Getting to see the Desktop!

Suppose you're browsing the internet with Explorer, you've got a document open in Works, an email message half completed in Outlook Express, and suddenly you find you need to get to the desktop to use the shortcut that opens your folder of favourite family pictures. How to get to the desktop quickly without closing all the stuff you're using?
If you have Windows 98, look for the small icon in the system tray (left hand side, bottom of the screen near the start button). You should see a small icon there which looks like a deskpad, with a pen in the middle. Click this icon and all the application that are open will close, leaving the desktop visible. Click it again, and all the applications that were previously open will reappear. There's another neat method too
(if you don't happen to have Windows 98, or you may prefer this method anyway):-
Click the Start button, then select Run, and type a single period . in the slot and tap Enter.
A new folder will open up in front of you; it's a miniature version of the desktop with all the icons visible. Just click the one you want and you're there. If you find the window is too cluttered with large icons, you can view them more conveniently by clicking "view" in the window's menu bar, then selecting small icons, or list. You will notice the new "desktop" window has its own button on the taskbar. You can click that taskbar button to park the new window out of the way, and retrieve it at any time by clicking the button again. Quite handy at times!
You will also notice that, next time you select Start, then Run, the last entry you made (in this case a single period .) is still there. So getting to the desktop is simply a matter of Start, Run, Enter.

John Selby, (technical bloke)

First Printed in SNN Newsletter August 2001