What is the desktop

What is the Desktop:

The Desktop is usually the main screen that the computer is focused on when the computer is first started up. It is a menu of all the main titles that are shortcuts of the most popular programs that you will be using. Those titles are also called icons. Icon comes from the Greek word eikon which means image.

Sometimes, the Desktop may not focus when you are finished starting the computer: but, just press the "Alt tab" command, and you should either hear the desktop come into view or you will land in the JAWS main window. If you hear the word "JAWS", then press the "Windows M" command to go directly to the desktop. Now, you can arrow up, down, left and right through the icons or programs. When you hear the one you want, press enter to activate that option. The icon may be a shortcut to a program that may take a little time to open. So be patient at least 10 seconds before you try anything else.

A common folder that you will work out of most of the time is call Documents. This is a very common folder, where most of the files that you create, will be stored so you can find them again. However, Documents will need to be put on the Desktop so it will be easier to access.

Turning off your computer:

The next thing we want to show you is how to turn off your computer.

The easiest way to shut down the computer is to move to the desktop first with the "Windows M" command and then pressing the "alt F4" command. If the Windows M command does not work, then try Windows+D and then back to Windows+M. For some reason, those commands dont work the first time pressed.

You should probably try closing all your windows before shutting down the system. Two do that, press and hold the alt key and tap the tab key until you hear the program you want to close. Do not close JAWS or you will not be able to hear what you are doing anymore. If you forgot to save a document or something, then the computer will ask you to save it before shutting down.

There are three other areas of the desktop that will be helpful to know about. Below is a link to the first one. Enter on that link to go to the lesson. Understanding the Start menu,

This is the end of the lesson.

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