Every project is different, but there are overall steps that apply to nearly every model you create with 3ds Max.
Once you've installed 3ds Max, start the program by double-clicking its desktop shortcut.
Note: You can also start 3ds Max from the Start menu or use any other standard Windows method. If you start 3ds Max from a Command Prompt window or a batch file, you can add command-line switches.
3ds Max is a "single-document application," meaning you can work on only one scene at a time. You can run multiple instances of 3ds Max and open a different scene in each instance, but doing so requires a lot of memory. For the best performance, open only one instance and work on one scene at a time.