Learning the Basics

101

Starting a program

The next three sections explain how to start a program from the Start menu, Explorer and the Run dialog box.

Starting a program from the Start menu

When you install a program, the operating system usually puts an icon in the All Programs menu. To start a program that has an icon in the All Programs menu, follow these steps, which use the Windows® WordPad program as an example:

1Click Start, then point to All Programs.

The Windows® operating system displays the All Programs menu, which lists programs and program groups. If your program is listed, go to step 3, otherwise, continue with step 2.

2Point to the program group, in this example, Accessories. The Accessories menu is displayed.

3Click the program, in this example, WordPad. WordPad opens.

To close the program, click the Close button in the upper- right corner of the program’s window.

Starting a program from Windows® Explorer

If a program is not listed in the All Programs menu, you can start it from Windows® Explorer. Windows® Explorer gives you a view of your computer’s contents as a hierarchy or “tree.” You can easily see the contents of each drive and folder on your computer. To use this method, you should know the file name and location of the program’s executable file (this file ends with .exe).

This example opens WordPad using Windows Explorer.

1Click Start, then point to All Programs.

2Click Accessories.