Technical information

Windows 8 For Dummies, Dell Pocket Edition
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mouse and keyboard. Anticipating your frustration,
all Windows 8 tablets include at least one USB port
for plugging in either a mouse or a keyboard. To use
both simultaneously, you have two options:
✓ Buy a USB hub: This inexpensive, small, USB-
port stuffed box includes a short cable that
plugs into your tablet’s USB port. Plug your
mouse and keyboard into two of the hub’s
ports, and you’ve transformed your tablet into
a full-fledged desktop PC.
✓ Buy a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard: This
age-old wireless technology comes in handy
because all Windows 8 tablets still support
Bluetooth. Bluetooth allows gadgets to connect
wirelessly within about a 20-foot range. Buy
a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard to use with
your tablet, and you’ve saved your tablet’s
lone USB port for flash drives, printers, or
other necessities.
With a pocket-sized mouse and portable keyboard,
your tablet turns into two computers: the lightweight
Start screen apps for casual computing and the full
Windows desktop for doing some real work.
Working with the Desktop
Start screen apps hog the entire screen, making it
difficult to multitask. The desktop, by contrast, lets
you run several programs simultaneously, each living
within its own little window. That lets you spread
several programs across the screen, easily sharing
bits of information between them.
No matter how you use the desktop, it comes with
four main parts, labeled earlier in Figure 2-1:
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