Go with the Start Button

1. The Start button, located in the bottom-left corner of the screen, provides easy access to all the programs you use. This circular button displays the Windows logo - a four-colored flag. Click the Start button to display the Start menu, which is a list of options.
2. Move your mouse pointer slowly over each item on the left side of the menu. As you hover, some menu items display a tooltip. A menu item with a triangle to the right displays a pop-out list called a jump list.
3. Click the All Programs item to display a menu of all the available programs on your computer.
4. On the All Programs menu, find a yellow icon for Games or Accessories, and click that icon to display more programs. (Later, to play a game or open an accessory, you click its name.)
5. Click Back near the bottom of the All Programs menu to return to the first Start menu. You can also press the Esc (Escape) key to back up through the menus.
6. You don't have to dig through menus by clicking as you did in the preceding steps. Instead, you can type part of the name of the program you want to run. When the Start menu opens, the cursor, which is a vertical or horizontal line indicating where words you type will appear, is automatically in the box labeled Search Programs and Files. Start typing solitaire, and you see several programs listed, including the game Solitaire. Note that the game appears in the list as soon as you type the letter s. By the time you type sol, Solitaire is at the top of the list. Click the Solitaire item to start the game.
   Tip: You can perform most actions with the mouse, the keyboard, or a combination of the two. Another way to display the Start menu, for example, is to press the Windows logo key, which is located between the keys labeled Ctrl (Control) and Alt (Alternate) near the spacebar - the largest key on the keyboard. The Windows logo key has the same four-part flag icon as the Start menu (although not in color). From here on, I will refer to this key as the Win key.
7. Tap and release the Win key to display the Start menu; tap the Win key a second time to remove the Start menu from the screen. If you want to run something else, you can type the name of the program you want and press Enter or click the program name. This is the easiest way to start any program you know the name of. You may need to type only a few letters to run a program.

Tip: Learning keystroke shortcuts is especially valuable if you don't like using the mouse or other pointing device, which is a common complaint laptop users have about the touchpad.