Chapter 3: Opening Programs and Documents
Just about everything you do on a computer involves using some program. As you probably know,
thousands of programs are available for Windows computers, ranging from games for toddlers to
advanced programming languages. Windows XP comes with many programs built right in. The larger
programs, such as Windows Media Player, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and so forth, are described in a
later chapter in this book. Some of the smaller, simpler programs, such as Calculator and WordPad, are
covered here in this chapter.
Using Programs
The term program generally refers to something you buy to use on your computer. There are programs
to do just about anything imaginable on your PC. All programs are, of course, software. Programs also
are known as application programs, or applications, or even just apps for short. Small simple programs,
such as the Calculator and WordPad programs that come with Windows XP, are often referred to as
applets.
Many programs enable you to create, edit (change), print, or play documents. For example, you might
use WordPad or Microsoft Word to create, edit, and print typewritten documents. You might use a
graphics program to create drawings, or to edit digital photographs, as well as to print them. A program
such as Windows Media Player enables you to play multimedia documents such as music and video.
Opening programs
To use a program, you need to start it on your system. There are lots of different words for “starting” a
program. For example, the terms launch a program, open a program, run a program, execute a
program, and fire up a program all mean the same as start a program. Each program you start will
generally appear in its own window on the Windows desktop.
The typical scenario for starting any program in Windows XP is as follows:
1. Click the Start button.
2. If you see an icon for the program you want to start in the left half of the menu, click its icon
and skip the remaining steps.
3. Click All Programs to see a more complete list of programs on your computer.
4. Click the icon for the program you want to start. Alternatively, if necessary, click the option
that provides the submenu for the program you want. Then click the icon.
As an example of the last step, the icon for the Calculator program is inside the Accessories submenu.
Therefore, to start Calculator, you must point to Accessories, and then click the Calculator option, as in
Figure 3-1.