Main Menu Button

The stylized GNOME footprint on the panel is the Main Menu Button. Left-click on the button to expand it.

From here, you can start all the included applications and applets for GNOME (or use Nautilus—see the section called The Nautilus File Manager); you also have access to KDE applications, under KDE menus (if KDE is installed on your machine). These submenus give you access to a full range of applications on your system. From the Main Menu Button, you can also log out, run applications from a command line, and lock your screen, which runs a password protected screensaver.