1. A method in a computer system having a user interface including a display, a cursor, and a cursor control device, and an operating system, the method for providing one or more menu tools from an operating system to one or more applications having one or more application windows, the method comprising the steps of: representing a menu item associated with the one or more menu tools as an interactive icon in a region in one of the one or more application windows, the region associated with a special operating mode; and making an operating system function associated with the menu item available to the one of the one or more application windows directly from the operating system by interaction with the interactive icon.