1. A desktop is a term commonly used to describe a desktop computer or system unit.
2. When referring to an operating system or GUI (graphical user interface), the desktop is a system of organization of icons on a screen. The Microsoft Windows desktop was first introduced with Microsoft Windows 95 and included with every version of Windows since then. The image below is an example of the Microsoft Windows 7 desktop.
In this example, there are no icons on the desktop, and the wallpaper is a blue screen with the Windows 7 logo. Also, the taskbar is at the bottom of the desktop and contains the Start, taskbar icons, Windows Notification Area, and the time and date.
If you’re more familiar with a smartphone or tablet, you can think of the desktop as the home screen.
You can get to the Windows desktop at any time by pressing the Windows key and D at the same time or using Aero Peek.
What icons and items are found on the Windows desktop?
Some of the most common icons on the desktop include those for My Computer, Recycle Bin, your Internet browser (e.g., Internet Explorer), and My Documents. On the Windows desktop, you can find the Windows Start menu through the Start on the taskbar, and the Windows Notification Area.
If some or all of these icons are missing on the desktop, you can change which icons are displayed. Click the link below and follow the steps to show, or hide, these icons.
The date and time are also shown on the desktop, in the notification area on the taskbar. If the date and time are incorrect, you can change the date and time from the desktop.
Should I capitalize the word «desktop» in my writing?
Unless at the beginning of a sentence, «desktop» should be written as all lowercase when referring to part of a GUI operating system.
Other words that contain the word desktop, such as «Active Desktop» and «Remote Desktop» are capitalized. Settings and options may also capitalize desktop in their description.
Related pages
3. With software, a desktop is a Graphical User Interface metaphor in a desktop environment for the interaction between the user and the operating system.
4. Desktops is a Windows Sysinternals utility that allows users to manage applications on up to four virtual desktops, all accessible using the tray icon interface.
Active Desktop
Active Desktop Компонент Microsoft Windows
Детали
Поставляется с
95 — Server 2003
Active Desktop (активный рабочий стол) — элемент, с помощью которого можно настроить рабочий стол в операционной системе Windows таким образом, чтобы он работал как веб-страница, на которой могут располагаться как гиперссылки, так и другие элементы HTML 4.0 (в том числе элементы выбранных веб-узлов с поддержкой автоматического обновления).
Эта технология впервые появилась в Internet Explorer 4.0 и позволяла обновить рабочий стол операционной системы Windows 95 или Windows NT 4.0. Более поздние версии Windows, в состав которых входил Internet Explorer 4.x (Windows 98) или Internet Explorer 5.x (Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003) поддерживали Active Desktop сразу после установки системы. В операционной системе Windows Vista (в состав которой входит Internet Explorer 7.0) поддержка технологии уже отсутствует. Возможности, аналогичные Active Desktop, там предоставляют WebSlices (англ.), Windows Vista Sidebar, частично Dreamscene.
Литература
Wikimedia Foundation . 2010 .
Смотреть что такое «Active Desktop» в других словарях:
Active Desktop — A component of Microsoft Windows Details Included with Windows 95 or NT 4.0 with Internet Explorer 4.0, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows XP, Windows 2003 Replaced by Windows Sidebar and Windows Desktop Gadgets Active Desktop was a… … Wikipedia
Active Desktop — (Escritorio Activo) es una característica opcional de Windows Desktop Update para Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 que permite al usuario agregar contenido HTML en el escritorio (desktop) de Windows, junto con algunas otras características.… … Wikipedia Español
Active Desktop — der, Bezeichnung von Microsoft für eine Windows Oberfläche, bei der a) direkt vom Arbeitsplatz aus bestimmte Internetseiten aufgerufen werden können und b) die auf dem Arbeitsplatz vorhandenen Links automatisch aktualisiert werden (der Desktop… … Universal-Lexikon
Active desktop — est une fonctionnalité de Microsoft Windows apparue avec la version 98. Elle permet d afficher, en fond d écran, une page web ou des applications actives (horloge, cartes météo, . ) un peu à la manière des widgets sous Mac OS. Si le navigateur… … Wikipédia en Français
Active Desktop — est une fonctionnalité de Microsoft Windows apparue avec la version 98. Elle permet d afficher, en fond d écran, une page web ou des applications actives (horloge, cartes météo. ) un peu à la manière des widgets sous Mac OS. Si le navigateur… … Wikipédia en Français
Active Desktop — Der Begriff Active Desktop bezeichnet eine Funktion des Betriebssystems Microsoft Windows, Inhalte aus dem Internet auf dem Desktop anzuzeigen, ohne einen Browser verwenden zu müssen.[1] Er ist Bestandteil der Active Platform.[1] Anwender können… … Deutsch Wikipedia
Active Desktop — In Microsoft Windows, a user interface feature that makes the Desktop look and behave just like a Web page, with underlined icons and a hand mouse pointer. Active Desktop is offered as an alternative to the classic Windows user interface; you… … Dictionary of networking
Active Desktop — option to display components of Internet sites directly on a personal computer (such as HTML and JAVA APPLET items) … English contemporary dictionary
Active Platform — [dt. »aktive Plattform«], Sammelbegriff von Microsoft für verschiedene eigene Software Produkte und technologien für Internet und Intranet. Idee der Architektur von Active Platform ist die Integration aller Komponenten unter einem Dach. Dem… … Universal-Lexikon
Active Channel — is a website type which was introduced by Internet Explorer 4.0 in 1997. It allows synchronizing website content and viewing it offline. It makes use of the Channel Definition Format, which is a way of defining a website s content and… … Wikipedia
Using the Active Desktop Object
[This feature is supported only under WindowsВ XP or earlier. ]
This article contains information on the ActiveDesktop object that is part of the Windows Shell API. This object, through its IActiveDesktop interface, enables you to add, remove, and change items on the desktop.
Overview of the Active Desktop Interface
The Active Desktop is a feature introduced with Microsoft Internet ExplorerВ 4.0 that enables you to include HTML documents and items (such as Microsoft ActiveX Controls and Java applets) directly to your desktop. The IActiveDesktop interface, which is part of the Windows Shell API, is used to programmatically add, remove, and modify the items on the desktop. Active Desktop items can also be added using a Channel Definition Format (CDF) file.
Accessing the Active Desktop
To access the Active Desktop, a client application would need to create an instance of the ActiveDesktop object (CLSID_ActiveDesktop) with the CoCreateInstance function and retrieve a pointer to the object’s IActiveDesktop interface.
The following sample shows how to retrieve a pointer to the IActiveDesktop interface.
Adding a Desktop Item
There are three methods you can use to add a desktop item: IActiveDesktop::AddDesktopItem, IActiveDesktop::AddDesktopItemWithUI, and IActiveDesktop::AddUrl. Each desktop item added to the Active Desktop must have a different source URL.
The IActiveDesktop::AddDesktopItemWithUI and IActiveDesktop::AddUrl methods both provide the option to display the various user interfaces that can be displayed before adding a desktop item to the Active Desktop. The interfaces verify whether users want to add the desktop item to their Active Desktop. The interfaces also notify users of any security risks that are warranted by the URL security zone settings, and they ask users if they would like to create a subscription for this desktop item. Both methods also provide a way of suppressing the user interfaces. The IActiveDesktop::AddDesktopItem method requires a call to IActiveDesktop::ApplyChanges in order to update the registry. For the IActiveDesktop::AddDesktopItemWithUI, the client application must immediately release the IActiveDesktop interface and then use the CoCreateInstance function to retrieve an interface to an instance of the ActiveDesktop object that includes the newly added desktop item.
The IActiveDesktop::AddDesktopItem method adds the specified desktop item to the Active Desktop without any user interface, unless the URL security zone settings prevent it. If the URL security zone settings do not allow the desktop item to be added without prompting the user, the method fails. IActiveDesktop::AddDesktopItem also requires a call to IActiveDesktop::ApplyChanges in order to update the registry.
The following sample demonstrates how to add a desktop item with the IActiveDesktop::AddDesktopItem method.
Enumerating the Desktop Items
To enumerate the desktop items currently installed on the Active Desktop, the client application needs to retrieve the total number of desktop items installed using the IActiveDesktop::GetDesktopItemCount method and then creating a loop that retrieves the COMPONENT structure for each desktop item by calling the IActiveDesktop::GetDesktopItem method using the desktop item index.
The following sample demonstrates one way to enumerate the desktop items.
desktop
A desktop is a computer display area that represents the kinds of objects one might find on top of a physical desk, including documents, phone books, telephones, reference sources, writing and drawing tools, and project folders.
A desktop can be contained in a window that is part of the total display area or can be full screen, taking up the total display area. Users can have multiple desktops for different projects or work environments they have and can switch between them.
It is tempting to think of the desktop as being synonymous with the Windows graphical user interface (GUI), but the concept of a desktop has existed for longer than the Windows operating system.
Tandy released a text-based desktop called DeskMate in 1984. Like modern desktops, users could work with DeskMate to open applications and documents and to browse disk contents. Microsoft released Windows 1.0 near the end of 1985.
Windows has included a graphical desktop ever since the release of Windows 1.0. Although Windows 10 still bears some similarities to Microsoft’s early desktops, the Windows desktop has evolved considerably over the years. As Windows matured, for example, the desktop included higher video resolution and color depth.
One of the more significant changes Microsoft made to the Windows desktop was the introduction of Active Desktop. The company introduced Active Desktop along with Internet Explorer 4.0 in 1997. It was first intended for use on Windows 95, but was eventually supported by Windows 98 and Vista before the company eventually discontinued it. The Active Desktop feature displayed HTML content directly on the Windows desktop.
In Windows 8, Microsoft broke away from using the traditional desktop layout. The release eliminated the Start menu and introduced a new interface called Metro, which Microsoft designed to compete with mobile operating systems, such as Apple iOS.
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Although Windows 8 included a desktop layout, it forced users to toggle back and forth between the desktop interface and the Metro interface depending on which application they were using. The hallmark of the Metro interface was live tiles, which were tiles that could display application data, such as weather information or stock market reports, as opposed to acting as static desktop icons.
In Windows 10, Microsoft brought back the Start menu, and it merged Metro and the legacy Windows desktop into a single, blended desktop interface.
Although Microsoft is largely credited with the introduction and evolution of the GUI desktop, nearly all modern desktop operating systems include a GUI desktop. This is true of Windows, Apple macOS and Linux.
A virtual desktop refers to a desktop operating system, such as Windows 10, that runs on top of an enterprise hypervisor. End users access virtual desktops through thin clients. A remote desktop protocol transmits screen images and keyboard and mouse inputs between the user’s device and the server on which the virtual desktop runs.
From a functional standpoint, there is no difference between a consumer desktop and an enterprise desktop. Even so, enterprise desktops tend to be more tightly controlled. Enterprise desktops are commonly branded with a wallpaper containing the organization’s logo, and they typically include a set of icons that the IT department has approved.
Related Terms
user interface (UI)
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