Computer interface method and apparatus with targeted advertising

A computer-readable memory for use by a computer to provide a user of the computer with an integrated graphical interface to a plurality of computer resources, the computer-readable memory comprising:

• a non-volatile data storage device;
• a program stored on said non-volatile data storage device in a computer-readable format;
• said program being operable upon execution to display a graphical user interface comprising an application window separated into a number of regions,
• a first one of said regions including a number of graphical objects, at least some of which are each representative of a different computer application and are selectable by the user via an input device, wherein said program is operable upon selection of one of said graphical objects to initiate execution of the computer application associated therewith;
• a second one of said regions including a number of menu items selectable by the user, each of said menu items having a function associated therewith;
• a third one of said regions including a plurality of user-selectable link category buttons each associated with a different data set, said data sets each comprising a number of links to different information resources, wherein said program is operable in response to selection of one of said link category buttons to display the links from the data set associated with said one of said link category buttons, with said program further being operable in response to selection of one of the displayed links to provide the user with access to its associated information resource via a browser application;
• a fourth one of said regions including a user-input text field, wherein said program is operable to access one or more computer files specified by the user via text inputted into said text field;
• a fifth one of said regions comprising a banner region, wherein said program is operable to access banner data and display said banner data in said banner region;
• and
• said window including a display object that is selectable by the user via the input device, wherein said program is operable in response to selection of the display object to access information stored on a data storage device located in a disk drive within the computer.

A computer-readable memory for use by a computer to provide a user of the computer with targeted information, comprising:

• a non-volatile data storage device;
• a program stored on said non-volatile data storage device in computer-readable format, said program being operable upon execution to display a window containing an information display region;
• wherein said program is operable to select and display informational data in said information display region, said informational data comprising a plurality of locally-stored display objects with at least some of said display objects each having a locally-stored data set associated therewith, said data sets each including one or more of the following data items:
• a category identifier that indicates a category of information to which the associated display object relates, wherein said program is operable in response to a user action relating to one of said categories of information to display in said information display region a display object having an associated category identifier that relates to that one category of information;
• a software application identifier that identifies a software application that may be accessible to the user via the computer, wherein said program is operable in response to user selection of the software application to display in said information display region a display object associated with the selected software application;
• whereby said program can present the user with display objects that are selected based on user action without requiring concurrent access to any other computer.