{"appState":{"pageLoadApiCallsStatus":true},"authorState":{"author":{"headers":{"timestamp":"2025-03-10T20:49:13+00:00"},"authorId":9181,"data":{"name":"Brian Underdahl","slug":"brian-underdahl","description":" Brian Underdahl is the well-known, best selling author of over 70 computer books on a broad range of subjects. He has appeared on a number of TV shows, including the Computer Chronicles, and several TechTV programs, and is the subject of an hour-long interview on the syndicated Computer Outlook radio program. One of his titles was recently recommended to viewers by Scott Gurvey, Bureau Chief, on the Nightly Business Report on PBS, and his books have won awards including an Award of Merit from the Northern California Technical Communications Competition and the Referenceware Excellence Award for best title in the Graphic Design and Multimedia category. Brian has been involved in personal computers from their beginning and has a background in electrical engineering. 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Interestingly, if you have multiple monitors connected to your PC, clicking the Start Button opens the Start Screen on the monitor where you clicked. In other words, you can open the Start Screen on any monitor you want.</p>\n<p>A left click on the Windows 8.1 Start Button functions exactly as if you press the Windows key on your keyboard. In both cases, the Start Screen opens on the currently active monitor.</p>\n"},{"title":"You have right click power.","thumb":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0},"image":{"src":"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/383246.image1.jpg","width":500,"height":400},"content":"<p>Right clicking on the Start Button in Windows 8.1 displays a pop-up menu with a number of interesting choices. True, it’s not quite the same as the old Start Menu, but the pop-up menu does make it very easy for you to access things such as the Task Manager and the Control Panel. You simply click on the item you want from the pop-up menu.</p>\n"},{"title":"You can open Task Manager from the Start Button.","thumb":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0},"image":{"src":"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/383247.image2.jpg","width":500,"height":400},"content":"<p>A good example of how you can use the new Windows 8.1 Start Button is to open the Task Manager so that you can see and control which apps are currently running.</p>\n<p>Right-click the Start Button and choose Task Manager from the pop-up menu to display the Task Manager window. Then you can select a running task from the list and click the End task button to shut down the selected app.</p>\n"},{"title":"You can shut down Windows from the Start Button.","thumb":{"src":null,"width":0,"height":0},"image":{"src":"https://www.dummies.com/wp-content/uploads/383248.image3.jpg","width":500,"height":400},"content":"<p>You can also shut down or restart your PC using the right-click pop-up menu from the Start Button. 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Brian Underdahl

Brian Underdahl

Brian Underdahl is the well-known, best selling author of over 70 computer books on a broad range of subjects. He has appeared on a number of TV shows, including the Computer Chronicles, and several TechTV programs, and is the subject of an hour-long interview on the syndicated Computer Outlook radio program. One of his titles was recently recommended to viewers by Scott Gurvey, Bureau Chief, on the Nightly Business Report on PBS, and his books have won awards including an Award of Merit from the Northern California Technical Communications Competition and the Referenceware Excellence Award for best title in the Graphic Design and Multimedia category. Brian has been involved in personal computers from their beginning and has a background in electrical engineering. His last “real” job was as a Senior Programmer/Analyst for a large company, where he worked hard to bring the power and freedom of PCs to the desktops. Brian figures that it’s the author who should do the work so that readers can get their money’s worth. That’s why his books are different — he takes the time to explain what’s going on so that readers can understand the subjects easily.

Articles From Brian Underdahl

Windows 8.1 How to Use the Windows 8.1 Start Button

Step by Step / Updated 04-11-2017

One of the biggest complaints that Microsoft heard about Windows 8 was the lack of a Start Button. Well, the Start Button has come back in Windows 8.1. Here's how the Windows 8.1 Start Button works.

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