Shutting Down Your System

Now that our test drive is over, let's turn off things and settle in for the day. While you could turn off your system by pressing the big button on the front of your system unit, this isn't the proper way to shut off your system. The proper procedure uses Windows to shut down everything, nice and orderly.

tip

To turn your computer back on, press the power button on the front of your PC's system unit.

Just follow these steps:

1. Click the Start button to display the Start menu.
   
   

2. Select Turn Off Computer.
   
   

3. When the Turn Off Computer box appears, select Turn Off.
   
   

Windows will now do what it needs to do to properly close all of its system files. When the screen goes blank and your system unit stops making noise, your system is shut down.

The Absolute Minimum

That was a fun little trip of discovery, wasn't it? Here are the key points to remember:

• Just about everything you could want to launch or open is somewhere on the Start menu.

• After you have a window open on your desktop, you can use your mouse to resize it or you can maximize it to display full-screen.

• When you want to print a file in a Windows application, pull down the File menu and select Print.

• When you want to save a file in a Windows application, pull down the File menu and select Save As.

• When you want to close a Windows application, pull down the File menu and select Exit or just click the window's Close button.

• To turn off your computer, use the Turn Off Computer command on the Windows Start menu.