Icons mouse cursor and start menu in Windows 7

Windows 7 icons

Icons are still the building blocks of today's graphical user interfaces. Icons look like a picture, and that's no accident because they're simple representations of different locations and items on your computer. For example, Windows 7 displays different types of icons to represent items such as these:

Files and folders
Programs you can run
Hardware, such as hard drives, DVD drives, and printers
Internet connections
Other computers on your home or office network

Windows 7 mouse cursor

InWindows 7, the mouse cursor is more than just a focus for your clicking finger - although that is its main use. When your cursor isn't pointing the way, it can also show:

Status: computer activity, such as loading a file or applying a command
Selection: Select text or graphics
Location: Your position in a document
File movement: Progress while you're copying or moving files

By the way, you can also click your right mouse button when the mouse cursor is resting atop something to display a pop-up menu that includes commands that are specific to the item you're hovering over. For example, if you right-click a digital photograph that you saved to your hard drive, you can choose to preview it, edit it, or print it. Contextual menus usually contain everything that applies to a particular file. Some programs, such as Photoshop, even add their own commands to the contextual menu.

Windows 7 Start menu

Another familiar face that you see often in Windows 7 is the Start menu. The name actually fits its purpose because you can start from this single menu virtually every activity and task that your computer can perform. To use the Start menu, move your mouse cursor to the bottom of your desktop until the Start button appears in the lower-left corner. Click the Start button, move your cursor to an icon or a command, and then click. Highlights of the Windows 7 Start menu are:

All Programs list: Run any program installed on your computer.
Recent Applications list: It's on the left, which makes it easy to run a program that you used, well, recently.
Documents link: Quickly access any document that you created or saved to your hard drive.
Control Panel: Configure Windows 7 to your preferences.
Pictures and Music links: Go directly to your digital photographs and digital music files.
Games link: Does this one need an explanation?
Start Search text box: Track down specific files, folders, or locations within your system.
Access to your network locations: Examples are your Internet connection and any home or office network that your computer can use.

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