As you can see from a previous picture which shows the Windows services, Oracle XE starts automatically when the Window OS starts. You can also start, stop, and pause the server from the services screen.

When XE is installed, several shortcuts are also added to All Programs (in Windows XP Professional) as shown in the next picture. What you would be doing normally is start and stop from the shortcut. When you click on the Go to Database Home Page... shortcut, you will encounter the login screen shown in the next section.

Logging on as System

In the beginning you will be logging on as SYSTEM using the password that you chose in an earlier step. I hope you did save the password. Enter the credentials now. Note that there are a number of useful links which will enlarge your view of XE as well as allow you to participate in forums where you can pose your questions.

Now with these credentials entered you will get to the next screen, which shows you a pretty neat, tidy and well organized UI. Now there are four main areas that you should know about. These are Administration, SQL, Object Browser, and Utilities. Each of these is a node with several child nodes which you will access. 

Clicking on the Administration Icon on the down arrow marked 2 pops up other menu drop-downs from which you may access the particular drop-down menu. This interface is very convenient for accessing the specific area in which you are interested. You don't have the Microsoft Menu style, but still this is as good as the menu system you may be very familiar with from other software.

On the other hand, if you click on the icon at the position marked 1, you will find the following screen.

The Object Browser gives you access to all the database objects, such as tables, views, functions, and so on as shown in the next picture.

The SQL icon gives you access to the SQL Commands, SQL Scripts, and the Query Builder.

Of course, you cannot do without utilities, and this next screen gives access to the various utilities.