Setting up a desktop for children to use independently.

• Clear the desktop of everything that doesn't need to be there. The arrow in the bottom left corner of an icon indicates that the icon is a shortcut; if you delete the shortcut you only delete the icon and not the whole program. Documents and folders do not have to sit on the Desktop, the documents can be clicked and dragged into other folders in the 'C' drive.

• If there are programs that you want to retrieve quickly but the children do not need to access, rather than going through the 'Program menu', you can add the shortcut to the start menu. Click on Start - All Programs, click on the program you want and drag it across to the list of programs on the left hand side.

• Your Desktop should now only have a few essential items on it.

• Now create shortcuts to the programs that you want the children to be able to access independently. Start by adding just a few shortcuts and gradually add to these as the children know and use the programs. To add a shortcut to the desktop:

• Go to Start - All Programs and find the program icon. Click on it with your right mouse button and go down to 'Send to desktop'

• The shortcuts may now be lined up along the side of the desktop and locked to the grid. You can rearrange the icons to bring them into the centre of the screen. Right click on your mouse anywhere on the desktop. Click 'Arrange Icons By' go down to Auto arrange and un-tick. You may also need to un-tick 'Allign to grid'. Now drag the Icons to the centre of the screen.

• You can make the icons (shortcuts) larger by right clicking in any space on the desktop and clicking on 'Properties'. This brings up the 'Display properties' box. Click on the 'Appearance' tab, click on Effects and then tick 'Use Large Icons'.

• Children will now be able to choose the programs that would like to use and access them independently. If the programs are installed on your hard drive children can double click on any Icon to choose the program that they would like. If they are unable to double click show them how to click once and then press the enter button to launch the program.