The default window manager provided by &kde; is the K Window Manager (&kwin;). Please read The K Window Manager Handbook (which should be accessible from the &kde; Help Centre) for usage information. Are there keyboard shortcuts for &kwin; operations? Yes. Please refer to "The K Window Manager Handbook" for the list of shortcuts available. Can I define my own set of keyboard shortcuts? Yes. Launch the &kde; Control Centre and select Regional & AccessibilityKeyboard Shortcuts to configure window manager bindings like maximising windows, &etc;. When I "iconify" a window, it disappears. Where does it go? With many &X-Window; &GUI;s, the minimise button (a little dot) will erase the window that the program is running in and create, instead, an icon on the desktop. &kde; does not do this. Instead, when a window is iconified it is simply hidden (but the program is still running). There are a few ways to access disappeared windows: If you are running the taskbar part of &kicker;, you can choose to have a list of tasks displayed on your desktop. Iconified tasks will have their names displayed in grey. If you click the &MMB; on the root window (&ie;, the background of the desktop), &kwin; will give you a list of all available tasks. How do I maximise windows only vertically or horizontally? Provided your window is not already maximised, clicking on the maximise button with the &LMB;/&MMB;/&RMB; will maximise fully/vertically/horizontally respectively. What is shading a window? By shading a window we mean rolling up the window leaving just the title bar visible. You can do this by double clicking on the window title bar.