How do I get to any settings in windows 8????

press the windows key and c
Go to settings.

Where's the Desktop?

Press the windows key and D for desktop. Wala!

How to Power Off Windows in one Picture

How do you shut off Windows 8?

It was never intuitive. why did you go to START to Shut down your computer?  Why was there never a shut off button?? Seems easy enough. But now MS takes away the start button, so How do you shut it down now????

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Shutting off Windows used to be a simple matter of clicking the Start button and choosing the "Shut down" option. But the Windows 8 has no Start button. So how do you shut it down?

The quick way: press the Windows key and the i key to the Power button.

The old fashion way which is quicker then the new menus:

Press Windows key for the Desktop and press Alt/F4.

The most basic way to shut down Windows 8 is through the Charms bar.

 Hover lower right corner of the screen. The Charms bar should then pop up displaying several icons. Moving your mouse up the screen will reveal the names of each icon, including Search, Share, Start, Devices, and Settings. Click the Settings icon and then the Power Icon. You should see three options: Sleep, Restart, and Shut down. Clicking Shut down will close Windows 8 and turn off your PC.

Another alternative is to sign out of your account and then shut down. You can either click your account photo or image at the top or press Ctrl/Alt/Del. Click the option to sign out. That will bring you to the opening screen for Windows 8 which you then need to pull up to access your login screen. The Shut down icon will be in the lower right corner. Click it to reveal the options for Sleep, Restart, and Shut down.

One more option is to switch to the Desktop and press Alt/F4. That will bring up a dedicated Shut down screen where you can choose to put the PC to sleep, restart, or shut down completely. You just need to make sure to save all your work and close all your applications first before you shut down using this method.

Laptop users have yet another way to shut down Windows 8 through the Power settings. Right-click on the hot corner that appears in the lower left of your screen--you can access this from the Metro UI or the Desktop. You should see a popup menu appear with a variety of Windows features, such as Network Connections, System, Device Manager, and Control Panel. Click the option for Control Panel.

Click the category for Hardware and Sound and then click the link for Power Options. From here you can set Windows to shut down if you press the power button or simply close the lid of your laptop.

Though you have several ways of shutting down Windows 8, none of them are quick or convenient. Even with the Start button gone, why didn't Microsoft include a more user-friendly way to close Windows 8?

With the new OS, Microsoft has set up a new hybrid boot-up process that lets you boot up more quickly. But to achieve this faster speed, Windows 8 actually needs to go into hibernation mode rather than a full shut down.

By moving the Shut down option to a more remote spot, Microsoft may be assuming that people will let their PCs hibernate instead of shutting them down completely. But I think users will be thrown by the lack of both START and Shut down button.