Stephen L. Nelson - Quicken 2015 For Dummies

Quicken 2015 For Dummies

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Copyright 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

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Appendix A

If youre new to Microsoft Windows 8.1, you need to know a few things about the Windows 8.1 user interface. Although this appendix doesnt reveal anything earthshaking, it does provide a quick-and-dirty overview of some basics you need to know to get around.

If youve used other Windows applications and have already spent at least a little bit of time using Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 (and so know how to start programs and how to stop Windows), you probably dont need to read this appendix because you already know the material it covers.

I wont bore you with technical details. The information here, though, will enable you not only to operate Quicken, but also to converse easily about the newest versions of Windows at cocktail parties, over lunch, or with the guy at the computer store.

If you want more information, you may want to read a book such as Windows 8.1 For Dummies, by Andy Rathbone (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.).

If youre working with Windows Vista or Windows 7, much of what this appendix talks about also applies to your use of Quicken 2015.

Windows 8.1 and when I use the term Windows 8.1 here, again, I mean any version of Microsoft Windows 8.1 is an operating environment that manages your system resources (things like memory, your monitor, your printer, and so on).

Applications (programs such as Quicken) run on top of Windows 8.1. In other words, you start Windows 8.1 by turning on your personal computer (PC). Then, after Windows 8.1 is running, you can start applications, such as Quicken.

Windows 8.1 provides a standard graphical interface. In English, Windows 8.1 provides a common approach for using visual elements tiles, icons, buttons, check boxes, and so on. (This appendix describes how the major pieces of this graphical interface work.)

Windows 8.1 enables you to run more than one application at a time. You may, for example, run Quicken; a tax preparation package; and a Windows accessory program, such as a web browser.

Starting Windows 8.1 is easy. You just turn on your personal computer (PC). If you can find the onoff switch, youre set.

If you cant find the onoff switch, or it doesnt seem to work, dont feel silly. Ask someone who has used that computer. Sometimes the switch is on the front of the computer and is labeled OnOff (which makes good sense, of course). Sometimes, Im afraid, manufacturers stick the onoff switch on the back of the computer or label the switch something really stupid, such as 0 and 1. Sometimes, too, people plug a computer and all its peripherals (printers, modems, and all that junk) into a power strip that needs to be turned on to turn on the computer. So just ask someone. (If you bought the computer, of course, you can just telephone the place you bought it from.)

Just so you dont feel like a complete imbecile, I have to tell you something: I once had to call someone to find out how to click the stupid mouse that I got with my laptop computer.

Figure shows a typical Windows 8.1 Start screen. The Start screen is what you see after Windows 8.1 starts.

In earlier versions of Windows, you didnt see a Start screen after you started Windows. Rather, you saw the desktop. You can still get (and easily get) to the desktop by clicking the rectangle labeled Desktop, which appears in the lower-left corner of the Start screen.