account holders can’t store files on OneDrive, where they’re available from other PCs and devices. Local account holders can’t buy apps from the Microsoft Store app, either.
Microsoft account: Required to access many of Microsoft’s services, a Microsoft account consists of simply an email address and a password. Microsoft account holders can store files on the internet with OneDrive, download apps from the Microsoft Store, and monitor their children’s online activities. When you log in online to any PC with your Microsoft account, you find your email, browser favorites, OneDrive files, and settings automatically waiting for you.
You can sign in with a Microsoft account in one of these two ways; I’ve listed the simplest method first:
Use an existing Microsoft account. If you already have an account with Hotmail, MSN, Xbox Live, Outlook.com, or Windows Messenger, you already have a Microsoft account and password. Type in that email address and password at the screen shown in Figure 2-4, and then click the Sign In button.
Sign up for a new Microsoft account. Click the words Microsoft Account, shown in Figure 2-4, and Microsoft takes you to a website where you can create your own Microsoft account. You can use any email address for a Microsoft account. You simply enter that email address, create a new password to go with it, and wham: You’ve created a Microsoft account.
Until you sign in with a Microsoft account, the nag screen in Figure 2-4 will haunt you whenever you try to access a Windows feature that requires a Microsoft account. (I explain how to convert a Local account into a Microsoft account in Chapter 14.)
Figuring Out the Windows 11 Start Menu
In theory, you spot the name or icon for your desired app or program and click it; the app launches, and you’re off to work. In reality, finding what you want on the Windows 11 Start menu can be a little more confusing, especially if you’ve grown accustomed to the Windows 10 Start menu.
In Windows 11, the Start menu contains the following four parts:
Search box: This box lives across the top of the Start menu. Type what you’re searching for — a name of a file, folder, or even some words contained in that file — into the Search box, and Windows will try to find it, whether it’s on your PC or the internet.
Pinned: Windows displays a selective list of “pinned” apps in this section. To see all your apps, click the All Apps icon in the section’s upper-right corner. I explain how to pin your own favorite apps here in this chapter’s “Adding or removing Start menu items” section.
Recommended: Here, Windows lists your recently opened files, whether they be documents, photos, or videos.
User Account name and Power: The Start menu’s bottom section lists your user account name. Opposite the name, the power button awaits. Click it to put your computer to sleep, restart it, or shut it down for the day.
FIGURE 2-5: The Start button is always the left-most icon on your taskbar, which lives along the bottom of the screen.
Keyboard fans can fetch the Start menu by pressing the key on their keyboard.
To launch a program or app, or to retrieve a recently used file, click or tap its name or icon. The program leaps to the screen.
If you are unable to spot your desired program or app listed on the Start menu, click the All Apps button that lives across from the word Pinned. The Start menu changes to show all your apps sorted alphabetically.
On a touchscreen, navigate the Start menu with your finger: Tap an icon, and Windows launches the corresponding app or program.
The Start menu in Windows 11 looks quite different from the one found in previous versions of Windows. But it functions in a similar way: It lets you launch your programs and open your files.
Launching a Start menu program or app
Each name on the Start menu is a button for starting an app or a traditional Windows program. Of course, Windows complicates things by offering several ways to launch an app or a program:
Mouse: Move the mouse pointer over the icon, and click the left mouse button.
Keyboard: Press the arrow keys until a box surrounds the desired icon. Then press the Enter key. (Press the Tab key to jump between different sections of the Start menu.)
Touchscreen: Tap the icon with your finger.
No matter which app you’ve chosen, it jumps onto the screen, ready to inform you, entertain you, or, if you’re lucky, do both.
I explain the Start menu’s built-in apps later in this chapter. If you feel like digging in, you can begin downloading and installing your own by clicking the Start menu’s Microsoft Store icon. (I explain how to download apps in Chapter 6.)
Finding something on the Start menu
You can scour the Start menu until your eagle eyes spot the program, app, or icon you need, and then you can pounce on it with a quick mouse click or finger tap. But when the thrill of the hunt wanes, Windows offers several shortcuts for finding apps and programs hidden inside a crowded Start menu.
