I'm just a student who received my laptop from my uncle, who's a coder, so I'm still getting used to working with ubuntu. I recently upgraded ubuntu from an earlier version, and everything seems to be pretty great. The only thing is that when I open a program, or file, or whatever, it takes up the whole screen. I can only close it by going to the far top left of my screen, or by ctrl+W. Anyways, I find it really hard to switch between programs. For example I really like to have my windows that are open to be accessible by clicking on their icon at the bottom of the screen... Great when writing or researching. Anyways, I really just want to find an easier way to switch windows.

Also, I used to love the way I could cube-rotate my screen, and just drag files from one desktop to another, with compiz. Now, its sort of like flipping a coin when I switch windows, is there any way to get my desktop cube back? And yes, I have enabled all the old settings I used to use with compiz.

Sorry if what I'm asking is very basic, I know how to use a computer, I'm just not really familiar with the interface! Any help is greatly appreciated.