The way my Ubuntu system works is that after you sign on to the initial screen it brings up a page with icons on a tool bar across the top of screen and you either click an Icon or the "Applications" button to run applications. When you point to the icons with the mouse a little box shows up that tells you what they are - like Firefox for accessing the web. It is possible that your system may bypass the initial sign on screen.

I'm surprised Dell hassled you about the system - perhaps they are losing the golden touch....