Thank you.

Incidentally, chrome is a browser and not a search engine per se.

I like to listen to MSNBC online.

I keep it minimized while I read and blog on DU.

I minimize the DU page and click on Google Chrome to open another page or tab.

Thanks for the correction on browser and search engine.

What is a search engine ???

When you say the top right are you referring to an X that closes the browser?
What exactly are you clicking on?

You'd probably be better off downloading Firefox browser https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
In my opinion

what do you do to minimize the window?

I hit the - at the top right.

Then I hit the the google icon to open a new tab.

You are launching multiple instances of Chrome, instead of opening multiple tabs within on instance.

To open a new tab in the current instance, click the little parallelogram to the right of the tab on the very top of the browser window. It will launch a new tab, from which you can navigate to any website you like. You can then click back on any other tab to bring it back to the front. Think of it like tabs in a 3 ring binder. A second browser instance is a whole other binder.

A browser, by the way, is a program (of which you can launch multiple instances) which you use to access webpages.
Search engines like google provide search results, and are one of many types of websites you might access with a browser.

For future reference, google (search) is your best friend. The trick is often simply figuring out the correct question to ask. The good news is that the more wrong questions you ask it, the more you wind up knowing!

There are of course also some catch-alls that you can add to any problem like "Web browser basics", or "how do I {insert task}", which will often include the background information you need to help learn how to identify the correct question.

That is where I found out how to hit the space bar and alt at the same time.

Many times I don't understand the answers.

You knew how to explain it in simple terms for someone who doesn't understand the language.

Navigating Windows 10 is different than Windows Vista.

Sometimes it felt like I was starting all over.

Thanks for the suggestions on future searches.

Again, thank you so very much.

i was pretty sure it was an issue of minimizing versus new tab...but you got to the heart of the matter quickly

I bookmarked the page.