Windows Basics:
Context Menus

 Title: Jan's Illustrated Computer Literacy 101

Windows shows a popup menu when you right click on something. What is on the menu depends on what you clicked on and, sometimes, on what you were doing. That makes the menu context-sensitive.

Menu: Right Click on Computer icon (Vista)

Context-sensitive menu: Computer icon (Windows Vista)

Using the context menus can save your wrist a lot of work. The commands you are most likely to need are on the menu that pops up right beside your pointer. Hardly any distance to move at all!

It may take you a while to get into the habit of using the right mouse button to open these context-sensitive menus. Make the effort. There are programs that have commands that are not accessible except from a popup menu!


Where you are:
JegsWorks > Lessons > Windows

Before you start...

Project 1: Windows Basics
    Desktop & Taskbar
    Window
    Mouse Subtopics display    
    icon-footprint Start Up
    icon-footprint Shut Down
    icon-footprint Control Mouse
    icon-footprint Control Window
    icon-footprint Context Menus
    Dialog BoxTo subtopics
    Windows HelpTo subtopics
    Summary
    Quiz
    ExercisesTo subtopics

Project 2: Files & FoldersTo subtopics

    Search
    Glossary
Icon Step-by-Step 

Step-by-Step: Context Menus

  Icon Step-by-Step

What you will learn:

 to open context-sensitive menus
what is on some of the popup menus

Start with: Monitor with desktop with Taskbar showing.

  1. Menu: right click on Start button (Vista)Right Click Menu: Start (WinXP)Popup menu for Start buttonRight click Right click on the Start button. A menu appears. There may be other entries on your menu, depending on what other software is installed on the computer.
     
  2. Press the ESC key. The menu vanishes.  
  3. Menu: right click Taskbar (Vista)Right Click Menu: Taskbar (WinXP)Popup menu for TaskbarRight click Right click on a blank area of the Taskbar. An entirely different menu appears.

    Find the entry - Properties, which is usually at the bottom of any context-sensitive menu. Most objects in Windows have properties that you can change. What those properties are varies depending on what the object is, of course.

    Commands that are in gray are not available at this time. For example, you cannot use Cascade Windows until you have some windows open to cascade. Duh!

  4. Right click Right click on the My Computer icon on the desktop. (In Vista its name is just Computer)
    Again we see a different menu. But Properties is still there, down at the bottom.
     

    Right click Menu: My Computer (Win98)
    Win98

    Right Click Menu: My Computer icon (WinXP)
    WinXP

    Right click menu: Computer (Vista)
    Windows Vista
  5. Right click Right click on a blank area of the desktop itself. Again we see a different menu with Properties at the bottom.
Right click Menu: Desktop (Win98)
Win98
WinXP		 Right Click Menu: Desktop - Personalize (Vista)
Windows Vista
We will not investigate what the Properties actually are at this point. The purpose of this lesson is to practice with Context Menus