily.
• We can also rename an icon name by right-clicking on it.

• Types of Icons :

There are two types of Icons- (a) System Icons and (b) Shortcut Icons

(a) System Icons:

• • Examples are – This PC, Control Panel, Recycle Bin, My Documents etc.

(b) Shortcut Icons:

• • Examples are – MS Office icons, Other User’s Application icons etc.

Desktop

• Desktop is the first stable screen/background area on our computer screen, appears after soft/normal booting process.
• We can customize/arrange our desktop in several ways. We can add background picture, background color etc. on a desktop.
• In most modern computers, the desktop is an important part of Graphical User Interface (GUI) and is believed that it is the gateway(Entry or Exit Place) of a computer system.
• A desktop is a place which holds many icons, files, folders for first time use.
• Some of the main components of Desktop Screen are:
  • My Computer/This PC
  • My Documents
  • Recycle Bin
  • Task Bar

My Computer/This PC

• • This is one of the main icon that displays the main components of our computer.
  • We can open any of the items in this window to further examine the components of our computer by clicking on my computer icon.
  • It displays different drives/disks attached with the computer.

My Documents

• • It is the default space in Microsoft Windows where all the user created files are stored automatically unless we specifically instruct the computer to save at a different specified location.
  • It is a special folder where the system stores user’s files, pictures, music, download contents etc.

Recycle Bin

• • In windows Operating System, Recycle Bin is a temporary folder which holds files and folders before it is permanently deleted from the storage devices.
  • The Recycle Bin only stores, files deleted from hard drives, not from removable media, such as memory cards and pen drive/ flash drives.
  • It also doesn’t store files deleted from network drives.
  • We can restore the files from the recycle bin to its original deleted location automatically or we can cut the files from recycle bin and paste it at desired location.
  • It is also possible that we can bypass the recycle bin and the files deleted will be directly removed from the computer without moving it to the recycle bin. For this we keep holding the SHIFT key and delete the desired files. Sometimes it might happen that we need to restore the files which has been deleted accidentally.
  • We can restore the deleted files from recycle bin. For this we follow these steps : – 
    • Double click the icon of recycle bin on the desktop
    • Choose a file which we want to restore back and right-click on it and then click restore
    • To restore all the files in the recycle bin click on restore all items.

Taskbar

• • The taskbar is the long horizontal bar/area at the bottom of desktop screen.
  • It is used to launch and monitor running applications.
  • It has four main sections:
    (i) The Start button area which opens the start menu.
    (ii) The Quick Launch Toolbar area which allows us to open programs quickly with a single click.
    (iii) The Middle Section allows us to see the documents and programs which we have opened and to switch between them.
    (iv) The Notification Area, which includes a small system application such as clock and icons which shows the status of  certain programs and computer settings.