Or at least turn off the monitor.

That should take care of the monitor being on as well.

Just shut off the monitor it should have its own power (on and off) button.

If I screw up anything, hubby will get upset. A dark cloth thrown over the screen would be better than that...

One can turn off the monitor without it affecting anything on the computer. It is a decent habit to get into if the computer is doing something that will take a long time and one will not be using it during that time. Or, if one is not going to be using the computer for a while but doesn't want to turn it off due to updates or whatever reason.

Monitors have a set number of hours that they are rated for. Those hours mean when the monitor is on... not when the monitor is in use. If one leaves it on all the time, one is just making sure it will die out sooner.

I hope this helps.

My computers are set up to go into sleep mode with black screen when inactive for a number of minutes depending. (Settings -> system -> power and battery -> screen, sleep and hibernate timeouts). Also, windows can be put manually into sleep mode, an option on the power/restart button.

I benefited greatly from a introductory computer class I attended several years ago at my
local library. All free! It really helped take the mystery out of these machines in our lives. Check it out if available in your new location. Good luck!

where he actually sits with me and guides me. And right now I am in a retirement community and just finding my way around the building outside of my apartment. I might find a "computer classes for old people" type of class which I would gladly take.

After I had my strokes and heart attacks and a quadruple bypass…I retired. I got rid of my towers, monitors, numerous external hard drives and went exclusively to an IPad. I can do everything I need to on it without the need for a computer and monitor setup.
Didn’t think so at first but I was wrong and it’s great.