Computer Navigation
Senior 1 · ICT
Computer Navigation
Lesson 1 of 5
16 min
Let's begin
When you log on to a computer in the ICT lab, the first screen you see is the desktop. Like the top of your school desk, it is where you lay out your work: programs, folders and files. Knowing its parts is the first step to using any computer confidently. This unit uses Microsoft Windows 10 and 11, the systems found in most Rwandan schools; other systems have the same parts with slightly different names.
Windows has a graphical user interface (GUI): you control the computer by pointing at and clicking small pictures instead of typing commands. The desktop is the main screen area you see after logging on.
An icon is a small picture that stands for a program, file, folder or place. Common desktop icons are:
The taskbar is the long bar along the bottom of the screen. From left to right in Windows 10 it holds:
| Part | What it does |
|---|---|
| Start button (the Windows logo) | Opens the Start menu. In Windows 11 it sits in the centre of the taskbar by default, next to the other icons. |
| Search | Type the name of a program, file or setting to find it. |
| Program buttons | Pinned programs you use often, and one button for each open program. A short line under a button shows that the program is running. Click a button to switch to that program. |
| Notification area (also called the system tray) | At the right end: the clock and date, volume, network (Wi-Fi), battery, keyboard language (for example ENG), and an arrow (^) that shows hidden icons. |
Click the Start button, or press the Windows key on the keyboard, to open the Start menu. It shows pinned programs, a list of all apps, a search box, your user account and the Power button, with the choices Sleep, Shut down and Restart.
Tip
Along the taskbar: Start, search, programs, tray. The Windows key opens Start; Windows key + D shows the desktop.
Where would you look to check the time and whether the computer is connected to Wi-Fi?
Solution: In the notification area (system tray) at the right end of the taskbar.
Gatete deletes the shortcut to the web browser from the desktop. Can he still use the browser?
Solution: Yes. A shortcut only points to the program. The browser is still installed and can be opened from the Start menu.
Three programs are open, but you can see only one window. How can you switch to another?
Solution: Click its button on the taskbar. (You can also press Alt + Tab, as the next lesson but one explains.)
Name three choices under the Power button in the Start menu.
Solution: Sleep, Shut down and Restart.
Remember
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
