in Win 8.1 you can select boot into desktop (a la Win 7) or Metro (tiles, a la Win 8). It's an option buried in settings someplace. The Chrome task bar &/ore launcher is something that Chrome installs itself, but since I use it all the time I've never bothered to remove it...and it makes my Win 8.1 laptop work much like my Chromebook.
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Someone report back to me when this starts to make sense 
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