Windows Basics:
Control the Window

 Title: Jan's Illustrated Computer Literacy 101

You can control the location and size of a window with  the Title bar buttons, Titlebar buttons (WinXP) or Buttons: Titlebar (Vista, Win 7) and by Icon- left drag mouse dragging with your mouse. The shape of the mouse pointer tells you what action will take place when you drag. We have already used the Cursor-vertical resize Vertical Resize on the taskbar. Here is a list to remind you of the possible shapes when resizing or moving.

List of pointer shapes


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: Control the Window

  Icon Step-by-Step

What you will learn:

to minimize, maximize, and restore a window
to move a window
to resize a window

Start with: Desktop with Control Panel open Control Panel open

Minimize, Maximize, & Restore the Window

  1. If necessary, open the Control Panel again. [Start menu > Settings > Control Panel or Start > Control Panel]
  2. Left click Click on the Minimize button Minimize button Button: Minimize (Vista) on the right of the Title bar on the Control Panel window. Where does the Control Panel go? It is minimized to an button on the taskbar.
     
  3. Left click  Click on  the taskbar button for the Control Panel  Taskbar button: Control Panel (WinXP) Taskbar button: Control Panel (Vista) Button: Control Panel on the Taskbar. The window pops back into view on the desktop as the active window. The color of the Title bar is different when a window is inactive. A good color scheme will make the difference obvious.
     
  4. Left click Click on the Maximize Button- Maximize Button: Maximize (Vista) button on the right of the Title bar. Wow! The window now takes up the whole desktop. Notice that the Maximize button Button- Maximize Button: Maximize (Vista) has changed to the Restore button Restore button Button: Restore (Vista).

    Control Panel maximized Control Panel maximized (Vista) Control Panel - maximized (Win7)

  5. Left click Click on the Restore button Restore button Button: Restore (Vista) on the right of the Title bar. Your Control Panel reverts to its previous size. Tada!

Move the Window: Mouse

  1. Icon-left drag Drag the Title bar, using a spot that is not on a button or the control icon on the left. This moves the whole window to a new spot on the desktop. Simple.

    Icon: Experiment Icon: Windows 7 Windows 7: Experiment! Drag the window to the top, left, or right edge of the screen and hover briefly there. The window will dock to that edge and resize. At the top edge, the window maximizes. At the left or right edge, the window resizes to take up half the screen.

     To undock: Drag by the title bar or use a key combo, Windows key Key: Windows + direction arrow.

Move the Window: Keyboard

Icon: WinXPIcon: Windows VistaThe Title bar can get moved out of sight off screen. To get it back, you need a keyboard method, which could be used at other times if you prefer it.

  1. Menu: Control (Vista)Control menuKeyboard tip Hold down the ALT  key and at the same time press the spacebar (ALT + space) to drop the control menu from the Title bar icon. This menu will appear even when the Title bar itself is not visible.
     
    TipIcon: Windows VistaIcon: Windows 7Windows Vista & Win7 do not show an icon at the left of the Title bar for the Control Panel window or for Computer/Explorer windows. The control menu is still there! You can right click anywhere on the bar that is not a button.
     
  2. Keyboard tipPress the key for the letter M. The pointer changes to Cursor - Move shape the Move shape.
     
  3. Use Arrow keys the arrow keys to move the window once your pointer has Cursor - Move shape  the Move shape.  Do not use the mouse at this point or you will lose your Move pointer.
     
  4. Press the ENTER key to fix the window in place.

Change Window Size

To resize a window is an easy dragging job. You already worked with the Vertical Resize when you resized the taskbar. You will add two other directions to your skills list.

TipWhen a window has diagonal lines in the corner Statusbar: Diagonals in the corner mean the window can be resized Status Bar: Resizable corner (Vista) (even if they are hard to see!), it can be resized. Some windows don't show the diagonal lines but can be resized anyway. Oh, for some consistency!

  1. Move the pointer to the top or bottom edge of the Control Panel window until the pointer changes to Vertical Resize shape the Vertical Resize shape.
     
  2. Icon-left drag Drag the edge to make the window taller. Release the mouse button and move the pointer off the window edge.
     
  3. Move the pointer to the left or right edge of the Control Panel window until the pointer changes to Cursor- Horizontal resize the Horizontal Resize shape.
     
  4. Icon-left drag Drag the edge to make the window wider. Release the mouse button and move the pointer off the window edge.
     
  5. Move the pointer to a corner of the window until the pointer changes to Diagoanl Resize shape or Diagonal Resize shape the Diagonal Resize shapes.
     
  6. Icon-left drag Drag to resize the window in two directions at once. Convenient!

    Icon: Experiment Experiment: Change size of window using keys
    Keyboard tip Did you notice the Size command on the Control menu? If you chose that command, the pointer turns into the Move shape. Pressing an arrow key pops the pointer over to the edge of the window in that direction. Pressing the arrow key again, changes the window size in direction of the arrow. Try it! It's actually a pretty cool trick!!
     

  7. Close the Control Panel window.