Windows 8 & 8.1

The normal edition, called just Windows 8/8.1, is for use in homes and small businesses.

A fancier edition, Windows 8/8.1 Pro, is for big businesses that insist on more security.

An even fancier edition, Windows 8/8.1 Enterprise, is for even bigger businesses that require even more security.

A stripped-down edition, Windows Real Time 8/8.1 (Windows RT 8/8.1), is for people who buy stripped-down computers (such as a tablet having a small battery, a cheap CPU chip that’s not Intel-compatible, and no hard drive).

a nice keyboard (including even a Menu key, which shows the symbol “º”)

a screen that can detect where you touched it (a touchscreen)

a mouse

Easy way              On a touchscreen, tap an object.

No touchscreen Using a mouse, click an object.

Easy way              On a touchscreen, swipe toward the left.

No touchscreen Rotate a mouse’s wheel toward you.

Easy way              On a touchscreen, swipe toward the right.

No touchscreen Rotate a mouse’s wheel toward the screen.

Easy way              On a touchscreen, pinch 2 fingers together.

No touchscreen While pressing Ctrl key, rotate mouse’s wheel toward you.

Easy way              On a touchscreen, spread 2 fingers apart.

No touchscreen While pressing Ctrl key, rotate mouse’s wheel toward screen.

Easy way              On a touchscreen, swipe from the right black border.

No touchscreen While pressing the Windows Start key, tap the C key.

& no keyboard      Slide a mouse until its pointer is at screen’s top-right corner.

Easy way              On a touchscreen, swipe from the left black border.

No touchscreen While pressing the Windows Start key, tap the Tab key.

& no keyboard      Using a mouse, click the screen’s top-left corner.

Easy way              On a touchscreen, swipe from top black border to bottom.

No touchscreen While pressing the Alt key, tap the F4 key.

& no keyboard      Using a mouse, swipe from the screen’s top edge to bottom.

Easy way              On a keyboard, press the Windows Start key.

No keyboard         Press Windows Start button (in screen’s bottom black border).

& no such button  Click the screen’s bottom-left corner.

& no mouse          On a touchscreen, choose Start from the Charms menu.

Easy way              On a keyboard, press the Menu key.

No Menu key        On a touchscreen, swipe from the bottom black border up.

& no touchscreen  Using a mouse, right-click a blank space on the screen.

Computer                                                                           What I paid

tablet computer (Toshiba’s Encore WT8-A32)                       $250 at Staples

laptop computer (Acer’s Aspire V5-571P-6866)               $550 at Best Buy

all-in-one computer (Hewlett-Packard’s Envy 20-d013w) $898 at Walmart

Acer’s laptop and Hewlett-Packard’s all-in-one are excellent.

Toshiba’s tablet is acceptable but occasionally gets confused and needs to restart.

Fundamentals

the tablet itself (8⅜ inches tall, 5⅜ inches wide, ⅜ of an inch thick)

a power adapter (black box, 2"´1¾"´1⅛", to convert AC power to DC)

a USB cable (for connecting your tablet to the power adapter or a computer)

the computer itself (15 inches wide, 10 inches front-to-back, ⅞-inch thick)

an outlet connector (to plug into an electrical outlet)

a battery (black cylinder, 10⅝ inches long, ¾-inch diameter)

a power adapter (black box, 3¾"´2"´1", to convert AC power to DC)

a port adapter (a split cable, to attach an Ethernet cable and a VGA cable)

the computer itself (20¼ inches wide, 16½ inches tall, 7¾ inches deep)

a power adapter (black box, 6½"´2¾"´1½", to convert AC power to DC)

an outlet connector (to plug into an electrical outlet)

a keyboard (containing letters, numbers, and symbols on keys for typing)

a mouse (curved box that fits in your palm and can slide across the desk)

Flip the keyboard upside-down. You see a white plastic tab with a red arrow on it. Pull that tab out of the keyboard. (That activates the keyboard’s battery.) Then put the keyboard right-side-up again.

Do the same thing for the mouse. (Flip the mouse upside-down. You see a white plastic tab with a red arrow on it. Pull that tab out of the mouse. That activates the mouse’s battery. Then put the mouse right-side-up again.)

The keyboard and mouse will communicate with the computer wirelessly.

Put the computer itself on your desk (or table), so the computer’s screen stands up, faces you, and is tilted slightly back (so it’s perpendicular to your line of sight).

Put the keyboard in front of the computer. Put the mouse to the right of the keyboard.

Hide the power adapter behind the computer. Plug the power adapter into the computer’s back.

Plug the outlet connector into the power adapter.

If you move the mouse to the left,              the arrow moves to the left.

If you move the mouse to the right,        the arrow moves to the right.

If you move the mouse toward you,       the arrow moves down.

If you move the mouse away from you, the arrow moves up.

If you slide your finger to the left,              the arrow moves to the left.

If you slide your finger to the right,            the arrow moves to the right.

If you slide your finger toward you,           the arrow moves down.

If you slide your finger toward the screen, the arrow moves up.

The computer says “Region and language”. Tap “Next” (which you see on the screen, near the bottom-right corner).

The computer says “License”. If your computer came with Windows 8.1, tap “I accept” (which is near the screen’s bottom-right corner); if your computer came with Windows 8, tap “I accept” (which is near the screen’s bottom-left corner) then “Accept” (at the screen’s bottom-right corner).

The Toshiba tablet says “Register My Product”; the Acer laptop says “Welcome”; the HP computer says “Register and Protect”. For now, to save time, tap “Skip”.

The computer says “PC name”. Invent a computer name (such as “ToshibaTablet: or “AcerLaptop” or “HP-Envy20” or “RussComputer” or “BedroomComputer”). To avoid difficulties, the name must be short (at most 15 characters), contain at least one letter, and contain just letters, digits, and hyphens, without spaces. Type the name (using the tablet’s on-screen keyboard or laptop’s built-in keyboard or all-in-one’s wireless keyboard) then tap “Next” (near the screen’s bottom-right corner).

Windows 8.1 says “Wi-Fi”; Windows 8 says “Wireless”. Make sure you’ve properly set up your room’s wireless router (which lets a computer communicate with the Internet). Tap the router’s name. (On HP’s computer, then tap “Connect automatically”. On HP’s and Acer’s computers, then tap the “Connect” at the screen’s bottom-right corner.)

The computer says “Settings”. Tap “Use express settings”.

Answer any questions about your Microsoft account or the e-mail address your Internet service provider agreed to assign you. (If your computer doesn’t have a keyboard to type on, make the keyboard appear on your screen by tapping the box you want to type in. If the screen says “v”, tap that to see a menu of choices you can tap. To type the symbol “@” by using an on-screen keyboard, tap the screen’s bottom-left corner then “@” then the bottom-left corner again.)

To keep things simple (and avoid future charges from Microsoft), click “Turn off these SkyDrive settings” if you see that choice.

There will be a delay. Be patient.

You see the Lock screen, which tries to show the time and date. (If you’re not in the Pacific time zone, the time might be temporarily wrong.)

Press the keyboard’s Enter key or Space bar. (If you don’t have a keyboard, do this instead: put your finger in the screen’s middle then swipe up, toward the screen’s top edge.)

If the computer says “Password,” type the password you created for Microsoft. At the end of your typing, press the Enter key (which has the symbol 8  on it).

“Messaging” becomes “Skype”. “Bing” disappears, and all tiles under “Bing” rise to fill the space taken by “Bing”.

While using the Start screen, lift the tablet’s top edge off the desk, until the tablet is vertical instead of horizontal. Then rotate the tablet counterclockwise, 90 degrees, so the tablet looks wider and not as tall, and you see “TOSHIBA” at the bottom-right corner instead of the bottom-left. When you do that, all writing on the screen rotates 90 degrees clockwise to compensate, so you can still read what’s on the screen without turning your head.

When the device is wider than it is tall, you’re in landscape mode; the orientation is landscape (and good for viewing a landscape painting or a typical video or imitating a laptop screen or all-in-one screen).
In landscape mode, any on-screen keyboard will be wider, so you can type on it more easily (but less space remains on the screen to show what you’ve typed).

To return to normal (which is called portrait mode), lift the device’s top edge off the desk again then rotate the device clockwise, 90 degrees. Then the device is taller than it is wide; you’re in portrait mode; the orientation is portrait (and good for viewing a portrait of a person and using the tablet normally).

finish registration, Microsoft solitaire collection, Microsoft mahjong, getting started with Windows 8, HP connected photo, Wordament, HP+, Skype, Kindle, iHeart Radio, Fresh Paint, security, Netflix, Taptiles, eBay, Microsoft Office, connected music, connected backup, HP support assistant

Acer Explorer, 7digital, Evernote, Kindle, eBay, Encyclopedia Britannica, Netflix, iCookbook, Amazon, ChaCha, Tune In, Hulu Plus, Zinio,
Merriam-Webster, Xbox, Skype, Social Jogger, Acer Crystal Eye, NewsXpresso, Games, Spotify, McAfee Internet Security Suite, AcerCloud

food & drink, health & fitness, help+tips, reading list

Desktop, Xbox SmartGlass, Amazon, Toshiba central, eBay, Zinio, iHeart Radio, Microsoft solitaire collection, Kindle, Norton Studio, Netflix,
Book Place, Toshiba TruCapture, Norton Internet Security,
Microsoft Office, create recovery media

All-in-one & laptop The Desktop tile is at the screen’s bottom-left corner.

Tablet On Toshiba’s Encore tablet, whose screen is small, the Desktop tile hides to the right of the main tiles. To see the Desktop tile, put your finger on a screen’s blank space (not a tile) and swipe your finger toward the left. The Desktop tile is in the top row of tiles. It’s to the right of the Maps tile. It says “Desktop” and “encore”.

Windows 8 The bottom-left corner says “e” (which means Internet Explorer).

Windows 8.1 The bottom-left corner shows the Windows logo (a white window containing 4 white windowpanes, which are boxes, tiles). That white window means “return to the Windows Start screen”. Next to the white window, you see “e” (which means Internet Explorer).

Keyboard method (available if you have a keyboard) Press the Windows Start key. That key is on the keyboard’s bottom row, left of the Alt key, and shows the Windows logo. If you’re too lazy to call it the “Windows Start key”, call it just the “Windows key” or the “Start key”.

Screen method (available on Windows 8.1’s Desktop screen) Tap the Windows logo at the screen’s bottom-left corner.

Border method (available if you have a tablet) Press the Windows Start button, which shows the Windows logo. Toshiba puts that button on the screen’s bottom black border (bezel) next to the word “TOSHIBA”.

Mouse method While you’re looking at the Start screen, slide the mouse across your desk or table, until the tip of the arrowhead (mouse pointer) is on the Desktop tile. Then, while holding the mouse perfectly still, tap the mouse’s left button.

Touchpad method While you’re looking at the Start screen, rest your finger gently on the touchpad’s middle (but don’t press). Slide your finger across the touchpad, until the tip of the arrowhead (mouse pointer) is on the Desktop tile. Lift your finger off the touchpad. Then press the touchpad’s bottom-left corner or, if you prefer, do this: tap the touchpad once, firmly but briefly, anywhere on the touchpad (except the touchpad’s bottom-right corner, which is special).

Border-swipe method (easiest if you have a good touchscreen) The screen is surrounded by a black border. If you have a good touchscreen (such as on the HP Envy 20-d013w and the Acer Aspire V5-571P-6866), the computer can detect when your finger is on the black border. Try this experiment: put your finger on the computer’s right-hand edge, on the black border, and swipe your finger from there to the left, onto the screen.

Keyboard method (also easy) While holding down the Windows Start key (which has the Windows logo on it), tap the C key.

Corner method (hardest and worst) Slide the mouse (or move your finger across the trackpad) until the tip of the arrowhead (mouse pointer) is at the screen’s top-right corner, where the screen’s colors meet the black border (but don’t click or tap).

Search

Share

Start

Devices

Settings

If you used the border-swipe method or keyboard method, the charms look nice (on a black background, with labels), and the screen’s bottom-left corner shows the computer’s opinion of the time & date, big.

If you used the corner method, the charms appear just temporarily (with no black background, no labels, and no big time/date).

Charms method Tap the Settings charm then “Power” (at the screen’s bottom) then “Shut down”.

Ctrl-key method While holding down the Ctrl and Alt keys, tap the Delete key. Tap the Power icon (which appears on the screen, at the screen’s bottom-right corner, and shows a circle that has a line sticking up). Tap “Shut down”.

Windows-key method (just in Windows 8.1) While holding down the Windows Start key, tap the X key. Take your fingers off those keys. Tap the U key twice.

Power-button method (just on tablets, such as Toshiba’s, having InstantGo) Press the Power button awhile (about 4 seconds), until the screen says “Slide to shut down your PC”. Put your finger on that sentence and slide (drag) it down to the screen’s bottom.

Tablet You’ve turned the computer completely off.

All-in-one and laptop When the power button’s light stops glowing, turn off the computer’s electricity. (To do that, unplug from the wall or turn off the power strip or surge suppressor.) If you have a mouse, turn it off (by turning it upside-down and sliding its power button to “Off”).

HP all-in-one The power button is at the computer’s top edge, near the right-hand corner, and shows a circle that has a line sticking up.

Acer laptop The power button is at the keyboard’s top-left corner, above the Esc key, next to a circle that has a line sticking up.

Toshiba tablet The power button is the small black button on the tablet’s right edge. It’s near the top edge and next to a circle that has a line sticking up.

HP all-in-one While the computer sleeps; the power button’s light flashes repeatedly. If you press the power button again later, the screen comes back on and shows where you left off, and the same tiles are still open.

Acer laptop While the computer sleeps, the power button’s light stays on for the first 12 seconds, then turns off. If you press the power button again later, here’s what happens.… The screen comes back on. You see the Lock screen (with the time and date). Do the Lock screen procedure, which is: press the Enter key, type your password, and press Enter again. You see where you left off; the same tiles are still open.

Toshiba tablet If you tap the power button again later, here’s what happens.… The screen comes back on. You see the Lock screen (with the time and date). Do the Lock screen procedure, which is: put your finger in the screen’s middle then swipe up toward the screen’s top edge. If the tablet says “Password” (because the tablet’s been sleeping a long time), type your password then press the Enter key. You see where you left off; the same tiles are still open.

off (consumes no power, so the screen is black)

on (so you can use the computer)

sleeps (consumes very little power; the screen is black, but the computer keeps remembering what you’d been doing and waits for you to press the power button again, to turn the computer back on fully)

Windows 8 Tap the first charm (the Search charm).

Windows 8.1 While looking at the Start screen, put your finger on a blank space near the screen’s middle and swipe up.

40 main apps: Bing, Calendar, Camera, Connected Music, Desktop, eBay, Finance, Fresh Paint, Games, Getting Started, HP Connected Photo, HP+, iHeartRadio, Internet Explorer, Kindle, Mail, Maps, Messaging,
Microsoft Mahjong, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Solitaire Collection, Music, Netflix, News, Norton Studio, People, Photos, Reader, Register with HP, SkyDrive, Skype, Sports, Store, Taptiles, Travel, Video, Weather, Windows Live Movie Maker, Windows Live Photo Gallery, Wordament

2 other apps for communication & chat: CyberLink YouCam,
Try HP MyRoom Free

12 other apps that are games: All Casual Games, All Enthusiast Games, All Family Games, All Kids Games, All MMO Games, Bejeweled 3,
FATE The Cursed King, John Deere Drive Green, Mahjong Dark Dimensions, More Games from WildTangent, Penguins, Zuma’s Revenge

1 other app by HP: Connected Backup

7 other apps for HP help & support: HP Support Assistant,
HP Support Information, Operating Specifications,
Regulatory & Safety & Environmental Notices, Safety & Comfort Guide, Troubleshooting & Maintenance Guide, Warranty

6 other apps for music & photos & videos: CyberLink Media Suite, CyberLink PhotoDirector, CyberLink PowerDirector,
CyberLink PowerDVD, HP Beats Audio, HP Connected Remote

1 other app about Norton Internet Security: Norton Internet Security

6 other apps about productivity & tools: CyberLink LabelPrint, CyberLink Power2Go, Desktop Burning Gadget,
HP My Display TouchSmart Edition, ISO Viewer, Virtual Drive

2 other apps for security & protection: Recovery Manager,
Recovery Media Creation

1 other app about shopping & services: eBay

15 apps that are Windows accessories: Calculator, Character Map, Math Input Panel, Notepad, Paint, Remote Desktop Connection,
Snipping Tool, Sound Recorder, Steps Recorder, Sticky Notes,
Windows Fax & Scan, Windows Journal, Windows Media Player, WordPad, XPS Viewer

4 apps for Windows ease of access: Magnifier, Narrator,
On-Screen Keyboard, Windows Speech Recognition

1 app from Windows Live: Windows Live Writer

12 apps to manipulate the Windows system: Command Prompt, Computer, Control Panel, Default Programs, File Explorer, Help & Support, Run, Task Manager, Windows Defender, Windows Easy Transfer,
Windows Easy Transfer Reports, Windows PowerShell

45 main apps: -Games-, -Games App-, 7digital Music Store,
Acer Crystal Eye, Acer Explorer, Amazon, Bing, Calendar, Camera, ChaCha, Desktop, Dictionary, eBay, Encyclopedia Britannica, Evernote, Finance, Games, Hulu Plus, iCookbook SE, Internet Explorer, Kindle, Mail, Maps, Messaging, Microsoft Office, Music, Netflix, News, newsXpresso, Norton Online Backup, People, Photos, Reader, Shark Dash, SkyDrive, Skype, Social Jogger, Sports, Spotify, Store, Travel, TuneIn Radio, Video, Weather, Zinio Reader

12 other apps by Acer: Acer Backup Manager, Acer Instant Update Utility, Acer Power Management, Acer Quick Guide, Acer Recovery Management, Acer User’s Manual, AcerCloud, AcerCloud Docs, clear.fi Media, clear.fi Photo, Identity Card, Live Updater

2 apps by CyberLink: CyberLink MediaEspresso 6.5, MediaEspresso Gadget

2 apps by Dolby: Dolby Demo, Dolby Profile

2 apps by EgisTec: MyWinLocker, Shredder

16 other apps that are games: Agatha Christie, Aloha TriPeaks, Bejeweled 3, Cradle of Egypt, Delicious, Dora’s World Adventure,
Jewel Batch 3, More Games from WildTangent, Mystery P.I.,
Peggle Nights, Penguins, Plants vs. Zombies, Polar Bowler, Polar Golfer, Tales of Lagoona, Zuma’s Revenge

1 app by Intel: Intel Graphics & Media Control Panel

1 app by McAfee: McAfee Internet Security Suite

1 app by NTI: NTI Media Maker 9

15 apps that are Windows accessories: Calculator, Character Map, Math Input Panel, Notepad, Paint, Remote Desktop Connection,
Snipping Tool, Sound Recorder, Steps Recorder, Sticky Notes,
Windows Fax & Scan, Windows Journal, Windows Media Player, WordPad, XPS Viewer

4 apps for Windows ease of access: Magnifier, Narrator,
On-Screen Keyboard, Windows Speech Recognition

12 apps to manipulate the Windows system: Command Prompt, Computer, Control Panel, Default Programs, File Explorer, Help & Support, Run, Task Manager, Windows Defender, Windows Easy Transfer,
Windows Easy Transfer Reports, Windows PowerShell

10 main apps are added: Alarms, Calculator, Food & Drink, Health & Fitness, Help+Tips, PC Settings, Reading List, Scan, Sound Recorder, Yahoo.

These apps are deleted: Bing, Messaging, Computer, Windows
Easy Transfer Reports.

An app called “This PC” is added to the list of apps to manipulate the Windows system.

“Windows Media Player” is moved to the main-apps category.

Just on Acer’s computer: “Evernote” becomes “Evernote Touch”; “-Games-” becomes “WildTangent Games”.

43 main apps: Alarms, Amazon, Book Place, Calculator, Calendar, Camera, Desktop, eBay, Finance, Food & Drink, Games, Health & Fitness, Help+Tips, iHeartRadio, Internet Explorer, Kindle, Mail, Maps,
Microsoft Office, Microsoft Solitaire Collection, Music, Netflix, News, Norton Studio, PC Settings, People, Photos, Reader, Reading List, Scan, SkyDrive, Skype, Sound Recorder, Sports, Store, Store, Toshiba Central, Toshiba Registration, Travel, TruCapture, Video, Weather,
Xbox SmartGlass, Zinio Reader

1 app by Norton: Norton Internet Security

4 other apps by Toshiba: Create Recovery Media, Service Station, Toshiba Application Installer, User’s Guide

15 apps that are Windows accessories: Calculator, Character Map, Math Input Panel, Notepad, Paint, Remote Desktop Connection,
Snipping Tool, Sound Recorder, Steps Recorder, Sticky Notes,
Windows Fax & Scan, Windows Journal, Windows Media Player, WordPad, XPS Viewer

4 apps for Windows ease of access: Magnifier, Narrator,
On-Screen Keyboard, Windows Speech Recognition

11 apps to manipulate the Windows system: Command Prompt, Control Panel, Default Programs, File Explorer, Help & Support, Run,
Task Manager, This PC, Windows Defender, Windows Easy Transfer, Windows PowerShell

If you have a real keyboard (which is called a physical keyboard), type the letters “ca”. Your typing appears in the screen’s top-right corner.

If you don’t have a real keyboard, tap the purple box in the screen’s top-right corner. That makes the screen show an imitation keyboard (called an on-screen keyboard or virtual keyboard). On that keyboard, type “ca”.

HP                               Acer                                                Toshiba

Camera                       Camera                                         Calendar

Calendar                     Calendar                                      Camera

Calculator                   Calculator                                    Calculator

All Casual Games       Identity Card                               Calculator

CyberLink YouCam     Mystery P.I. — Curious Case

Windows 8 Typing “ca” at the Start screen has the same effect as typing “ca” at the Apps screen: you see a list of the “ca” apps on your computer.

Windows 8.1 Typing “ca” at the Start screen makes the computer show you everything it can research about “ca”: you see the beginning of a list of “ca” apps, data files, and Internet Websites.

Tap the Search charm. An on-screen keyboard appears. Type “ca”.

Swipe method P.ut your finger on the computer’s left edge, on the black border, and swipe your finger from there to the right, onto the screen.

Mouse method Using the mouse (or touchpad), click the screen’s top-left corner (where the screen’s colors meet the black border).

Swipe method (easy) P.ut your finger on the computer’s left edge, on the black border. Slide your finger toward the right, onto the screen, but then (with your finger still on the screen) slide back to the left, onto the black border.

Mouse method (harder) Using the mouse, move the mouse pointer to the screen’s top-left corner (where the screen’s colors meet the black border). While pressing the mouse’s left button, slide the mouse pointer slightly to the right (along the black border’s edge), but then (without lifting the mouse’s button) slide back to the screen’s top-left corner.

Touchpad method (hardest) Using the touchpad, move the mouse pointer to the screen’s top-left corner (where the screen’s colors meet the black border). While your other hand presses the touchpad’s bottom-left corner, slide the mouse pointer slightly to the right (along the black border’s edge), but then (without lifting your other hand) slide back to the screen’s top-left corner.

Swipe method Swipe from the computer’s top edge (the top black border) to the computer’s bottom edge (the bottom black border).

Keyboard method While holding down the Alt key (which is next to the Space bar), tap the F4 key (which is on the keyboard’s top row).

While the computer is on, tap the Settings charm then “Change PC settings” (at the screen’s bottom).

For Windows 8, tap “General” then the time box’s “v”. For Windows 8.1, make any left-arrow at the screen’s top-left corner disappear (by tapping it repeatedly) then tap “Time and language” then “Date and time” then the time-zone box’s “v”.

You start seeing a list of time zones. To see the rest of the list, put your finger in the list and swipe up or down.

Find your time zone. If you’re in the United States, your time zone is one of these:

(UTC-10:00) Hawaii

(UTC-09:00) Alaska

(UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)

(UTC-07:00) Arizona

(UTC-07:00) Mountain Time (US & Canada)

(UTC-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada)

(UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)

(UTC-05:00) Indiana (East)

When you’ve found your time zone, tap it.

At the screen’s bottom-left corner, you should see “Windows Update”. (If you don’t see “Windows Update” yet, because your screen isn’t tall enough, make “Windows Update” appear by doing this: put your finger at the screen’s button-left corner and swipe up.) Tap “Windows Update”.

Make any left-arrow at the screen’s top-left corner disappear (by tapping it repeatedly). Tap “Update and recovery” (which is at the screen’s bottom-left corner) then “Windows Update”.

Tap the “Restart now” button. The computer will restart and show you the Lock screen (with the time and date). Do the Lock screen procedure, which is: press the Enter key, type your password, and press Enter again.

Tap “We’ll install updates automatically” then the “Install” button (at the screen’s bottom).

Tap “Check for updates now”.

Tap “View details”. Put check marks in all the boxes (by tapping them). Tap“Install”.

On the Start screen, find the Store tile (which is green and shows a shopping bag). At that tile’s bottom-right corner, if you see a number, continue as follows.…

Tap the Store tile. Tap “Updates” (at the screen’s top-right corner) then “Install” (at the screen’s bottom).

The computer says “Installing apps”. You see a list of apps that are being installed. That list of apps to install gradually gets shorter, and then the screen blinks a few times, until the computer finally says “Your apps were installed.”

Then return to the Start screen (by pressing the Windows Start key).

Tap the Store tile (which is green) then “Update Windows” then “Download”. The computer will say “Downloading”.

The computer will pause for many minutes, while it copies Windows 8.1 from the Internet. (If the screen grows dim or black, slide the mouse slightly: that gets the computer’s attention, so the screen becomes bright again.)

Eventually the computer will say “Getting the update ready” then “Checking compatibility” then “Applying changes” then “Gathering info” then “Preparing to restart” then “Your PC needs to restart”. Tap “Restart now”.

Eventually the computer will say “License terms”. Tap “I accept” then “Use express settings”.

Type the password you created for Microsoft. At the end of your typing, tap “Next”.

Assuming you have a cell phone, do the following. Tap “Next” again. Microsoft will send a text message to your cell phone. That message contains your security code. Type that security code on your computer’s keyboard. Tap “Next” then “Next” again.

The Start screen includes a tile called “Finish Registration”. Tap it. Finish registering your computer (so HP can send you more info), by answering questions.

When you’ve finished, the computer will say “Thank you for registering with HP!”

Press the Windows Start key. Remove the tile (which might now say “Thank you”) from the Start screen, as follows…. Using the mouse, move the mouse pointer (which is on the screen) to that tile. Press the mouse’s right-hand button (not the left). Tap “Unpin from Start” (at the screen’s bottom-left corner).

That tile will disappear. The other tiles will rearrange themselves, to fill the hole left by the departed tile.

The Start screen includes a tile called “Toshiba Central”. Tap it. Tap “Register Any Toshiba Product.”

Type the serial number, which is the “S/N” number on the tablet’s box). (The serial number includes letters and digits. Don’t bother capitalizing. To type digits, tap the screen’s bottom-left corner then the digits then the screen’s bottom-left corner again.) At the end of your typing, tap “GO”.

Type the last 4 digits of the model-part number, which is the “P/N” number on the tablet’s box.

Put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe up, so you can see the rest of the product-registration form.

Tap the Purchase Date box. You see the calendar of a month. Tap the date you bought the tablet; to switch months, tap the “„” for the next month or the “ƒ” for the previous month.

Tap the Email Address box. Type your e-mail address. (To type digits or the symbol “@”, tap the screen’s bottom-left corner then what you want.)

Tap “CONTINUE”.

Optional: to get extra benefits, tap “CREATE MY ID” then try to answer more questions then tap “Submit”.

The Start screen includes a tile called “Acer Explorer”. Tap it.

Finish registering your computer (so Acer can send you more info), by tapping the “Create an Acer ID” button (if you don’t have an Acer ID already) and answering questions.

While you’re looking at the Apps screen, type “NetPLWiz”. At the end of your typing, press the Enter key.

You see a check mark. (It’s labeled “Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer.”) Remove that check mark (by tapping it). Tap “OK”.

For the Toshiba tablet, make the on-screen keyboard appear (by tapping the keyboard icon at the screen’s bottom).

Type your password. At the end of your typing, tap the Confirm Password box. Type your password again. At the end of your typing, press the Enter key.

You see the Desktop screen. If you want to see the Start screen instead, press the Windows Start key.

HP all-in-one The computer will skip the Lock screen and skip the Login-screen password.

Acer laptop If the computer had been off, the computer will skip the Lock screen and skip the Login-screen password. But if the computer had been just sleeping, the computer will still put you at the Lock screen and demand a Login-screen password.

Toshiba tablet The tablet will show the Lock screen just if the tablet had been sleeping (instead of completely turned off). The tablet will demand a Log-screen password rarely, just if the tablet feels nervous!

While you’re looking at the Apps screen, type “NetPLWiz”. At the end of your typing, press the Enter key.

Tap the box next to “Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer”, so a check mark appears there. Tap “OK”.

You see the Desktop screen. If you want to see the Start screen instead, press the Windows Start key.

Tiles we love

HP all-in-one The Camera tile is reddish purple. It’s normally the 3^rd row’s 4^th tile.

Acer laptop The Camera tile is purple. It’s normally the 2^nd row’s 6^th tile.

Toshiba tablet The Camera tile is purple. It shows a camera and is normally near the screen’s top-right corner.

HP all-in-one Above the screen, the computer’s black border includes a tiny pinhole camera (next to the white light). The camera is aimed down at you. The camera is medium-quality (1280×800 resolution, 1 megapixel).

Acer laptop Above the screen, the computer’s black border includes a tiny pinhole camera (next to the green light). The camera is aimed toward you. The camera is medium-quality (1280×1024 resolution, 1.3 megapixels).

Toshiba tablet The screen is surrounded by a black border. That border’s top-right corner includes a tiny pinhole camera aimed toward you. That’s called the front camera (or front-facing camera). Behind that camera, on the computer’s backside, is another pinhole camera, aimed in the opposite direction (such as toward your desktop), in the same direction as your eye sees; that’s called the back camera (or rear-facing camera). To make the rear-facing camera show something useful, lift the tablet off the desk. To switch from one camera to the other, tap “Change camera” (which you’ll see when you swipe up from the bottom black border). The front camera is 2-megapixel; the back camera is higher quality (8-megapixel).

Keyboard method    Press the keyboard’s Space bar.

Touchscreen method   Tap the screen’s middle.

Keyboard method Press the left-arrow key (which is next to the rightmost Ctrl key). To see any earlier photos, press the left-arrow key again.

Touchscreen method Put your finger on the screen’s middle and swipe to the right. To see any earlier photos, swipe right again.

Flip-through method Hold down the right-arrow key (or swipe left repeatedly), until you see your mirror image instead of a photo.

2-tap method While looking at a photo you snapped, tap its middle then the Camera icon (which is at the screen’s bottom-left corner).

Keyboard method Press the Delete key then the Enter key.

Touchscreen method Tap the photo’s middle then the white Delete icon (the trash can near the screen’s bottom-left corner) then the purple “Delete” button.

Tap the photo’s middle then tap “Crop” (which is near the screen’s bottom-right corner). The computer highlights the photo’s middle part and puts 4 white dots around it. Using your finger, drag the 4 white dots until they correctly surround the part of the photo you want to keep. Tap “Apply”. Then tap “Update original” (to erase the photo’s big version and keep just the cropped version) or “Save a copy” (to keep both versions).

Keyboard method Press the Space bar. (Then if you want to record another scene, press the Space bar to resume recording; press the Space bar again to stop again.)

Touchscreen method Tap the white square. (It’s in a circle at the screen’s right edge.)

Flip-through method Hold down the right-arrow key (or swipe left repeatedly), until you see your mirror image instead of a photo.

Menu-key method While watching a movie you recorded, press the
Menu key (which is on a good keyboard, shows the symbol “º”, and is to the right of the Space bar, between the Space bar and the rightmost Ctrl key) or right-click the screen’s middle (by pressing the mouse’s rightmost button) or swipe from the bottom (by putting your finger on the black border that’s below the screen then swiping up into the screen middle). Then tap the Camera icon (which is at the screen’s bottom-left corner).

To delete the movie, press the Delete key then the Enter key.

To trim the movie (keep just the movie’s middle moments), press the Menu key (or right-click the screen’s middle, using the mouse’s rightmost button, or swipe from the bottom) then tap “Trim” (which at the screen’s bottom-right corner). You see 2 white dots. Using your finger, drag the 2 white dots until they correctly surround the moments of the movie you want to keep. (To see the result, tap the “„”. If you don’t like the result, adjust the 2 white dots by dragging them again.) Then tap “Save a copy”.

Press the Menu key (or right-click the screen’s middle, using the mouse’s rightmost button, or swipe up from the bottom black border). Then tap “Timer” once (or several times if necessary) so “3 seconds” (or “10 seconds”) appears on the screen briefly. That sets the timer to 3 seconds (or 10 seconds).

Then tap the screen’s middle (to hide the timer).

Finally, when you press the Space bar or tap the screen’s middle (to snap the picture), the computer will delay 3 seconds (or 10 seconds) after you press the Space bar, so you have extra seconds to practice your smile before the photo is snapped.

All future photos (and movies) will be affected by the timer, until you turn off the timer by doing this: press the Menu key (or right-click the screen’s middle or swipe up from the bottom black border) then repeatedly tap “Timer” until you see “Off”).

Tap the Photos tile. If you see “Camera Roll”, tap it. If you see a big photo that consumes most of the screen, press the Escape key (which says “Esc” on it and is at the keyboard’s top-left corner) or put 2 fingers on the screen and pinch them together.

While using the Photos tile, tap the photo. Make sure you’ve bought a printer, attached it to the computer, turned the printer’s power on, and put paper into the printer.

Tap the Devices charm then “Print” then your printer’s name.

Tap the Orientation box. Tap “Portrait” if the photo is taller that its width; tap “Landscape” if the photo is wider than its height.

Tap the Print button (which is at the screen’s right edge).

HP all-in-one  The Camera tile is normally the 4^th row’s 4^th tile.

Acer laptop     The Camera tile is normally the 3^rd row’s 5^th tile.

Hold down the keyboard’s right-arrow key (which is on the keyboard’s bottom row), until the screen acts as a mirror.

At the screen’s bottom-right corner, you see circles labeled “Timer” and “Video mode”. Make sure the insides of those circles are transparent (instead of solid white). If they’re solid white, make them transparent by tapping them.

Hold down the right-arrow key (or swipe left repeatedly), until you see your mirror image instead of a photo. Then press the keyboard’s Space bar again.

To delete the photo, tap its middle then tap “Delete” (which is at the screen’s bottom-right corner).

To crop the photo (keep just the photo’s middle part), tap its middle then tap “Crop” (which is near the screen’s bottom-right corner). The computer highlights the photo’s middle part and puts 4 white dots around it. Using your finger, drag the 4 white dots until they correctly surround the part of the photo you want to keep. Then tap “OK”.

Hold down the right-arrow key (or swipe left repeatedly), until you see your mirror image instead of a still shot. Then press the keyboard’s Space bar again, to start recording.

Here’s how to delete the movie: tap its middle, then watch the movie play, then tap “Delete” (which is at the screen’s bottom-right corner after the movie’s played).

Here’s how to trim the movie (keep just the movie’s middle moments): tap the screen’s middle, then watch the movie play, then tap “Trim” (which is near the screen’s bottom-right corner, after the movie’s played). You see 2 white dots. Using your finger, drag the 2 white dots until they correctly surround the moments of the movie you want to keep. Then tap “OK”.

Look at your mirror image. Tap “Video mode” (at the screen’s bottom-right corner) until the video-recorder icon becomes white (instead of black-on-a-white-background). Then you can snap photos again.

While using the Photos tile, tap the photo. Make sure you’ve bought a printer, attached it to the computer, turned the printer’s power on, and put paper into the printer.

Tap the Devices charm then your printer’s name.

Tap the Orientation box. Tap “Portrait” if the photo is taller that its width; tap “Landscape” if the photo is wider than its height.

Tap the Print button (which is at the screen’s right edge).

Using the Camera tile, take several photos of yourself (or a friend or doll or spooky object) in slightly different positions. Then tap the Photos tile. Flip through those photos quickly, by holding down the right-arrow or left-arrow key awhile.

HP all-in-one The Calendar tile is purple. It’s normally at the beginning of the 2^nd row.

Acer laptop The Calendar tile is dark blue. It’s normally the top row’s 2^nd tile.

Toshiba tablet The Calendar tile is dark purple. It’s normally at the beginning of the 2^nd row.

What’s next    Day    Work week    Week    Month

To see the next month, put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe to the left, so you see the month that’s to the right.

To see the previous month, put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe to the right, so you see the month that’s to the left.

If you accidentally tap instead of swipe, escape from your mistake by pressing the Escape key (which is at the keyboard’s top-left corner and says “Esc”) or tap a different day.

Press the Menu key (or right-click the screen’s middle or swipe from the bottom). Tap “Month”.

Tap the event’s “Ú” then “Add details”.

If you want to include a comment about the event, tap “Add a message” then type your comment.

The computer assumes the event will last all day, so the screen tentatively says the event starts at “12 00 AM” and lasts “All day”. If the event will start at a different time, do the following.… Get rid of “All day” (by tapping it) then choose from this menu of time lengths: 0 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 90 minutes, 2 hours, All day, Custom. (If you choose “Custom”, remove the check mark from the “All day” box by tapping that box. Adjust the Start time (by tapping the wrong time then choosing the right one from the menu. (If the menu isn’t long enough to include your time, scroll through the menu by doing this: put your finger in the menu’s middle and swipe up or down. If you chose “Custom”, also adjust the End time.)

Before the event, the computer will send you a reminder. The computer assumes you want the reminder sent “18 hours” before the event. If you want the reminder at a different amount of time before the event, tap “Show more” then tap the Reminder box then choose from this menu:

none            (which means no reminder at all)

start time      (send the reminder when the event starts)

5 minutes     (send the reminder   5 minutes before the event)

15 minutes   (send the reminder 15 minutes before the event)

30 minutes   (send the reminder 30 minutes before the event)

1 hour          (send the reminder an hour before the event)

18 hours      (send the reminder almost a day before the event)

1 day           (send the reminder on the day before the event)

1 week         (send the reminder a week before the event)

When you finish, tap the Save button (which is near the screen’s top-right corner and looks like a floppy disk in a circle).

On the month calendar, that day will show the event’s name and starting time.

On the day of the event, the Calendar tile (on the Start screen) will show the event’s name, starting time, and ending time.

Before the event, the computer will remind you: it will play a brief musical alarm, and the screen’s top-right corner will briefly show the event’s name, starting time, and ending time.

The computer will also try to send you an e-mail message about the event, though that message might arrive too late to be useful.

While using the Calendar app, Press the Menu key then tap “Day”. You see clearly the events from 9AM to 8PM. (To see events that are earlier or later than that range, put your finger in the day’s middle and swipe up or down.) You also see the next day’s events. To see even more days, put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe to the left.

Tap the event then the trash can (which is near the screen’s top-right corner and is left of the X and the Save button). Then tap the “Delete” box.

HP all-in-one The Calendar tile is purple. It’s normally at the beginning of the 2^nd row.

Acer laptop The Calendar tile is dark blue. It’s normally the top row’s 2^nd tile.

Day    Work week    Week    Month                             Today    New

To see the next month, put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe to the left, so you see the month that’s to the right.

To see the previous month, put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe to the right, so you see the month that’s to the left.

If you accidentally tap instead of swipe, escape from your mistake by pressing the Escape key (which is at the keyboard’s top-left corner and says “Esc”).

Press the Menu key. Tap “Today”.

On the month calendar, find the event’s day; tap a gray space in that day.

Type the event’s name. If you want to type a comment about the event, tap “Add a message” then type your comment.

The computer assumes the event will start at 9AM, so the screen tentatively says “9 00 AM” (unless that time has already passed). If the event will start at a different time, adjust the time, by tapping the wrong time then choosing the right one from the menu. (If the menu isn’t long enough to include your time, scroll through the menu by doing this: put your finger in the menu’s middle and swipe up or down.)

The computer assumes the event will last 1 hour, so the screen tentatively says “1 hour”. If the event’s length will be different, tap the “1 hour” then tap the right length from the menu. (The menu’s choices are: 0 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 90 minutes, 2 hours, All day, Custom. If you choose “Custom”, your next step is to choose the time the event ends.)

When you finish, tap the Save button (which is near the screen’s top-right corner and is left of the X).

On the month calendar, that day will show the event’s name and starting time.

On the day of the event, the Calendar tile (on the Start screen) will show the event’s name, starting time, and ending time.

15 minutes before the event, the computer will warn you: it will play a brief musical alarm, and the screen’s top-right corner will briefly show the event’s name, starting time, and ending time.

The computer will also try to send you an e-mail message about the event, though that message might arrive too late to be useful.

While using the Calendar app, Press the Menu key then tap “Day”. You see clearly the events from 9AM to 8PM. (To see events that are earlier or later than that range, put your finger in the day’s middle and swipe up or down.) You also see the next day’s events. To see even more days, put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe to the left.

Tap the event then the trash can (which is near the screen’s top-right corner and is left of the X and the Save button). Then tap the “Delete” box.

HP all-in-one The Maps tile is reddish purple. It’s normally the 2^nd row’s 2^nd tile.

Acer laptop The Maps tile is purple. It’s normally the 2^nd row’s 3^rd tile.

Toshiba tablet The Maps tile is reddish purple. You’ll normally see it in the top row, after you swipe left.

Double-tap method Double-tap where you want to zoom in.

Stretch method Put two fingers where you want to zoom in. Then stretch (slide your fingers apart).

Address method Press the Menu key (or swipe up from the screen’s bottom black border). Tap the screen’s bottom-right corner (which says “Search” in Windows 8.1, “Find” in Windows 8). Type a location (such as “196 Tiffany Lane, Manchester NH” or “Los Angeles airport” or “White House”). At the end of your typing, press the Enter key.

To see 5 aerial photos, taken from different angles (looking north, east, south, west, and straight down), tap the circle at the screen’s right edge, 4 times. (If you seen 3 circles at the screen’s right edge, tap the top circle.)

HP all-in-one     The News tile is normally the bottom row’s 2^nd tile.

Acer laptop        The News tile is normally the bottom row’s 3^rd tile.

Toshiba tablet   The News tile is normally the 3^rd row’s 2^nd tile.

top stories, world, technology&science, politics, opinion, business, entertainment, sports

If the article is short, the whole article fits on the screen.

If the article is long, you see the article’s beginning. To see the rest of the article, put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe to the left.

To read the next article, put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe to the left.

To see headlines for other articles, tap the left-arrow (at the screen’s top-left corner).

HP all-in-one     In Windows 8.1, the Finance tile is the top row’s 5^th tile.

                          In Windows 8, the Finance tile is the 2^nd row’s 5^th tile.

Acer laptop        The Finance tile is normally the 3^rd row’s 2^nd tile.

Toshiba tablet   The Finance tile is normally the 2^rd row’s 3^rd tile.

                           To see it, swipe left.

top story, market, watch list, news, money, across the market (currencies, commodities, rates), tools (mortgage calculator, auto payments, currency converter, savings, retirement planner, value of money)

HP all-in-one     In Windows 8.1, the Sports tile is the 2^nd row’s 4^th tile.

                           In Windows 8, the Sports tile is the 3^rd row’s 3^rd tile.

Acer laptop        The Sports tile is normally the 3^rd row’s 3^rd tile.

Toshiba tablet   The Sports tile is normally the bottom row’s 2^nd tile.

Windows 8.1

top story, scoreboard, other top stories, editor’s picks (which are essays but not included in HP’s all-in-one), headlines, favorite teams, favorite sports, videos, slideshows

Windows 8

top story, other top stories, headlines, favorite teams, favorite sports, scoreboard, videos, slideshows

HP all-in-one     In Windows 8.1, the Travel tile is the top row’s 4^th tile.

                           In Windows 8, the Travel tile is the 2^nd row’s 4^th tile.

Acer laptop        In Windows 8.1, the Travel tile is the top row’s 5^th tile.

                           In Windows 8, the Travel tile is the 2^nd row’s 5^th tile.

Toshiba tablet   The Travel tile is not on the Start screen.

                           The Travel tile is normally in the Apps screen’s 3^rd column.

Windows 8.1

featured destination, tools&tasks (search flights, flight status, flight schedules, search hotels), trip ideas, local destinations, United States, world (Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Central America, Europe, Middle East, North America, Oceania, South America), news

Windows 8

featured destination, other featured destinations, flights, hotels, favorites, panoramas, news, featured videos

Choose a photo (by tapping it). That enlarges the photo, so it consumes the whole screen.

The photo was taken in a city. If you walk in that city and turn your head, what will you see? To find out, put your finger in the screen’s middle and repeatedly swipe left or right (or up or down). That makes the computer imitate turning your head, so you see different views.

HP all-in-one     The Weather tile is normally the 4^th row’s 2^nd tile.

Acer laptop        The Weather tile is normally the bottom row’s 2^nd tile.

Toshiba tablet   The Weather tile is the biggest tile.

                           It’s near the screen’s bottom-right corner.

Windows 8.1  Tap “Current Location”.

Windows 8     Tap “Current Location” then “Confirm”.

HP & Acer computers Below the WDT prediction, you can see predictions by AccuWeather.com and Foreca.com; if you don’t see them yet, tap “�”. To see several more days, tap the right-arrow.

Toshiba tablet To the right of the WDT prediction, you can see predictions by AccuWeather.com and Foreca.com; if you don’t see them yet, tap “„”. To see 3 more days, put your finger on the screen’s middle and swipe up.

To see the weather for your current location, tap “Current Location”.

To see the weather for 13 big cities around the word, tap “WORLD WEATHER”.

To see the weather for your home, tap “HOME”.

Here’s how to see the weather for a different city. Tap “PLACES”. You see a list of your favorite cities. To add another city to your list, do this: tap “+”; type the city’s name; you see a list of cities having that name; tap the city you want. To remove a city from your list, tap the Edit button (which is to the right of “FAVORITES” and shows a picture of a pen) then the X of the city you want to remove. For each city on your list, you see the city’s current temperature and today’s highest and lowest temperature; for more details, tap the city.

Windows 8.1  Tap “Current Location”.

Windows 8     Tap “Current Location” then “Confirm”.

HP all-in-one     Internet Explorer is normally the top row’s 2^nd tile.

Acer laptop        Internet Explorer is normally the top row’s 3^rd tile.

Toshiba tablet   Internet Explorer is normally the 5^th row’s 2^nd tile.

www.yahoo.com

If you’re using the on-screen keyboard, end your typing by tapping the “.com” key then the “Go” key. (The “Go” key is at the keyboard’s right edge. On Toshiba’s keyboard, the “Go” key has a right-arrow on it.)

If you’re using the separate keyboard, end your typing by pressing the period then the C then O then M keys then the Enter key.

While you’re typing a Web address, you see a list of Web pages matching what you’ve typed so far. If you want one of those Web pages, tap it.

Fast method (works usually, but not if you’re on a tablet or you’ve been watching a full-screen video) Press the Menu key.

Guaranteed method (always works) Put your finger on the screen’s bottom black border and swipe up.

www.NyTimes.com

1-swipe method Put your finger in the screen’s middle, then swipe (slide) your finger toward the right.

Tap method Press Menu key (or swipe up from the screen’s bottom), then tap the Back button (the left-arrow at the screen’s bottom-left corner).

1-swipe method Put your finger in the screen’s middle, then swipe (slide) your finger toward the left.

Tap method Press Menu key (or swipe up from the screen’s bottom), then tap the Forward button (the right-arrow at the screen’s bottom-right corner).

Windows 8.1 Press the Menu key (or swipe up from the screen’s bottom black border). Tap the Favorites button (the star at the screen’s bottom) then the star above that star then “Add”.

Windows 8 Press the Menu key (or swipe up from the screen’s bottom black border). Tap the “Pin site” button (the push pin near the screen’s bottom-right corner) then “Add to favorites”.

Windows 8.1  Tap the star at the screen’s bottom.

Windows 8     Tap in the address box.

Windows 8.1 Press the Menu key (or swipe up from the screen’s bottom black border). Tap the Favorites button (the star at the screen’s bottom) then the “Pin site” button (the push pin near the screen’s right edge) then “Pin to Start”.

Windows 8 Press the Menu key (or swipe up from the screen’s bottom black border). Tap the “Pin site” button (the push pin near the screen’s bottom-right corner) then “Pin to Start” then “Pin to Start” again.

Right-click that tile (by using the mouse’s right-hand button or touchpad’s bottom-right corner or holding your finger on that tile awhile). Tap
“Unpin from Start” (which is at the screen’s bottom-left corner).

Make sure you’ve bought a printer, attached it to the computer, turned the printer’s power on, and put paper into the printer. Tap the Devices charm. (For Windows 8.1, then tap “Print”.) Tap your printer’s name then the Print button (which is at the screen’s right edge).

HP all-in-one     The Store tile is normally the top row’s 3^rd tile.

Acer laptop        The Store tile is normally the top row’s 4^th tile.

Toshiba tablet   The Store tile is normally the bottom row’s first tile.

For the programs & data you already got, you can get updates, free! Tap “Updates” then “Install”. The computer says “Installing apps” then “Your apps were installed”. Tap the left-arrow (at the screen’s top-left corner).

picks for you, trending, new&rising, top paid, top free

You see   6 tiles in each of these categories: picks for you, trending, new&rising

You see 14 tiles in this category: top paid

You see   7 tiles in this category: top free

You see   6 tiles in each of these categories: picks for you, trending, new&rising

You see 12 tiles in this category: top paid

You see   6 tiles in this category: top free

You see   9 tiles in each of these categories: picks for you, trending, new&rising

You see   6 tiles in this category: top paid

You see 11 tiles in this category: top free

Fast method Tap one of those tiles.

Main-category method Tap a category name (so you see more of that category’s tiles). Swipe to the left (to see all your choices). Tap the tile you want.

Category-list method Under the heading “Top categories”, you can see this list of 20 extra categories: games, social, entertainment, photo, music&video, sports, books&reference, news&weather, health&fitness, food&dining, lifestyle, shopping, travel, finance, productivity, tools, security, business, education, government. (Toshiba shows that whole list. HP & Acer show the list’s beginning; to see the rest, tap “See all.”) Tap the category you want to be restricted to. Swipe to the left (to see all your choices). Tap the tile you want.

Menu-key method Press the Menu key (or swipe up from the screen’s black border). You see the 20 extra categories (plus the 5 basic categories). Tap the category you want to be restricted to. Swipe to the left (to see all your choices). Tap the tile you want.

Magnifying-glass method Tap the magnifying glass (at the screen’s top-right corner). Type anything that interests you. Press the Enter key (whose on-screen version shows a magnifying glass). Swipe to the left (to see all your choices). Tap the tile you want.

ratings&reviews, details, related apps, other apps by that company

spotlight, games, social, entertainment, photo, music&video, sports, books&reference, news&weather, health&fitness, food&dining, lifestyle, shopping, travel, finance, productivity, tools, security, business, education, government

If you tap “Top free”,             you’ll see about 100 apps that are free.

If you tap “Top paid”,            you’ll see about 100 apps you can buy.

If you tap “New & Rising”, you’ll see about 100 apps that are new.

To see more apps, tap the category’s name instead (except “Spotlight”).

Tap a button at the screen’s left edge. If the app is free, the button says “Install”; if the app isn’t free, tap “Try” (if available for a free trial) or buy the app by doing this: tap “Buy” then “Confirm” then enter your Microsoft-account password and credit-card info.

Then the computer copies the app from the Internet to your computer. When the copying is finished, the screen’s top-right corner says “was installed”. To use the app, tap “was installed” now or do the following anytime: go to the Start screen (by tapping the Windows Start key), swipe to the left (so you can see the rightmost tiles), then tap the app’s new tile (which is at the Start screen’s right edge).

If you change your mind and want to uninstall the app, right-click the app’s new tile (on the Start screen) then tap “Uninstall” (which is near the screen’s bottom-left corner) then the rectangular “Uninstall” button.

Calculator

Calculator 8.1 is a tile. It’s included in Windows 8.1 but not Windows 8.

Calculator 8 is a window that runs on the Desktop screen. It’s included in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.

Windows 8.1 Go to the Apps screen (by putting your finger on a blank space near the Start screen’s middle, then swiping up).

If you want to use Calculator 8.1 (which most people prefer), tap the first “Calculator”. If you want to use Calculator 8 instead, type “ca” (which a tablet will let you do after you tap the space left of the magnifying glass) then tap the “Calculator” whose tile is blue (instead of green).

Windows 8 Go to the Start screen (or Apps screen) and type “ca”.

You see a list of programs whose names have “ca”. One of them is “Calculator”. Tap it.

Calculator 8.1 The whole screen is devoted to the calculator, which is a gigantic picture of a pocket calculator.

Calculator 8 You see the Desktop screen. On it you see the Calculator window, which is a small picture of a pocket calculator.

Touch method On the screen, tap the calculator’s 4 button, then tap 2, then +, then 5, then =.

Mouse method On the screen, click the calculator’s 4 button (by using the mouse or touchpad or to point at the 4 button and then clicking), then click 2, then +, then 5, then =.

Main-keyboard method On the physical keyboard’s main section (the left section), press the 4 key (which is above the E and R keys), then the 2 key (which is above the Q and W keys), then (while holding down the Shift key) the + key, then 5. Then press the = key (or the Enter key).

Numeric-keypad method On the physical keyboard’s far-right section (called the numeric keypad), try pressing the 4 key, which is below the 7 key. (If that doesn’t make 4 appear on the screen, press the Num Lock key then try again to press the 4 key.) Then, still using the numeric keypad, press the 2 key, then the + key, then the 5 key, then the Enter key.

Button                                   Meaning

+                                           plus

-                                             minus

× (Calculator 8 shows *)      times

/                                            divided by

=                                          show the final answer, the “total”

.                                              decimal point

C                                               clear the total, so it becomes zero

CE                                         clear this entry, so you can retype it

Õ (Calculator 8 shows �)  erase the last digit you typed

±                                           create (or erase) the total’s minus sign

Calculator 8       Choose Scientific from the View menu. (To do that, click the word “View” then click the word “Scientific”.)

Calculator 8.1 Tap “Scientific”.

Button    Meaning

x²             squared

n!             factorial

p              pi (a circle’s circumference divided by the circle’s diameter)

Calculator 8       Choose Standard from the View menu.

Calculator 8.1 Tap “Standard”.

If you said you wanted the calculator to be standard, the computer does 2+3 (which totals 5), then multiplies by 4, giving a final total of 20.

If you said you wanted the calculator to be scientific instead, the computer does “2+3*4=” by doing the multiplication first, like scientists do: 3*4 is 12, and 2+12 gives a final total of 14 (not 20).

Button    Meaning

Ö              square root of the previous number

                 example: “49 Ö” is 7 (because 49 is 7*7)

                 works on standard & scientific calculators

1/x         divide 1 by the previous number

                 example: “4 1/x” is .25 (because 1/4 is .25)

                 works on standard & scientific calculators

%            multiply the 2 previous numbers, then divide by 100

                 example: “2 × 3 %” is .06 (because it’s 2×3/100)

                 afterwards, click the C button (to clear the total)

                 works on standard calculator but ignored on scientific calculator

Button       Meaning

MS               memory store (copy from the screen to memory)

MR               memory retrieve (copy from memory to the screen)

M+              memory add (put memory +screen into memory)

M-                memory subtract (put memory minus screen into memory)

MC               memory clear (erase what’s in memory)

WordPad

Windows 8.1 Go to the Apps screen (by putting your finger on a blank space near the Start screen’s middle, then swiping up).

Windows 8 Go to the Start screen (or Apps screen).

Physical keyboard       Type that letter while holding down the Shift key.

On-screen keyboard    Tap the Shift key. Then type that letter.

Physical keyboard Tap the Caps Lock key. Then type the passage. The computer will automatically capitalize the passage as you type it. When you finish typing the passage, tap the Caps Lock key again: that tells the computer to stop capitalizing.

On-screen keyboard Double-tap the Shift key. Then type the passage. The computer will automatically capitalize the passage as you type it. When you finish typing the passage, tap the Shift key again: that tells the computer to stop capitalizing.

Physical keyboard The Backspace key is in the top-right corner of the keyboard’s main section. It’s to the right of the + key and has a left-arrow on it.

On-screen keyboard The Backspace key is at the keyboard’s top-right corner. It’s to the right of the p key and has the symbol Õ on it.

è    3   ë

ê   e   é

      ē

These letters offer accents: a, c, d, e, g, h, i, j, n, o, s, t, u, w, y.

All letters on the top row offer numbers.

The comma offers a semicolon.

The period offers a colon.

The question mark offers many symbols.

Symbol   How to type it

      €       While pressing the Ctrl and Alt keys, type the letter “e”.

      ç        While pressing the Ctrl key, tap the “,” key.          Then type the letter “c”.

      ñ       While pressing Ctrl (and Shift), tap the “~” key.   Then type the letter “n”.

      ô       While pressing Ctrl (and Shift), tap the “^” key.    Then type the letter “o”.

      ü       While pressing Ctrl (and Shift), tap the “:” key. Then type the letter “u”.

      è        While pressing the Ctrl key, type the symbol `. Then type the letter “e”.

      é        While pressing the Ctrl key, type the symbol '.     Then type the letter “e”.

128 Ç               144 É              160 á              225 ß

129 ü               145 æ              161 í

130 é               146 Æ             162 ó

131 â               147 ô              163 ú

132 ä               148 ö              164 ñ              230 µ

133 à               149 ò              165 Ñ

134 å               150 û              166 ª               241 ±

135 ç               151 ù              167 º

136 ê               152 ÿ              168 ¿               246 ÷

137 ë               153 Ö                 169

138 è               154 Ü                170 ¬              248 °

139 ï               155 ¢              171 ½   

140 î               156 £              172 ¼                 250 ·

141 ì               157 ¥              173 ¡

142 Ä                 158 P              174 «

143 Å                 159 ƒ               175 »               253 ²

0128 €                             0192 À        0224 à

                    0161 ¡          0193 Á        0225 á

0130 ‚          0162 ¢        0194         0226 â

0131 ƒ         0163 £         0195 à       0227 ã

0132 „         0164 ¤         0196 Ä        0228 ä

0133 …       0165 ¥         0197 Å        0229 å

0134 †         0166 ¦             0198 Æ       0230 æ

0135 ‡         0167 §         0199 Ç        0231 ç

0136 ˆ          0168 ¨          0200 È        0232 è

0137 ‰       0169 ©        0201 É        0233 é

0138 Š         0170 ª             0202 Ê        0234 ê

0139 ‹          0171 «         0203 Ë        0235 ë

0140 Œ       0172 ¬         0204 Ì         0236 ì

                    0173 ­          0205 Í         0237 í

0142 Ž         0174 ®        0206 Π         0238 î

                    0175 ¯         0207 Ï          0239 ï

                    0176 °          0208 Р       0240 ð

0145 ‘         0177 ±         0209 Ñ        0241 ñ

0146 ’          0178 ²          0210 Ò        0242 ò

0147 “         0179 ³          0211 Ó        0243 ó

0148 ”         0180 ´          0212 Ô        0244 ô

0149 •          0181 µ         0213 Õ        0245 õ

0150 –         0182 ¶         0214 Ö        0246 ö

0151 —       0183 ·            0215 ×      0247 ÷

0152 ˜          0184 ¸          0216 Ø        0248 ø

0153 ™       0185 ¹          0217 Ù        0249 ù

0154 š         0186 º          0218 Ú        0250 ú

0155 ›          0187 »         0219 Û        0251 û

0156 œ        0188 ¼        0220 Ü        0252 ü

                    0189 ½        0221 Ý        0253 ý

0158 ž         0190 ¾        0222 Þ         0254 þ

0159 Ÿ        0191 ¿         0223 ß         0255 ÿ

To see a higher   part of your document, click the scroll-up arrow (Ù)

or do this: put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe down.

To see a lower part of your document, click the scroll-down arrow (Ú)

or do this: put your finger in the screen’s middle and swipe up.

Tap method Tap the screen there.

Mouse method Move the mouse pointer there, then click the mouse’s left button.

Touchpad method Move the mouse pointer there, then tap the touchpad.

On-screen-keyboard method Press the “<” key (to move left to the previous character) or the “>” key (to move right to the next character).

Physical-keyboard method Press these movement keys:

Key you press    Where the cursor will move

right-arrow         right to the next character

left-arrow            left to the previous character

down-arrow       down to the line below

up-arrow            up to the line above

End                       right to the end of the line

Home                 left to beginning of the line

Page Down         down to the next screenful

Page Up          up to the previous screenful

Here’s what happens if you press those movement keys while holding down the Ctrl key:

Key you press                 Where the cursor will move

Ctrl with right-arrow        right (to the next word or punctuation symbol)

Ctrl with left-arrow          left (to the beginning of a word or punctuation)

Ctrl with down-arrow       down to the next paragraph

Ctrl with up-arrow           up to the beginning of a paragraph

Ctrl with Page Down     down to the end of the screen’s last word

Ctrl with Page Up             up to the beginning of the screen’s first word

Ctrl with End                   down to the end of the document

Ctrl with Home                up to the beginning of the document

The Backspace key erases the character that’s before the cursor.

The Delete key (which is just on a physical keyboard) erases the character that’s after the cursor.

Touch method Put your finger on the zoom slider, then drag it toward the right.

Mouse method Put the mouse pointer on the zoom slider. Then while pressing the mouse’s main button (the left button), move the mouse toward the right.

While holding down the Ctrl key, press the A key. That means “all”. All of the document turns blue.

Then press the Delete key. All of the document disappears, so you can start over!

The Save button is a purple-and-white square that’s supposed to look like a floppy disk (though it also looks like a TV set).

The Undo button is an arrow curving toward the left. The arrow is blue (unless you haven’t typed anything yet).

Near the screen’s top, make sure you see “„ This PC „ Documents”. If you see “SkyDrive” instead of “This PC”, switch to “This PC” by doing this: tap (or click) “This PC” (at the screen’s left edge) then double-tap “Documents”.

Type the name. Your typing will appear in the “File name” box. At the end of your typing, press the Enter key (which has the symbol 8  ). That tells the computer to copy the document onto the hard disk. (On a tablet, which has no hard disk, the computer copies the document onto a solid-state drive, which made of RAM chips imitating a hard disk.)

New

Open

Save

Save as

Print

Page setup

Send in e-mail

About WordPad

Exit

Choose Open from the File menu (by clicking Open).

The computer starts showing you a list of all documents in the Documents library. To see the rest of the list, either “click in that list then rotate the mouse’s wheel toward you” or “repeatedly click the down-arrow that’s to the right of that list”.

If you want to use one of those documents, double-click the document’s name. (To double-click, tap the mouse’s left button twice quickly, so the taps are less than .4 seconds apart. While tapping the left button twice, make sure the mouse remains still: don’t let the mouse jiggle, not even a smidgen! Double-clicking is also called opening.) The computer will put that document onto the screen and let you edit it. If instead you want to delete one of those documents, click the document’s name then press the Delete key then the Enter key; the computer will move that document to the Recycle Bin.

One of the documents might be embarrassing (perhaps because it’s pornographic or a private letter), and you want to hide it from your colleagues and family.

Even after you’ve deleted a document, that document’s name might still be on that list.

The recently-used list shows just the names of the last 9 documents you mentioned. Go use other WordPad documents; they’ll go onto recently-used list and bump off the older documents.

Get out of WordPad (by choosing Exit from the File menu and answering any questions about saving a document). Then go back into WordPad. That resets WordPad, so it can find the new printer you just attached. Get onto the screen whatever document you want to print (by typing a new document or choosing an old document from the File menu).

Typist method Click the Font Size box. In that box, type a size number from 8 to 72. The number can end in .5; the number can be 8 or 8.5 or 9 or 9.5 or 10 or bigger. (Theoretically, you can pick a number even smaller than 8 or even bigger than 72, but those extreme numbers create ugly results.) When you finish typing the number, press the Enter key.

Down-arrow method Click the down-arrow that’s to the right of the Font Size box. You see this list of popular sizes: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 36, 48, and 72. That list of popular sizes is called the Font Size menu. Click the size you want.

Grow method Click the Grow Font button (which says A5 on it). That makes the font be slightly bigger (the next popular size). To make the font grow even bigger than that, click the Grow Font button again.

Shrink method Click the Shrink Font button (which says A6 on it). That makes the font be slightly smaller (the next popular size down). To make the font shrink even smaller than that, click the Shrink Font button again.

This text is 8 points high, 9 points high, 10 points high, 11 points high, 12 points high, 14 points high, 16 points high, 18 points high,
20 pt., 22 pt., 24 pt., 26 pt., 28 pt., 36pt.,48pt.,72pt.

This font is called “Times New Roman”. It’s the best for typing long passages of text, such as paragraphs in books, newspapers, magazines, and reports. It squeezes lots of words onto a small amount of paper but remains easy to read. You can make it plain or bold or italic or bold italic.

If you make it big & bold, like this, it imitates an old-fashioned news headline.

This font is called “Tahoma”. It’s simple. It resembles Calibri and Arial but has several advantages, such as a better capital “I”. You can make it plain or bold or italic or bold italic. It’s best for typing short phrases that attract attention. For example…

If you make it big & bold, like this, it’s good for titles, signs, and posters.

If you make it small, like this, it’s good for footnotes, photo captions, classified ads, telephone books, directories, and catalogs.

This font is called “Comic Sans MS”. It resembles Tahoma but looks hand-drawn, like the words in a funny comic book. You can make it plain or bold or italic or bold italic. It’s best for typing short phrases that draw attention and giggles. For example…

If you make it big & bold, like this, it’s good for funny titles, signs, and posters.

This font is called “Courier New”.

If you make it 12 points high, like this, it resembles the printout from a typewriter.

It makes each character have the same width: for example, the “m” has the same width as the “i”. It’s a good font for typing tables of numbers, since the uniform width lets you line up each column of numbers easily.

Choose plain, bold, italic, or bold italic.

Click the down-arrow that’s to the right of the A’s underline. You see 30 colors.

If you like one of those colors, click it.

If you don’t like any of those colors, click “More Colors”, which shows you 48 colors: click your favorite then “OK”.

Click the down-arrow that’s to the right of the pen. You see 15 colors. Click the color you want (such as yellow).

To underline the phrase, activate the Underline button (by clicking it).

To make the phrase be bold, activate the Bold button (by clicking it).

To italicize the phrase, activate the Italic button (by clicking it).

To make the phrase be tiny and raised, activate the Superscript button (by clicking it).

To make the phrase be tiny and lowered, activate the Subscript button (by clicking it).

To make the phrase look crossed out, activate the Strikethrough button (by clicking it).

To prevent the phrase from being underlined, bold, italicized, superscripted, subscripted, or crossed out, deactivate those buttons (by clicking them again).

To change the phrase’s point size, choose the size you want from the Font Size menu.

To change the phrase’s font, choose the font you want from the Font menu.

To delete the phrase, press the Delete key.

To replace the phrase, just type whatever words you want the phrase to become.

Drag method Point at the phrase’s beginning. Then drag to the phrase’s end.

Shift-click method Click the phrase’s beginning. Then while holding down the Shift key, click the phrase’s end.

Movement-key method By using your keyboard’s movement keys (such as up-arrow, down-arrow, left-arrow, and right-arrow), move to the phrase’s beginning. Then while holding down the Shift key, use the movement keys to move to the phrase’s end.

Line method To select just one line, click in its left margin.

Multiline method To select several lines, click in the first line’s left margin; then while holding down the Shift key, click in the bottom line’s left margin.

Word method To select just one word, double-click in its middle.

Paragraph method To select just one paragraph, triple-click in its middle (or double-click in its left margin).

Multiparagraph method To select several paragraphs, triple-click in the first paragraph’s middle; then while holding down the Shift key, click in the last paragraph’s middle.

All method To select the entire document (all!), tap the A key while holding down the Ctrl key.

You tried to type a capital A, but instead of pressing the Shift key you accidentally pressed the Ctrl key. “Ctrl with A” tells the computer to “select the whole document”, so the whole document becomes highlighted. The next character you type replaces the highlighted text, so the highlighted text is all lost.

Immediately say “undo” (by clicking the Undo button or pressing Ctrl with Z). That undoes your last action. Say “undo” several times, until you’ve undone enough of your actions to undo the calamity.

First, select the phrase you want to move, so the phrase turns blue.

Then take your finger off the mouse’s button. Move the mouse’s pointer to the phrase’s middle (so you see an arrow). Finally, hold down the mouse’s button; and while you keep holding down the mouse’s button, move the mouse slightly. You’ll see a vertical line (red or black); drag that line to wherever you want the phrase to move. (Drag anywhere you wish in the document, or drag to the document’s end. The computer won’t let you drag past the document’s end.)

At the end of the drag, lift your finger from the mouse’s button. Presto, the phrase moves where you wished!

Instead of clicking the Cut button,

you can press Ctrl with X (which means “X it out”).

Instead of clicking the Paste button,

you can press Ctrl with V (which stands for “Velcro”).

like this line

like this line

like this line

like                      this                       line

If you’re typing a title or headline and want it to be centered, click the Center button.

If you’re typing a business letter and want it to begin by showing the date next to the right margin, click the Align text right button.

If you’re typing an informal memo or letter to a colleague or friend, and want the paragraph to look plain, ordinary, modest, and unassuming (like Clark Kent), click the Align text left button.

If you’re creating something formal (such as a newspaper or textbook) and want the paragraph to have perfectly straight edges (so it looks official, uptight, and professional, like Robocop), click the Justify button.

To change the alignment of a paragraph you typed earlier, click in that paragraph’s middle then click the alignment button you wish.

Press the Enter key twice (to leave a big blank space above the title).

Next, click the Center button (so the title will be centered) and the Bold button (so the title will be bold). Type the words you want to be in the title and press the Enter key afterwards.

Congratulations! You’ve created a centered title!

Next, make the paragraph underneath the title be normal: make that paragraph be uncentered (click the Align text left button or Justify button) and make it be unbolded (deactivate the Bold button, by clicking it).

Instead of clicking the Justify                 button, you can press Ctrl with J.

Instead of clicking the Align Text Left  button, you can press Ctrl with L.

Instead of clicking the Align Text Right   button, you can press Ctrl with R.

Instead of clicking the Center                  button, you can press Ctrl with E

                                                                 (which stands for “Equidistant”).

       1.0

ü       1.15

       1.5

       2.0

ü       Add 10pt space after paragraphs

Type paragraphs 1 and 2 normally (without pressing the Increase indent button).

When you start typing paragraph 3, press the Increase indent button. That makes the computer start indenting, so paragraphs 3, 4, and 5 will be automatically indented.

When you start typing paragraph 6, here’s how to prevent the computer from indenting it: click the Decrease indent button at the beginning of paragraph 6.

bulleted list

numbered list (1, 2, 3)

lettered list (a, b, c)

capital-lettered list (A, B, C)

Roman-numeral list (i, ii, iii)

capital-Roman-numeral list (I, II, III)

Click where you want the search to begin. (For example, if you want the search to begin at the document’s beginning, click in the middle of the document’s first word.) Click Find (or press Ctrl with F). Type the word you want to find (“love”), and press Enter.

The computer will search for “love”. If the computer finds a “love” in your document, it will highlight that “love” so it turns blue. (If the Find window covers the part of your document that says “love”, drag that window out of the way, by dragging the window’s title, “Find”.)

If you want to find the next “love” in your document, press Enter; if you do not want to search for more “love”, click the Find window’s X (or press the Esc key).

Click Replace. Type the old word you want to replace (“love”), then press the Tab key, then type the new word you want instead (“idolize”), then click the Replace All button. That makes the computer change each “love” to “idolize”. Then press the Esc key twice.

I love you. Love you! LOVE YOU! I want to kiss your glove!

I idolize you. Idolize you! IDOLIZE YOU! I want to kiss your gidolize!

For example, if you write a letter that talks about Fred, then want to write a similar letter about Sue, tell the computer to replace each Fred with Sue.

If you write a book about “How to be a better salesman” and then a feminist tells you to change each “salesman” to “salesperson”, tell the computer to replace each “salesman”.

If you’re writing a long ad that mentions “Calvin Klein’s Hot New Flaming Pink Day-Glo Pajamas” repeatedly, and you’re too lazy to type that long phrase so often, just type the abbreviation “Calnew”. When you’ve finished typing the document, tell the computer to replace each “Calnew” with the long phrase it stands for.

Method 1 Click “Select all”.

Method 2 While holding down the Ctrl key, tap the A key (which means “All”).

12/25/2014

12/25/14

14/12/25

2014-12-25

25-Dec-14

Thursday, December 25, 2014

December 25, 2014

Thursday, 25 December, 2011

25 December, 2011

8:59:20 AM

08:59:20 AM

8:59:20

08:59:20

Paint

Windows 8.1 Go to the Apps screen (by putting your finger on a blank space near the Start screen’s middle, then swiping up).

Windows 8 Go to the Start screen (or Apps screen).

Finger method Put your finger on the screen’s middle, then slide your finger on the screen (right, left, up, or down), as if you were finger-painting on the screen. For example, try drawing a smile, by doing the following…. Put your finger on the screen, where you want the smile to begin (at the smile’s top-left corner), then move your finger on the screen while you draw the smile. When you finish drawing the smile, lift your finger off the screen. Then draw the rest of the face!

Mouse method Move the mouse pointer to the screen’s middle. Then drag (move the mouse while holding down the mouse’s left button). As you drag, you’ll be drawing a squiggle. For example, try drawing a smile, by doing the following.… Put the mouse pointer where you want the smile to begin (at the smile’s top-left corner), then depress the mouse’s left button while you draw the smile. When you finish drawing the smile, lift the mouse’s button. Then draw the rest of the face!

Touchpad method By sliding your finger lightly across the touchpad, move the mouse pointer to the screen’s middle. Then drag (while pressing the touchpad’s bottom-left corner with your left hand’s index finger, slide the right hand’s index finger across the touchpad). As you drag, you’ll be drawing a squiggle. For example, try drawing a smile, by doing the following.… Put the mouse pointer where you want the smile to begin (at the smile’s top-left corner), then press the touchpad’s bottom-left corner while you draw the smile. When you finish drawing the smile, stop pressing the touchpad’s bottom-left corner. Then draw the rest of the face!

The finger method is best for drawing big smooth curves.

The mouse method is best for drawing tiny objects.

The touchpad method is best for drawing tiny objects if you don’t have a mouse.

black    gray-50%   dark red   red    orange   yellow            green   turquoise           indigo        purple

white    gray-25%   brown      rose  gold       light yellow    lime     light turquoise   blue-gray   lavender

Click “Edit colors”.

Below “Basic colors”, you see 48 little colored blocks. On the right, you also see a big block containing a rainbow of many colors.

Click your favorite color. The vertical strip on the right will show variations of that color (from pale to dark); click the variation you want.

When you’ve finished choosing your color, click “OK”.

The color you chose will appear below the 20 main colors. Whatever you draw next will be that color.

While holding down the Ctrl key, press the A key. That means “all”. All of the picture is surrounded by a blue dotted line.

Then press the Delete key. The entire picture disappears, so you can start over!

Brush, which is plain & normal

Calligraphy brush 1, which thickens any diagonal line that’s “falling” (heading toward the screen’s bottom-right corner)

Calligraphy brush 2, which thickens any diagonal line that’s “rising” (heading toward the screen’s top-right corner)

Airbrush, to look like paint splattered out of a spray can by a vandal

Oil brush, to look like an oil painting

Crayon, to look like Crayola used by a toddler

Marker, to look like a Sharpie marker pen or a highlighter pen

Natural pencil, to look like a sketch drawn by a fine artist using a soft pencil

Watercolor brush, to look like a watercolor painting

If you click the Rounded Rectangle (which is the 5^th shape) instead of the Rectangle, you’ll force the rectangle’s corners to be rounded (instead of sharp 90-degree angles). If you hold down the Shift key while dragging out the rounded rectangle, you’ll create a rounded square.

If you click the Oval (which is the 3^rd shape) instead of the Rectangle, you’ll force the rectangle’s corners to be very rounded, so the rectangle looks like an oval (ellipse). If you hold down the Shift key while dragging out the oval, you’ll create a perfect circle.

Put the mouse pointer in the shape’s middle, then drag where you want the shape to move.

The temporary blue box’s corners and edges have 9 handles (tiny squares you can drag). Tug at the handles (by dragging them with the mouse), until the shape is stretched and repositioned where you want it.

Click the shape you want to draw. Click “Outline”.

You see this menu:

No outline

Solid color

Crayon

Marker

Oil

Natural pencil

Watercolor

From that menu, choose the brush you want. (Choose “Crayon” or “Marker” or “Oil” or “Natural pencil” or “Watercolor”. Choosing “Solid color” gives you just a normal brush. Don’t choose “No outline”, which means “no brush”.)

Then choose a brush size, by clicking “Size” then the size you want. (If you’re a beginner, click the thickest size.)

Then put the shape onto your picture (by dragging across your picture).

Click the Color picker button (which is above “Tools”). Click in your picture, where your favorite color is. Then draw more stuff; it’ll be in the color you picked.

New

Open

Save

Save as

Print

From scanner or camera

Send in e-mail

Set as desktop background

Properties

About Paint

Exit

Choose Open from the File menu (by clicking Open).

The computer starts showing you a list of all pictures in the Pictures library. To see the rest of the list, either “click in that list then rotate the mouse’s wheel toward you” or “repeatedly click the down-arrow that’s to the right of that list”.

If you want to use one of those pictures, double-click the picture’s name; the computer will put that picture onto the screen and let you edit it. If instead you want to delete one of those pictures, click the picture’s name then press the Delete key then the Enter key; the computer will move that picture to the Recycle Bin.

Rectangle method Click the down-arrow under “Select”, then click “Rectangular selection”. Draw a blue rectangle around that part of your picture: to do that, put the mouse pointer where you want the rectangle’s top-left corner to be, and drag to where you want the rectangle’s opposite corner.

Free method Click the down-arrow under “Select”, then click “Free-form selection.” Draw a loop around that part of your picture: to do that, put the mouse pointer where you want the loop to begin, and drag until you’ve drawn the loop. (The loop will temporarily turn into a rectangle, but don’t let that bother you.)

Ctrl-A method Select the entire picture (by doing this: while holding down the Ctrl key, tap the letter A).

To delete that part of your picture, press the Delete key.

To move that part of your picture, point at the rectangle’s middle and drag that part of your drawing to wherever you want.

To copy that part of your picture (so that part appears twice), point at the rectangle’s middle and, while holding down the Ctrl key, drag that part of your picture to wherever you want the second copy to be.

To rotate that part of your picture, click “Rotate”, then click “Flip vertical” (to flip that part upside-down) or “Flip horizontal” (to see a mirror image of that part) or “Rotate right 90º” (to rotate that part clockwise) or “Rotate left 90º” (to rotate that part counterclockwise) or “Rotate 180º” (to stand that part on its end).

To enlarge that part of your picture, click “Resize”, then double-click in the first “Horizontal” box. Type “200” (if you want that part to be twice as wide and twice as tall) or “300” (if you want that part to be 3 times as wide and 3 times as tall) or whatever other percentage you wish. Press Enter.

To widen that part of your picture, click “Resize” then remove the check mark from “Maintain aspect ratio” (by clicking there) then double-click in the first “Horizontal” box. Type 200 (to make that part of your drawing twice as wide) or 300 (to make that part 3 times as wide) or whatever other percentage you wish. Press Enter.

To crop that part of your picture, click “Crop”. The rest of the picture will disappear, so the part you selected will be all that’s left, and the picture will probably be smaller.

Click the shape you want to draw. Click “Fill” then “Solid color”.

Then put the shape onto your picture (by dragging across your picture). The shape’s middle will be filled with color 2. So will all future shapes, until you turn that feature off (by clicking “Fill” then “No fill”).

Nifty features

Windows 8.1 the Windows logo and the symbol “e”

Windows 8 the symbol “e”

Start running WordPad (by clicking Start then Programs then Accessories then WordPad). Now the taskbar includes a WordPad button. Since WordPad is a word-processing program, type a few words, so you’ve created a short document on your screen.

While WordPad is still on your screen, start running Paint (by pressing the Windows Start key then typing “pa” then tapping “Paint”. Now the taskbar includes a WordPad button and a Paint button, because WordPad and Paint are both running simultaneously: they’re both in the computer’s RAM memory chips. Paint is blocking your view of WordPad, but WordPad is still running also.

To see WordPad better, click WordPad’s button on the toolbar. Then you’ll see WordPad clearly, and WordPad will block your view of Paint.

Here’s the rule: clicking WordPad’s button lets you see WordPad better; clicking Paint’s button lets you see Paint better. Both programs are in RAM simultaneously, until you close them (by clicking their X buttons).

Get onto the screen the data you want to copy. Select that data, by dragging across it. (If that data’s in Paint, click Paint’s Select button before dragging.)

Say “copy” by pressing Ctrl with C. That secretly copies the data to the Clipboard (a file you can’t see).

Get onto the screen the document you want to copy the data to. In that document, click where you want the data to be inserted.

Say “Velcro” by pressing Ctrl with V. That sticks the Clipboard’s data into the document.

If you’re sticking the data into a WordPad document, the computer sticks it where you requested. If you’re sticking the data into a Paint document, the computer insists on sticking it at the painting’s top-left corner; afterwards, drag the data where you want it.

If you want to stick the Clipboard’s data somewhere else also, click there and press Ctrl with V again.

Click in that window. Then while holding down the Alt key, say Print Screen (by using the method above). The computer will put a snapshot of just that window onto the Clipboard.

Go to the Start screen (or Apps screen) and type “sn”. You see a list of programs whose names have “sn”. One of them is “Snipping Tool”. Tap it.

Make sure the mouse pointer is a white cross. (If it’s a different shape, make it a white cross by clicking the down-arrow next to “New” then “Rectangular Snip”.)

Draw a red box around the part of the screen you want to copy. To do that, put the mouse pointer where you want the box’s top-left corner to be, and drag to where you want the box’s opposite corner. If you drew the box wrong, click “New” then try again to draw the box.

Click the Copy button (which looks like 2 sheets of paper with bent corners). Close the Snipping Tool window (by clicking its X button then clicking “No”).

HP all-in one Stand to the right of the screen, so you see the computer’s right-hand edge clearly. On that edge, toward the back, you see a button marked p. That’s the optical drive’s eject button. Press it.

Acer laptop Stand to the right of the keyboard, so you see clearly the keyboard’s right-hand edge, which is black. On that edge, you see a horizontal button. (That button is across from the numeric keypad’s 9 key.) That’s the optical drive’s eject button. Press it.

HP all-in one Hold that disk upright, so its label is on the front surface. Don’t touch its shiny backside. Put that disk’s shiny backside against the drawer’s front side, so the drawer’s hub (circular bump) pushes sexily through the CD’s hole.

Acer laptop Hold that disk horizontally, so its label is on top. Don’t touch its shiny underside. Push that disk down onto the drawer, so the drawer’s hub (circular bump) pushes sexily up through the CD’s hole.

HP all-in one The computer starts running the CyberLink PowerDVD program (which is not from Microsoft). Behind that program’s window, you see the Desktop screen. If you haven’t run that program before, the window says “End User License Agreement (EULA)”; to reply, click “I have read” then “Accept”.

Acer laptop You see the Desktop screen. The computer starts running the Acer Clear.fi Media program (which is not from Microsoft). If you haven’t run that program before, the computer asks “Do you want to allow”; to reply, tap “Yes” and answer any remaining questions.

At the keyboard’s top-right corner, 3 keys have loudspeaker symbols on them.

The first loudspeaker key shows a loudspeaker with a crossed-out circle. Press it to mute the sound. Press it again to resume the sound.

The second loudspeaker key shows a loudspeaker with just one sound wave coming out of it. Press it to make the sound softer. Press the rightmost key (which shows a loudspeaker with 3 sound waves coming out of it) to make the sound louder. Press those keys repeatedly (or hold them down awhile) to make the sound even softer or even louder.

Screen method On the screen, near the bottom, you see a picture of a white loudspeaker. Tap it to mute the sound. Tap it again to resume the sound. To the right of that loudspeaker, you see a white circle; drag the circle toward the left to lower the volume, right to raise it.

Key method While holding down the Fn key (which is near the keyboard’s bottom-left corner), do this: press the r key (which is below the right Shift key) to raise the volume slightly, or press the s key to lower, or press the F8 key to mute (or unmute).

Maximize the program’s window by clicking its maximize button (which is next to the X button). Then you can see the window’s buttons and features better. Here’s how to use them.…

In the program’s window, you see a list of tracks on the CD. For each track, you see its number or name. An arrow („) points to the track that’s playing.

Click the ║ button to pause in the middle of a song. To resume, click that button again (which has changed to a big „).

Click n to stop back at the beginning of the current track (song). To begin playing there, click the big „.

Click „| to skip ahead to the next track (song), |ƒ to hop back to the beginning of the previous track. To skip to a far-away track, click those buttons repeatedly or double-click the track’s number (or name).

As a song plays, you see a blue horizontal line start at the screen’s left edge and gradually stretch farther toward the right. To skip ahead, use your mouse to drag that blue line’s right edge farther toward the right. To jump back (and repeat what you heard before), drag that edge back toward the left.

Click „„  to make the music play slightly faster. Press it twice to go faster than that, 3 times to go even faster, 4 times to race humorously fast. If you press it a 5^th time, the speed returns to normal.

In the program’s window, you see a list of tracks on the CD. For each track, you see its number or name. (You see track names instead of numbers if the CD’s in the recording industry’s database and you played the CD previously while connected to the Internet.) A loudspeaker icon is left of the track that’s playing.

Tap the ║ button to pause in the middle of a song. To resume, tap that button again (which has changed to „).

Click n to stop back at the beginning of the current track (song). To begin playing there, click the big „.

Tap „„| to skip ahead to the next track (song), |ƒƒ to hop back to the beginning of the previous track. To skip to a far-away track, tap those buttons repeatedly or double-tap the track’s number (or name).

As a song plays, you see a white circle gradually move toward the right. To skip ahead, drag that circle farther toward the right. To jump back (and repeat what you heard before), drag that circle back toward the left.

Press the keyboard’s Start Windows button. Tell the computer what other task you want to do. While you do that task, the CD will continue to play, as background music.

If you want to adjust the music, return to the music program’s window by doing this: press the Start Windows button (so you see the Start screen) then the Desktop tile (so you see the Desktop screen, which still has the music program on it).

If you want to play another CD, insert it and close the drawer.

If you want to stop playing CDs, close the drawer and window, then press the Windows Start button.

HP all-in-one If the screen says “Region Playback Control”, click “OK”.

Acer laptop If the screen says “DVD Region”, tap “Change DVD drive’s region code” then “Change it now”.

HP all-in-one To adjust the movie’s volume, use the 3 loudspeaker keys (as for a CD). To see the on-screen controls, tap the screen’s middle; those controls will appear temporarily, then disappear (until you tap the screen again).

Acer laptop To adjust the movie’s volume, use the CD’s key method. To make other adjustments, tap the screen’s middle; on-screen controls will appear temporarily, then disappear (until you tap the screen again).

Explore your computer

Go to the Desktop screen (by clicking the Desktop tile). See the charms (by swiping from the right-hand black border toward the left). Tap the Settings charm then “PC info”.

Windows edition

   Windows 8

   Copyright © 2012 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

System

   Rating:                            5.5 Windows Experience Index

   Processor:                      Intel Core i3-3220 CPU @ 3.30GHz

   Installed memory (RAM): 8.00 GB (7.70 GB usable)

   System type:                  64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor

   Pen and Touch:            Full Windows Touch Support with 10 Touch Points

Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings

   Computer name:            HP-Envy20

Windows activation

   Windows is activated

   Product ID:                  00179-60233-26635-AAOEM

The computer is using Windows 8, invented in 2012 by Microsoft.

The computer’s speed is rated 5.5, which is average (on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the fastest). The computer’s CPU chip, manufactured by Intel, is a Core i3-3220, whose speed is 3.3 gigahertz. The computer contains 8 gigabytes of RAM chips. The screen is a touch screen that’s highly sensitive: even if all 10 of your fingers press the screen simultaneously, it can detect where each finger is.

I named the computer “HP-Envy20”.

The copy of Windows 8 on this computer has been activated
(declared legitimate by Microsoft) and has serial number
00179-60233-26635-AAOEM.

Windows edition

   Windows 8

   Copyright © 2012 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

System

   Rating:                            4.6 Windows Experience Index

   Processor:                      Intel Core i3-3227U CPU @ 1.90GHz

   Installed memory (RAM): 4.00 GB (3.80 GB usable)

   System type:                  64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor

   Pen and Touch:            Full Windows Touch Support with 10 Touch Points

Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings

   Computer name:            AcerLaptop

Windows activation

   Windows is activated

   Product ID:                  00179-60543-45790-AAOEM

The computer is using Windows 8, invented in 2012 by Microsoft.

The computer’s speed is rated 4.6, which is slightly below average (on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the fastest). The computer’s CPU chip, manufactured by Intel, is a Core i3-3227U, whose speed is 1.9 gigahertz. The computer contains 4 gigabytes of RAM chips. The screen is a touch screen that’s highly sensitive: even if all 10 of your fingers press the screen simultaneously, it can detect where each finger is.

I named the computer “AcerLaptop”.

The copy of Windows 8 on this computer has been activated
(declared legitimate by Microsoft) and has serial number
00179-60543-45790-AAOEM.

Windows edition

   Windows 8.1

   Copyright © 2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Windows edition

   Windows 8.1

   Copyright © 2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

System

   Manufacturer:                 TOSHIBA

   Model:                            Encore

   Processor:                      Intel Atom CPU Z3740 @ 1.33GHz

   Installed memory (RAM): 2.00 GB (1.89 GB usable)

   System type:                  32-bit Operating System, x64-based processor

   Pen and Touch:            Full Windows Touch Support with 5 Touch Points

Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings

   Computer name:            ToshibaTablet

Windows activation

   Windows is activated

   Product ID:                  00258-60059-36853-AAOEM

The computer is using Windows 8.1, invented in 2013 by Microsoft.

The computer is made by Toshiba and called an Encore. The computer’s CPU chip, manufactured by Intel, is an Atom Z3740, whose speed is 1.33 gigahertz. The computer contains 2 gigabytes of normal RAM chips. The screen is a touch screen that’s sensitive: even if 5 of your fingers press the screen simultaneously, it can detect where each finger is.

I named the computer “ToshibaTablet”.

The copy of Windows 8.1 on this computer has been activated
(declared legitimate by Microsoft) and has serial number
00258-60059-36853-AAOEM.

Go to the Start screen (not the Desktop screen). See the charms (by swiping from the right-hand black border toward the left). Tap the Settings charm then “Change PC settings” (which is at the screen’s bottom) then “PC and devices” then “PC info”.

hp 20-d013w

PC name            HP-Envy20

Product ID         00179-60233-26635-AAOEM

Processor             Intel Core i3-3220 CPU @ 3.30GHz

Installed RAM   8.00 GB (7.70 GB usable)

System type      64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Pen and touch   Full Windows touch support with 10 touch points

Edition               Windows 8.1

Activation          Windows is activated

acer Aspire V5-571P

PC name            AcerLaptop

Product ID         00179-60543-45790-AAOEM

Processor             Intel Core i3-3227U CPU @ 1.90 GHz

Installed RAM   4.00 GB (3.80 GB usable)

System type      64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Pen and touch   Full Windows touch support with 10 touch points

Edition               Windows 8.1

Activation          Windows is activated

Manufacturer     Acer

Phone                1-800-816-2237

Hours                open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

TOSHIBA Encore

PC name            ToshibaTablet

Product ID         00258-60059-36853-AAOEM

Processor             Intel Atom CPU Z3740 @ 1.33 GHz

Installed RAM   2.00 GB (1.89 GB usable)

System type      32-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Pen and touch   Full Windows touch support with 5 touch points

Edition               Windows 8.1

Activation          Windows is activated

Manufacturer     TOSHIBA

Drive A is the main floppy-disk drive (if you have one).

Drive B is the auxiliary floppy-disk drive (if you have one).

Drive C is the main hard drive’s main part.

Drives D, E, F, etc. are any extra disk drives (or parts of disk drives).

Drive A is the 1.44M 3½-inch floppy drive (if any).

Drive B is the 1.2M 5¼-inch floppy drive (if any).

Drive C is the hard drive’s main part.

Drive D is the hard drive’s recovery part (a copy of drive C’s essentials).

Drive E is the main DVD drive (or DVD RW drive or CD-ROM drive).

Drive F is an extra DVD drive (or CD-RW drive).

Drive A is called “A:”  (which is pronounced “A colon”).

Drive B is called “B:”  (which is pronounced “B colon”).

Drive C is called “C:”  (which is pronounced “C colon”).

Drive D is called “D:” (which is pronounced “D colon”).

Windows 8.1 Apps-screen method Go to the Apps screen. Type “fi” (which a tablet will let you do after you tap the space left of the magnifying glass). You see a list of programs whose names have “fi”. One of them is “File Explorer”. Tap it.

Windows 8.1 Desktop-screen method Go to the Desktop screen (by clicking the Desktop tile). Tap the File Explorer icon (which is near the screen’s bottom-left corner and looks like yellow file folders).

Windows 8 Start-screen method Go to the Start screen (or Apps screen) and type “co”. You see a list of programs whose names have “co”. One of them is “Computer”. Tap it.

Windows 8 Desktop-screen method Go to the Desktop screen (by clicking the Desktop tile). Tap the File Explorer icon (which is near the screen’s bottom-left corner and looks like yellow file folders) then “Computer” (which is at the screen’s left edge).

Hard Disk Drives

Acer (C:)

Devices with Removable Storage

DVD RW Drive (D:)

Hard Disk Drives

OS (C:)           Recovery image (D:)

Devices with Removable Storage

DVD RW Drive (E:)

Folders

Desktop     Documents    Downloads    Music          Pictures       Videos

Devices and drives

Acer (C:)     DVD RW Drive (D:)

Folders

Desktop     Documents    Downloads    Music          Pictures       Videos

Devices and drives

OS (C:)        Recovery image (D:)         DVD RW Drive (E:)

Folders

Desktop     Documents    Downloads    Music          Pictures       Videos

Devices and drives

TI10677900H (C:)

Look at the screen. Below the “C:”, you see a message about disk C, such as “865 GB free of 914 GB” (which means 255 GB are still unused & available, out of disk C’s 914 GB total size). You also see a wide box, which represents the entire disk C: the blue part is what’s used; the gray part is what’s unused (free). If you right-click the “C:” (using the mouse’s right-hand button) then click “Properties”, you’ll see a pie chart with more details. When you finish admiring the pie chart, click “OK”.

If the file’s a document, its icon typically looks like a page whose top-right corner is bent.

If the file’s an application program, its icon typically looks cute.

If the file’s a folder containing other files, its icon looks like a yellow manila folder that’s open.

If the file’s a folder, you see what’s in the folder.

If the file’s an application program, the computer will try to run the program. Don’t do that unless you’ve read instructions about how to run the program successfully!

If the file’s a document, the computer will try to use that document: the computer will try to run the program that created the document, but sometimes the computer can’t correctly deduce which program created the document.

The Users folder contains a personal folder (having your name on it), which in turn contains the My Documents folder (containing the documents you wrote).

For most situations, click Details. That view is what the computer assumes you want anyway (unless you’ve said otherwise or the computer thinks you’re in a picture-oriented folder). For each file, besides the filename you see a small icon and many details about the file.

If you click List instead of Details, the computer omits the details (so more files can fit on the screen).

If you click Tiles instead of Details, the computer makes the icons easier to see (medium-size instead of small) but includes just a few details about each file. If you click Content, you see a compromise between “Details” and “Tiles”.

If you click Extra large icons, the computer makes the icons huge but omits any details about the files. If you don’t want the icons so huge, click Large icons or Medium icons or Small icons instead. If you’re in a picture-oriented folder, the computer assumes you want Large icons (unless you’ve said otherwise).

Click “Home” (which is near the screen’s top-left corner) then “New folder”. A new folder will appear. Type a name for it (and press Enter).

If the disk contains a program called autorun.inf, the computer automatically starts running that program, which typically makes the computer run another program, called setup.exe. If you don’t want to continue running such programs, exit from them by clicking their X buttons or by clicking whatever “Exit” choices they offer you. Then if you want to find out what’s on the disk, right-click disk’s icon (which is in the Computer window) and click “Open”.

If the disk lacks an autorun.inf program, the computer might do nothing, or it might show you a list of files on the disk, or it might briefly flash this message at the screen’s top-right corner: “Tap to choose what happens with removable drives”. If you see that message, tap it then tap “Open folder to view files”.

When you finish examining any files that are on the disk, close the disk’s window by clicking its X button.

Make sure you saved the file and you’re not in the middle of using it.

Run WordPad. Click “File” then “Open”. Then you see a list of WordPad’s documents and their icons.

Make sure you saved the file and you’re not in the middle of using it.

Run Paint. Click “File” then “Open”. Then you see a list of Paint’s paintings and their icons.

Go to the Desktop screen (by clicking the Desktop tile). Tap the File Explorer icon (which is near the screen’s bottom-left corner and looks like yellow file folders) then “Documents” (which is at the screen’s left edge). You see what’s in the Documents library. The Documents library includes what’s in 2 folders: “My Documents” and “Public Documents”. To see just what’s in the “My Documents” folder, click the triangle that’s left of “Documents” at the screen’s left edge, until that triangle turns solid blue or black; then click “My Documents”.

Go to the Desktop screen (by clicking the Desktop tile). Tap the File Explorer icon (which is near the screen’s bottom-left corner and looks like yellow file folders) then “Pictures” (which is at the screen’s left edge).

Manipulate a file

Invent a name for the disk. The name must be short (no more than 16 characters). Type the name (and press Enter).

Right-click the file’s icon. Click “Send To” then “Documents”. Then the computer copies the file to the My Documents folder.

Right-click the file’s icon. Click “Send To” then “Desktop”.

Right-click the file’s icon. Click “Copy”. Right-click in any blank space (in any drive or any folder) where you want the copy to appear. Click “Paste”.

Click the file’s icon then the file’s name. Type the new name (and press Enter).

Click the file’s icon. Press the Delete key.

If the file’s on a floppy disk, that procedure really deletes the file.

If the file’s on a hard disk, that procedure just moves the file to the Recycle Bin (which holds hard-disk files you said to delete).

If the file’s on a CD, the computer analyzes the CD: if the disk is rewriteable (CD-RW), the computer deletes the file; if the disk is just CD-R (which can’t delete), the computer hides the file so it’s inaccessible (though still taking up space on the disk); if the disk is a plain CD (which can’t be altered at all), the computer complains.

Click “View” then “Details” then “Manage”.

Ctrl-click method Click the first file you want to manipulate. While holding down the Ctrl key, click each of the other files you want to manipulate. That highlights all those files. (If you make a mistake and accidentally highlight an extra file, click it again while holding down the Ctrl key, to remove its highlighting.)

Shift-click method Click the first file you want to manipulate. While holding down the Shift key, click the last file you want to manipulate. That highlights the first file you want, the last file you want, and also all files in between.

Ctrl-A method Click the first file you want to manipulate. While holding down the Ctrl key, tap the A key (which stands for “all”). That highlights all files in the folder.

If you want to “delete” the files, press the Delete key.

If you want to “send” the files, right-click the first file and follow the rest of my instructions about how to send where you wish.

Put the disk into the drive. You see that disk’s window. At the window’s left edge, you see “DVD RW Drive”; right-click it. Click “Erase this disc”. Press Enter. The computer will spend about a minute erasing all files from the CD-RW disk. Then the computer will say “You have erased the files on this disc.” Press Enter.

Tricks

Start-screen method Go to the Apps screen (or Windows 8’s Start screen) and type “co” (which a tablet will let you do after you tap the space left of the magnifying glass). You see a list of programs whose names have “co”. One of them is “Control Panel”. Tap it.

Desktop-screen method Go to the Desktop screen (by clicking the Desktop tile). See the charms (by swiping from the right-hand black border toward the left). Tap the Settings charm then “Control Panel”.

System and Security                             User Accounts and Family Safety

Network and Internet                        Appearance and Personalization

Hardware and Sound                            Clock, Language, and Region

Programs                                                  Ease of Access

action center, add features to Windows 8, administrative tools, AutoPlay, Beats Audio control panel (just HP), color management, credential manager, date&time, default programs, device manager, devices&printers, display, Dolby advanced audio (just Acer), ease-of-access center, Energy Star (just HP), family safety, file history, Flash player, folder options, fonts, HomeGroup, indexing options, Intel graphics&media, Internet options, keyboard, language, location settings, mouse, network&sharing center,
notification-area icons, pen&touch, performance information&tools, personalization, phone&modem, power options, programs&features, Realtek HD audio manager (just Acer), recovery, region, RemoteApp&Desktop connections, sound, speech recognition, storage spaces, Synaptics ClickPad V8.1 (just Acer), sync center, system, tablet PC settings, taskbar, troubleshooting, user accounts, Windows 7 file recovery,
Windows Defender, Windows firewall, Windows Live language setting (just HP), Windows mobility center (just Acer), Windows Update

“add features to Windows 8” becomes “add features to Windows 8.1”

“Intel graphcs&media” becomes “Intel HD graphics”

“taskbar” becomes “taskbar&navigation”

“work folders” is added

“performance information&tools” and “Windows 7 file recovery” disappear

action center, add features to Windows 8.1, administrative tools, AutoPlay, color management, credential manager, date&time, default programs, device encryption, device manager, devices&printers, display,
ease-of-access center, family safety, file history, Flash player, folder options, fonts, HomeGroup, indexing options, Intel HD graphics, Internet options, keyboard, language, location settings, mouse, network&sharing center, notification-area icons, pen&touch, personalization, phone&modem,
power options, programs&features, recovery, region,
RemoteApp&Desktop connections, sound, speech recognition, storage spaces, sync center, system, tablet PC settings, taskbar&navigation, troubleshooting, user accounts, Windows Defender, Windows firewall, Windows mobility center, Windows Update, work folders

Near the screen’s top-right corner, you see “View by”. Click the down-arrow that’s to the right of “View by”. Then click “Category” or “Large icons”.

Go to the Apps screen (or Windows 8’s Start screen) and type “no”. You see a list of programs whose names have “no”. One of them is “Notepad”. Tap it.

The font is 11-point Consolas, unless you switch to a different font (by clicking “Format” then “Font” then choosing a different font then clicking “OK”). The font you choose affects Notepad forever (it affects how Notepad displays all documents), unless you switch fonts again.

Click “Format”. You see “Word Wrap”. If there’s no check mark before “Word Wrap”, put a check mark there by clicking “Word Wrap”.

Instead of clicking a Save       button, click File then Save.

Instead of clicking an Undo    button, click Edit then Undo.

Right-click method Right-click the icon (so the icon’s shortcut menu appears). Then click “Properties”.

Menu-key method Click the icon. Press the Menu key (so the icon’s shortcut menu appears). Then either click “Properties” or press the R key (which is the code for “Properties”).

Alt-double method While holding down the Alt key, double-click the icon.

Alt-Enter method Click the icon. Then while holding down the Alt key, tap the Enter key.

Microsoft Internet method Using the Internet (on any computer), go to “http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/support”.

Acer Internet method Using the Internet (on any computer), go to “www.acer.com/windows8-tutorial”. Then you see help about Windows 8 & 8.1.

Windows 8.1 method At the Start screen on a Windows 8.1 computer, tap the “Help+Tips” tile. Then you see tiles giving you brief help about Windows 8.1 and apps.

Acer tile method At the Start screen on the Acer laptop, tap the “Acer Explorer” tile. Then you see tiles giving you brief help about Windows 8 and apps.

HP tile method At the Start screen on the HP all-in-one computer, tap HP’s help tile (which was called “Using Windows 8 apps” but now is called “Getting Started with Windows 8”). Then you see tiles about different Windows topics; tap your favorite.