If you're a beginner you might want to leave the main palettes open as shown so you can get more comfortable with them for training purposes. If they ever get annoying or you really don't use certain ones, you can turn them off by unchecking them or Xing out the window.

The different palettes are covered in detail and depth in the Basic Photoshop training program. You can access the file browser from the windows menu or from File: Browse (or from using shortcuts).

Most work in Photoshop can be shortened through the use of keyboard shortcuts. These will come natural to you step by step once you improve your skills but for now focus on learning to use the menu's so it will give you a broad base of Photoshop understanding to start with.

Take some time just to get comfortable navigating around the different menus and moving the palettes around in Photoshop. It's easy to create your own workspace in Photoshop. Many things are actually very easy to do, you just need the information to know how to do them and then some good time practicing in Photoshop.

The Basic Photoshop DVD training covers everything you'll need to know to fully understand how to use Photoshop proficiently. It takes you along step by step so you understand what is going on in the workspace environment right in front of you in realtime.

To create your own ‘custom' workspace, just move the palettes around to where you like them and then go to Window: Workspace: Save Workspace..

Type in a name for this workspace and press OK. You can always Reset Palettes Locations to their default under the same menu. You can create several customized workspaces.

Once again just get comfortable using the menu's and exploring the different palettes and tools.