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<h2>The Notification Area</h2>The Notification Area is found near the top right area of your desktop.
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<screenshot src="images/panel_notification-area.png" />
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This displays several applets to change system behaviour. Some applications will add their own applet to the Notification Area, which do things like give status, set options, or show & hide the application.
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Here are the default items in the notification area:
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<ul><screenshot src="images/panel_notification-area_calendar.png" width="100" align="right" /><li>Clock - this shows the system date and time and also lets you modify clock settings and the location settings of your computer.</li>
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<li>Sound Controls - this allows you to easily modify the system's sound preferences.</li>
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<li><screenshot src="images/panel_notification-area_message-me.png" width="200" align="right" />Messaging Menu - this contains a section for all of the messaging applications set up on the computer.</li>
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<li>Internet Connectivity - this shows if your computer is connected to the Internet, and contains options about what network to connect to. This applet is more important to laptop users.</li>
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<li>Battery - this shows charging and discharging status of the battery. By default this only shows when a battery is present and isn't full, but this can be changed.</li><screenshot src="images/panel_notification-area_memenu.png" style="float:right; max-width:100px;"/>
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<li>MeMenu - this launches Ubuntu's Me Menu, a comprehensive social networking application that lets you connect to some of the most popular social networking sites available.</li>
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<screenshot src="images/panel_notification-area_power-options.png" style="float:right; max-width:180px;"/><li>Power Menu - allows you to log out, suspend, hibernate, shut down, or restart the computer.
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<ul><li>Logging out will end your session, and allow another user to use the computer.</li><li>Shutting down the computer will close all applications and turn off.</li><li>Suspending is a lot like putting the system to sleep. The computer is still powered on and all of the applications are left running, however, it uses much less power.</li><li>Hibernating is like shutting down the computer but saving the current state. When you switch the computer on, all of the work you were doing prior to hibernation is restored.</li><li>Rebooting or restarting completes a power cycle -- that is the computer is shut down and switched back on again.</li></li></ul>