To close a window just click on its Close button, located in the top-right corner of the window. If the window belongs to a program the program will terminate and release any resources (Graphics, Devices and so on) it was using so that other programs can use those resources. For example. A WebCam can only be used by one program at a time, which means other programs must wait for it to become available - when the program using the WebCam has terminated and released the WebCam (resource).

Fig 1.1  Closing a Custom Sized window

Fig 1.2  Closing a Maximized window

Another way to close a window is to use its File menu, located in the top-left corner of the window (Fig 1.3). Clicking on a window's File menu makes its menu-items appear (Fig 1.4).

Fig 1.3  Click on the File menu



Fig 1.4  Click on the CLOSE menu-item

After clicking on the File menu (Fig 1.3 above) its menu-items appear (Fig 1.4 above). Now go down (or up) the menu-items by moving the mouse pointer down (or up) until you reach the CLOSE menu-item. As you do this each menu-item will become highlighted in blue, temporarily, as you go past it. When you have reached CLOSE and have it highlighted in blue simply click the left mouse button to activate CLOSE. CLOSE will then close the window.

Folder windows usually have a CLOSE menu-item and File windows usually have an EXIT menu-item. In the case of file windows, it is up to the programmer what they call their CLOSE/EXIT menu-item. For example. They could call it EXIT PROGRAM or put it in a different language - it is up to them. Another example is that Internet Explorer uses EXIT on its file menu whereas Windows Live Messenger uses CLOSE on its file menu. So do not always expect to see CLOSE, or EXIT.

You can also close a window by using its taskbar icon's Options menu, which appears when you right-click over the taskbar icon (Fig 1.5). From there, you simply left-click on the CLOSE menu-item (Fig 1.6). It does not matter if the window is of a custom size, minimized or maximized because you are closing the window using its taskbar icon and not its CLOSE/EXIT button.

Fig 1.5  Click the Right Mouse Button whilst over a window's Taskbar Icon....




Fig 1.6  ....so that its Options menu appears.

As you can see, the taskbar icon's Options menu also offers you the chance to RESTORE the window back to its original size or MAXIMIZE it. In this example MOVE, SIZE and MINIMIZE are faded out so you cannot use them. This stands to reason as the window is minimized and therefore cannot be moved, sized or minimized.

When a window is minimized and you click the left mouse button on its taskbar icon the window becomes the front most (active) window and is set to its original size (if it was not maximized before) or its maximized size (if it was not sized before).

Fig 1.7  Left-Click on a window's Taskbar Icon to make it the active window - Right-Click its Taskbar Icon for its Options menu.

In the above example I clicked on the Computer taskbar icon to make its window the active window, which was originally sized (not maximized). I then clicked the right mouse button (right-clicked) on the Computer taskbar icon to show its Options menu, which gave me the choice to MOVE, SIZE, MINIMIZE, MAXIMIZE or CLOSE the Computer window. I chose to MAXIMIZE the window by clicking, with the left mouse button, the MAXIMIZE menu-item. MOVE and SIZE are the same as described in the Move A Window and Size A Window sections.

Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.  As stated here by the Microsoft Corporation.