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 company introduced Active Desktop along with Internet Explorer 4.0 in 1997. One of the more significant changes Microsoft made to the Windows desktop was the introduction of Active Desktop. As Windows matured, for example, the desktop included higher video resolution and color depth. Although Windows 10 still bears some similarities to Microsoft's early desktops, the Windows desktop has evolved considerably over the years. Windows has included a graphical desktop ever since the release of Windows 1.0. Microsoft released Windows 1.0 near the end of 1985. Like modern desktops, users could work with DeskMate to open applications and documents and to browse disk contents. Tandy released a text-based desktop called DeskMate in 1984. 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. Users can have multiple desktops for different projects or work environments they have and can switch between them.
#Desktop covers computer basic full#
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.Ī 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.