"Netscape 7.2" intro screen

When I click the Netscape 7.2 icon on my desktop I get thie following screen for a few seconds, before my home page appears.

The temporary screen depicts something that looks like an auto dashboard, with three arrow-like icons, each arrow pointing in a different direction. At the left side of the screen, the words "powered by Netscape Gecko" appears.

I’m curious: what is the significance of this screen? Does it have any use other than cosmetic? Do the different arrows <mean> anything? What is Gecko?

Thanks
…wdc

 

What you mention is the "splashscreen" which is shown by many programs. The splashscreen which you mention shows more or less what you see on part of your navigation toolbar, i.e. the forward and reverse , releod and stop, plus part of the URL bar. Gecko is the "engine" which drives Netscape ( as well as other programs, such as Mozilla). In other words not Internet Explorer.
And, it has no use whatever. In fact, I had to modify my shortcut Properties to see what you mention. My modification is done like this: right click on the shortcut|Properties, and type in the Target line this: -quiet (with a keyboard after the last existing character). Everything I have I customized, so I am guessing that it would be more or less: "C:\Program Files\Netscape\Netscape 7.2\netscp.exe" -quiet
The next time you use Netscape, will appear to take a bit longer, but will go directly into your Navigator.
So, the purpose is to keep your eyes busy.
I hope I covered everything.

 

Westside: Thanks for such a clear and complete explanation. ...wdc