Other Ways to Configure Windows

The Control Panel isn't the only way to configure Windows. Let's examine two more common approaches that you may encounter.

Right-Click Menus

As you're probably aware, Windows is highly right-clickable. That is, most items on the screen do something when you right-click them. (That's distinguished from the normal left-click operation, which typically opens or launches an item.)

In most instances, right-clicking an item displays a pop-up menu. This menu is item-specific, meaning that the options on the menu are specific to the item being clicked. For example, right-clicking an open area of the desktop brings up a different menu than does right-clicking the Start menu button/orb. The menus are finetuned for individual items.

When you right-click an item on the new Windows 7 taskbar, you display not a pop-up menu but a jump list-typically a list of common commands for that program, as well as that program's most recently opened documents.

One common option on most right-click menus is the Properties option. In most instances, clicking this option displays a Properties dialog box for that item. It's this dialog box that enables you to configure various settings for the selected item.

So if in doubt, right-click the item you wish to configure. Chances are it will lead you to that item's Properties dialog box-and the configuration option you seek.