John,

I know what controls are.
....
It has four, actually: minimise, maximise, control, and top-left-click
menu. (-:

The above show you know what controls are (at least to to some extent). But
somehow you cannot grasp the idea that some controls are not readily
recognisable as such ?

It has four, actually: minimise, maximise, control, and top-left-click
menu. (-:

True. I just tried to keep it simple.

Once again, I don't know what control you're referring to there

Maybe the problem is with the name "control".

How many controls do you see in the below picture - and I don't mean the
ones in the caption bar of the window itself :
http://zetcode.com/img/gui/winapi/statictext.png

Would you be surprised if I told you there is one ? Yes, the "I know you
told me ..." text is displayed by a control too. In this case the aptly
named "Static control" ('cause it does not respond to keyboard, mouse or
other input methods).

In other words, not all "controls" can be manipulated by the mouse or
keyboard (another example: a progress bar). And not all controls are
readily recognisable as such. In the above case because a static control
normally isn't given a border. In the case of the listview on the desktop
because it has been changed to /not/ to clear its background (causing it to
turn transparent) and is not given a border either.

Does that clarify it a bit ?

Regards,
Rudy Wieser