Computer Stuff

If you're using Windows (any version) the first, best piece of advice I can give you is RIGHT CLICK. Right click on anything and everything. Nine times out of ten you will get a menu that will give you options available for what you're looking at. The second best piece of advice I can give you is Mouseover. If you hover the cursor over buttons in any Windows application (Windows 95+) a lable will appear telling you what it is. You can also use the question mark button that will sometimes appear in the upper right hand corner of the window itself. If you click this and then click the button you have a question about it will give you a brief description of the button and it's function. The third and last piece of major advice I can give you is use the help index liberally. For Windows itself, you will find it when you click on the Start button. For applications you will find it at the very top on the menu bar. You won't always get any useful information but it can be very helpful. The most important thing you can do to learn computers is to play around with one.
The following is a list of rules I use when playing around on the computer:
Kimber's Rules of Thumb
#1 - On a menu, if there are three dots after a command - push it. It won't hurt anything.
#2 - If there's an Undo button or command available under the Edit menu - go ahead and do whatever you want - you can take it back. (Beware, however, because sometimes you can only take back the last thing you did. If you do something else after the thing you want to undo you may not be able to. SO SAVE OFTEN!!!)
Software - If you bought a "computer package" it probably came with more software than you'll ever use. I will say this right now...Don't go out and buy more! Unless you're doing something very specific, Windows comes with most of what you will need to perform basic functions and the rest probably came pre-installed. If you have a word-processor, spreadsheet and imaging application you're good to go, so to speak. You can do any basic function you need to: letters, forms, signs, inventorys, budgets, address book, photo storage and basic manipulation...etc. Also, if you really feel like you need more than what your computer came with, there is a plethora of FREE software available for download here on the web. The place I recommend for getting this type of software is Tucows. This is sort of like a warehouse for software on the internet. Some of the stuff is free and some is what's called Shareware, which means you have to pay a small upfront, one time fee to use it. I've never gotten any Shareware. All of the applications I've gotten from this site has been free and they are just as good, if not better than some $500 software packages I've used elsewhere.

There are also some very good books out there that will help you if you really feel like you need to have some help. The "...for Dummies" series is very good. For something a little more detailed I would recommend the "Using..." series from Que. I'm not very impressed with the Getting Results books from Microsoft, but that's just me. They don't offer the shortcuts and options that some of us like to use. Regardless of which one you decide on they are still cheaper than classes and much more pratical.

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