-- Can you remember when you started using computers?
Yes, it was around the years of 1998 and 1999, when we got a family computer around my 6th or 7th birthday, with windows 95 installed (upgraded to 98 soon after). Ahh, I miss that cat and mouse game...
-- Would you say this was an easy process to get to grips with?
By majority, yes. Once you got your head round the fact that certain actions gained you the trophy known only as "the blue screen of death", you got that hang of things.
-- Since then, has your journey been straightforward, and if not, can you remember what some of your challenges were?
Overall it's been straight forward, but when you don't know things and the family suddenly decides your the computer genius, there come a few challenges.
People may think it silly because it's so simple, but before you know anything about the innards of computers, it is a bit of a mystery still. Learning that there are essentially 4 items you need to make a computer and how they make the computer work was interesting, but then putting that across to an audience in lay man terms was a bit of a challenge.
Then comes all the different OS systems, anti-viral programs, office programs, etc etc. Learning how to differentiate between the "hoorays" and "hoo dear god's" was also an interesting challenge, but again once you know how it's as simple as PI.
-- Do you have any challenges even now?
If you consider the urge to throw the computer at a wall because of the "white tint of frustration" that windows vista and 7 have bestowed upon us a challenge then yes.
Although the main challenge I have is figuring out why I've done something wrong when I do something wrong and the computer gives no warnings about such problems. For instance, partitioning a hard drive into 3 sections (Windows 7, Ubuntu, then a special area for my data) and then having the computer crash because the OS systems dislike each other. Or how creating 2 instances of a camera mass produced, and bought over eBay from China, on the computer can cause the blue screen of death even on a Win 7 OS.
Again, you learn to live with it.
-- Did you/do you have any coping strategies?
4 coping strategies stand out amongst the rest for me.
Always listen to the experiences of other people. This can give you a heads up about quite a lot of bad websites, programs, and computer makes. The customer is always right. But it can also enlighten you to facts that you may not have known, or a program/ website to look into in more depth to see if it's worth bothering with.
Google! Where would we be without that sexy beast! It has given me access to peer reviews, solutions to problems I've encountered, knowledge on how to make trench coats (... it's a pass time) and knowledge on such random questions as "Can I fit SX-70 film into a 600 series camera?". It's helped me cope with more than just computer problems!
Wikipedia, the source of all general answers and information. If there's a program made by a suspicious looking company, just wiki them and hey presto, you get a bundle of links to websites about them, some background information about the company, and an idea about some of their other products that they've created. It can also be a really good place for people to start learning about the insides of computers (so long as they just read the simple parts). In general, it's one of the first places I go when there's a general knowledge question about PC's rattling round my head.
And of course, the source of 99% of all my programs. download.com. There are just SO many programs out there it's unthinkable to consider counting them all. Getting the right program, for the right computer with the correct OS with just the right user interface for just the right price of

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