The Windows 7 Desktop: When your computer starts for the first time, what you see is called the Desktop. It will look something like this: Description of the Windows desktop. The Desktop is split into two areas. The strip at the bottom, with the clock placed just on the right side and the round Start button to the left, is called the Taskbar. I will give you a more detailed description of the taskbar below. The Taskbar : Taskbar The taskbar is a special toolbar that you use to start programs, switch among your open programs and windows, minimize and restore windows, and receive important alerts about certain programs and computer settings. You can dock the toolbar along any edge of the Windows desktop, and you can customize many aspects of the taskbar's appearance and behavior through the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties dialog box. Taskbar Structure The main parts of the taskbar include: the *. Start button, *. the taskband, *. deskbands (if present), *. the notification area, *. the Show desktop button. Start Button: The Start button appears at the left end of the taskbar (or at the top if you've docked the taskbar to a side of the desktop) You can move the taskbar to the sides of your windows screen as well as its traditional area of the bottom. You use the Start button to open the Start menu. Taskband: The taskband occupies the middle part of the taskbar. It contains taskbar buttons that you use to start programs and switch among the programs and windows that are already open. In the default view, the taskbar button for each program appears as a single button, even when multiple windows are open for a program. You can customize the taskbar to change how buttons appear and how they group together when you have multiple open windows, or you can choose to see individual buttons for each open window. You can also rearrange the taskbar buttons by dragging them so they appear in the order you prefer. By default, when a taskbar button has the focus, Windows displays a thumbnail containing an image of each open window for the associated program. A thumbnail can also contain a toolbar below the thumbnail image that lets you quickly access frequently used commands for a program without restoring the window or switching to it. For example, the thumbnail for a Windows MediaR Player window can contain a toolbar with commands such as Previous, Next, Play, and so on. Note Windows does not display thumbnails if you are using a theme such as WindowsR 7 Basic, Windows Classic, or one of the high-contrast themes. Each taskbar button has a Jump List that you can access by using the Application key, which is labeled with the following icon: The Jump List contains a list of recently opened items, along with lists of frequently opened items, tasks, and websites. The bottom three items in the Jump List are common to all programs. They include commands to start a new instance of the program, unpin the program from the taskbar, and close all of the program's windows (assuming that the program is running). Note: I have found that jump lists only worked within the startmenu list which is the first menu you access when you press the windows key. What these jump menus do is for example if I have Internet Explorer on my startmenu and use it frequently when I go to the startmenu and arrow down to Internet Explorer it will also contain a submenu . Contained within this submenu will be websites that I have frequently visited in the past. I can then right arrow into this sub menu and arrow to one of those sites which I may wish to revisit and press enter to open it up. Deskband: A deskband, an area to the right of (or below) the taskband, is a place where a program can put a small icon that gives you access to the program's important commands. The taskbar can include multiple deskbands, or none at all. You can move deskbands to the left of the taskband if you want to. Some programs that have used deskbands in previous versions are moving taskband functionality to the thumbnail toolbar. For example, Windows Media Player no longer has a deskband; instead, it provides buttons in the thumbnail toolbar that you can use to control media playback. Thumbnails are not really practical for those of us using screen readers as generally our screen reader will have altered the theme of windows which then will cause thumbnails not to be displayed. Notification Area: The notification area is near the right end (or near the bottom) of the taskbar. It includes a clock and icons that communicate the status of certain programs and computer settings. You can also keep the rest of the icons on hand in an overflow area where you can access them by clicking the Show hidden icons button. The notification area includes the Action Center icon that provides important notification messages and helpful information about security and maintenance settings. Other icons may also be present depending on which programs or services you have installed and how your computer manufacturer set up your computer. You can tab over to the notification area if your screen reader doesn't provide some dedicated keystroke to instantly pull up the list. Jaws for example uses keys, "insert + F11" to bring up a list of icons from the system tray while NVDA as far as I am aware doesn't have a dedicated keystroke but windows offers the key "Windows Key + B" to substitute for this. Show Desktop Button: The Show desktop button is at the opposite end of the taskbar from the Start button, just on the right side. You can click it (or press the Windows logo key+D) to minimize all windows to reveal the desktop. Clicking the Show desktop button a second time restores all windows to their previous positions. The rest of the Desktop is the space where all your programmes will appear when you start them up. This space contains a default background wallpaper, but it can also contain shortcuts to programmes, documents and folder. You can change the default background wallpaper should you wish to do so. Below I have provided some keys for use in navigating the taskbar area of Windows 7. Note that these keys are windows dedicated keystrokes and not screen reader specific. Windows Key + T = Bring up focus to the taskbar. Note: Use arrow keys to move left or right to each of the icons present. Windows Key + Numbers 1 to 9 = Activates a particular item on the taskbar. Windows key + B = Set focus to the notification area. Windows Key + D = Move focus to the desktop. Windows Key + M = Minimise all windows. Application Key = If a taskbar button has the focus, display the Jump List for the button. If a notification icon has the focus, display the application menu for the icon. Enter or Spacebar Keys = Activate the item that has focus. -- I am using the free version of SPAMfighter. We are a community of 7 million users fighting spam. SPAMfighter has removed 448 of my spam emails to date. Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len The Professional version does not have this message