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Resolved Question

I am a computer idiot, and I need help

Feb 5, 2015 10:13AM PST

I am at a point where I've realized that my computer skills need to be massively improved. Are there any books anyone could recommend? I'm looking to basically train myself to become what one would consider a computer "whiz" or as close as I can get. Any websites or books that could help me in this endeavor, or any suggestions for that matter would be greatly appreciated.

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AlabasterSaint has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

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What kind of computer?
Feb 5, 2015 10:30AM PST

There's a lot of professionals here so you might want to be more specific

Digger

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Some computer stores & most colleges have classes
Feb 5, 2015 11:58AM PST

There's also your local library. The county I live has libraries that teach courses like you describe. Almost all colleges today have introductory computer classes, but they're a lot more expensive than local libraries. There are many book stores you can search that have books by the thousands, Amazon is one. The county libraries have the ability to search via the Internet and they have computers you can walk in and use to search as well. If you happen to be old enough, many senior centers teach courses for next to nothing. Where I live they have an Introduction to Computers course for $40 that has 7 sessions 3 hours each with hands on exercises. Lots of possibilities.

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Re: computer
Feb 5, 2015 7:59PM PST

A computer for most of us is only a means to do something. What you need to know about it depends in what you want to do with it and where you feel your skills are lacking.

For example, I see a lot of people of my age (that is: older) fluent enough with their iPad to do with it what they want and without any need for "massively improving" their skills. But I also see courses offered for iPad-newbies.

Another example: most people can type a decent letter in MS Word. But if they want to make a report (with foot notes, end notes, index, table of contents, pictures, graphs) they can't. That's surely, at least partially, above the "Word for dummies" level they have.

Also, most people I know do very well with a laptop, while they are at a loss when the hard disk or the screen needs to be replaced.

So it really depends.

Kees

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Books etc.
Feb 6, 2015 12:16AM PST

There are all kinds of books out there, it just depends on what you want to read up on. Take a look at the DUMMIES books, they might be a good, inexpensive starting point. As one poster mentioned, there are all kinds of classes available from Colleges to Libraries and many are offered on line. Again it really depends on what you have in mind.

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Hurdles
Feb 6, 2015 1:29AM PST

The first hurdle is learning the language.
This is an area filled with 'buzz words'.
If you don't understand the words it's going to be tough.

I don't know where your starting from and I see the Dummies series of books has been mentioned.
At least they are written in 'plain English'.

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These Forums Are A Great Start
Feb 6, 2015 2:38AM PST

The "Newbies" forum has it's own "tips" thread which gives a fair amount of good reading for basic computer usage. The "Computer Help" forum here is great as is the "Spyware, Virus, and Spyware" forum.. Read through the thousands of posts and learn new stuff.

It's a good way to start learning about things you may have never seen before.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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I see folk mentioned the books. Here's free videos.
Feb 6, 2015 2:43AM PST
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Amazon
Feb 6, 2015 5:14AM PST
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As already suggested
Feb 6, 2015 6:11PM PST

I'd echo the suggestions of the Dummies books, easy to read and going deeper gently and progressively.

Also your local library will likely have a range of tutorial sessions - ours has them for simple web surfing, email and office applications, right through to home computer maintenance, both hardware and software. The sessions are free here and usually led by an experienced volunteer.

An additional suggestion, are there any local computer clubs in your area? While there may be the odd "Know it all" who's a right pain in the proverbial, most people who go along do so to share what experience they might have and pick up hints and tips from others. Just because you may not be an in depth computer geek, that you won't have anything to offer - a guy who used to come to one I went to for a while was a business analyst by profession and his skills in a logical approach to systems analysis and design were appreciated by a number of members. If there is one near you, give it a try and if you don't like it, nobody is twisting your arm to attend!

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It's Been So Long...
Feb 7, 2015 12:41AM PST

I have been in the field for so long that I have quite forgotten what it was like to be a beginner. We were pretty much all beginners back then, so there weren't many sources of info beyond on-the-job training and trial-and-error. Several decades ago I did take several courses in specific things that were new and that I needed to know.

I originally got into it via data entry on devices so cumbersome to use that most "kids these days" would not believe how we had to do things on computers (think "Position eight switches, up for 1 and down for 0, and then hitting a button marked "Commit" for each individual byte), but I was always interested in the field anyhow.

I would suggest starting with a simplified book like "Windows 8.1 for Dummies" ($13.17 on Amazon) and also looking at some other sources about hardware, peripherals, and applications like your web browser, email client, graphics apps, and an office suite like MS Office. YouTube has videos on the subject by the thousand.

You can of course take courses on nearly everything involving information technology, but I would suggest starting from the most general and then working toward the most specific. Some of these are offered for free in local government-operated community centers.

I would also suggest looking at some of the YouTube videos about how to build your own desktop computer. While actually building one might be an ambitious goal (although it's easier than you probably think), it might also provide a cursory understanding about what's in a computer and what the various components like the motherboard, the main processor, the power supply, the RAM, the external ports, and the storage devices are and how they interconnect.

You might also want to learn a little bit about networking, because this is where you will find the most frequently encountered problems on any given day. The main thing you need to know here, though, is the phone number of your cable company's technical support, but it doesn't hurt to have enough knowledge to be able to accurately describe the problem to them.

This is a huge field and you will NEVER stop learning -- I certainly haven't. One of the chief aspects to it is that the best way to learn is by doing, keeping in mind two essential rules: In email, NEVER open an attachment, and NEVER click on a link you can't identify, unless you ALREADY KNOW what it is. Violating these rules gets more people in trouble than anything else in the whole IT world.

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Advice
Feb 7, 2015 1:34AM PST

Very astute, especially...building your own system..that is exactly how I started and went on from there..and the dummies books also..then MS online training. I shudder to remember how long ago that has been but it goes back to my first build, the early stages of Window 98, it has been a ride!