The Macintosh system 7.0 and later handles multitasking pretty much the same way that the other operating systems do. There are a couple of key differences. In the Windows world, each window can have its own menu visible. If you have three windows on the screen, you could see three menus. In the Mac world, there is only one menu, and it is always on the top of the screen. It is conceivable to have a program showing on the screen and the menu from a completely different (!) program at the top of the screen. This happens quite a lot to beginners. The key to multitasking in the Mac environment is the programs menu., on the upper right hand corner of the screen. This menu shows a little icon representing the currently active program. If you open the menu, you can see all the other open (inactive) programs. If you use this menu to hide programs, the only way you can get back to them is through the programs menu again. If you get in trouble on a Macintosh, the first thing to do is check to see if you are using the program you think you are using.