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| One of the benefits of using Windows is that you can run several applications at once, but only one of them is active. The active program is affected by any commands you issue or data you enter. It is sometimes called the foreground application, because it always sits on top of the application windows. You may or may not see part of the other application windows underneath. Other open applications run in the background, and receive a relatively small part of your CPU's brain power. |
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| Whenever you run more than one application at a time, you'll need a method of switching from one to the next. One infallible way to switch to another open application is to click the application's button on the taskbar. |
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| If any part of the other program's application window is visible, you can click anywhere in that window to switch to that application. |
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| You can also press Alt+Tab to switch between applications. When you do this, Windows displays a window in the center of the screen that contains icons representing each program you're running. If you hold down Alt and continue to press Tab, Windows cycles through the programs, enclosing one after another within a box, and listing its name at the bottom of the window. When the program you want is selected, release both keys to switch to that program. |
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| To return to the desktop without closing applications, you can minimize all your application windows by clicking the Show Desktop button in the taskbar's Quick Launch toolbar. (If you're running Windows 95 without Internet Explorer 4.0 or later, you won't have a Quick Launch toolbar; instead, you can use the Minimize All option in the context menu) |
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| If you want to reverse this action later, just click the Show Desktop button again. This will restore all the windows you had open to the state they were in before you clicked the Show Desktop button the first time. Or you can return to particular programs by clicking the appropriate task button on the taskbar. Bear in mind that you don't need to return to the desktop to launch new programs; you can always use the Start menu. |
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