My recent customer installation for a new computer system made me aware of the lack of knowledge for new computer users. What I am saying is many new computer users buy with out knowing anything about computers. This customer had a web site built earlier in the year, keddespromo.com but no way to view it and with no computer knowledge asked me along to shop for one. He wanted something simple and from off the store self. So that was what we did, shopped around and settled for a 500 MHz Celeron with a fifteen inch monitor and a color printer. For the extra hundred I tried to talk him into a seventeen inch monitor, but with the lack of experience the fifteen seemed adequate to him.
A few days later he was hooked up to the internet and surfing
like everyone else. With the fascination of a kid in a toy store
he was in search of new adventures everytime he went online.
It made me look back to when I first started to surf, I got so
addicted that I went out and bought a count down timer.
Surfing is all he wants to do right now and nothing more. With
information over load learning anything else now would just be
to much. Learning how to email would have to wait for another
time. For now he had the basic tools to explore the world.
Tools are important and one excellent tool is a book on your
operating system. I told him to go and buy a good Windows 98,
book just to get the hang of using the operating system.
I find that most new users stumble here. If you do not understand
the basics of your operating system you will have problems with
all other applications. One book in his new collection which
caught my attention was a pictionary book that looked at the
parts of a computer what those parts did and how they work. The
book gave a general guide of the internet and how it works. The
book touched on all the different operating systems which included
the Macintosh as well. This was a good first book for someone
with little to no experience and was not technical to understand.
Another suggestion is to look through the used book market, if you don't want to pay a lot for a new book. But consider that information out dates itself pretty quick in the computer industry. Look for someone with a fair knowledge on computers and let them lead you through the rough times. Use the internet to read up on what interests you. And don't be afraid to explore your computer. If your not sure press cancel and ask, there are answers out there and plenty of places to find them too.
Just remember you bought a new computer and by exploring it's features will make you an expert in no time. Have fun with your computer. Use it for things that interest you the most. Some find that games interest them. Or like with my customer he wanted to explore the World Wide Web. The computers of today and coming tomorrow are designed for multi tasking. There designed to do more than one thing. So use your computer for word processing, accounting, games, internet and email, and many more other reasons. Good luck and have fun. If you have any questions for me send them to info@waymorewebs.com attention Steven.
Bye for now.