August 23, 2001

You've seen items in the Windows setup and heard about the Windows active desktop, but what is it? The Active Desktop consists of two components -- single-click mode and the Web-page view. To help you to understand them more fully and to help you decide which you'd like to use, let's begin by taking a more detailed look at each component.

The Active Desktop consists of two components -- single-click mode and the Web-page view. To help you to understand them more fully and to help you decide which you'd like to use, let's begin by taking a more detailed look at each component. When you enable single-click mode, you can launch applications as well as open files and folders from the desktop, My Computer, Windows Explorer, and Network Neighborhood simply by single-clicking the item's icon. The Start menu already works with a single-click. Some people prefer to set everything to start with a single click. In addition, all the icons will behave like links on a Web page. For example, the icon's titles are underlined and when you position your mouse pointer over an icon, the mouse pointer changes from an arrow to a hand, just as it does in Internet Explorer. The disadvantage to single-click is it is very difficult to select items, especially in Windows Explorer because the single click will try to execute the file or program. To setup for single-click, go to My Computer, click on the Tools menu, click on folder options, then click on the item for single click to open an item.

When you enable the Web-page view, your desktop essentially becomes a Web page capable of displaying anything that you'd find on any site on the Internet. For example, once you activate the Web-page view, you can add all kinds of pre-fabricated Web content to your desktop, including live ActiveX objects, animated graphics, and much more. If you want to use all the features of the Active Desktop, enabling them is easy. To begin, open My Computer, pull down the View menu and select the Folder Options command. When you do, you'll see the Folder Options properties sheet. To enable both of the Active Desktop features -- single-click and Web-page view -- simply select the Web Style option and click OK. When you do so the very first time, Windows 95/98 will display the Single-click dialog box which asks you if you're sure that you want to use single-click. To continue, just click OK.

My suggestion: Some problems encountered with your computer interfacing with other things through the active desktop can cause problems, even if you aren't using active desktop to update things. In general, it is better to leave the active desktop turned off and eliminate yet another source for problems occurring with your computer.

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