improving my computer literacy

[DL]

I am annoyed at all the things I don't know about computers.

Some of what I would like to know can't be that hard to learn.

I have seen classes offered that make people experts in five days.

I don't really want to spend $3,000. Does anyone think maybe I could find a tutor for $8 per hour, or maybe take up some computer hobby that would teach me some things.

I would like to do the ping pong thing, and know what is going on and stuff.

[TXduckdog]

What are you wanting to know?

Software, hardware?

What is "the ping pong thing"?

[D Osborn]

My students teach me. And they are good-a college kid might be able to help, and at the local University (Furman) they have adult ed classes for just that reason.

[John Lash]

I don't know what they call it or how much it costs or how you go about getting it, but check at Dell.com. They have or had online self paced training in whatever you wanted. Think you pay for a year. I saw it when I bought a new computer awhile back.

John Lash

[DL]

I have some nephews in or recently out of college, and you are right they are really good with computers.

I would like to know more about the hardware and the operating system. Whenever I have tried to learn software that I don't use on a regular basis, it hasn't stuck with me very long. I wouldn't mind learning Quickbooks.

With the ping pong thing, I was talking about what people do connecting computers to a network, where they ping addresses.

I'd like to know the networking and troubleshooting. Basically, I want know what a college kid knows.

[cgoeson]

Hey DL,

HP has some free classes on things like networking. Go to HP.com and do some digging around. Send me a PM if you don't find it.

Problem about college kids is that they grew up with computers. It's natural to them, and it becomes instinctive. I teach my dad the same 4 programs over and over, but he only uses them every couple months, so he forgets. You just have to keep doing it every day.

[DL]

Thanks, hp.com and dell.com may be just what I am looking for. I will be checking them out this weekend.

[lablover]

Look at your local community colleges for computer courses.

[Paul "Happy" Gilmore]

Try your local office supply store--Office Max, something like that. There is tutorial software available that is plug and play. Meaning, you put the disc in your drive and the lesson begins without any commands. You can chose from lesson subjects like windows, internet, excel, powerpoint etc.. They are pretty inexpensive and you can use them to learn the basics or complete the entire lesson and become more advanced.

Might be worth a shot? I used a powerpoint tutorial once that showed me the basic steps I needed to put together a slide show for a trade show I was attending.....it turned out real good with music, all my pictures, technical information on my companies technical construction services and products.

Just a thought, Paul

[Mark Littlejohn]

This might get you started: http://www.download.com/Windows-XP-S...html?tag=mncol

ml