Computer Confused
 

I am very computer un-savy to say the least. I could use wordperfect on my 386 to type my papers in college and until recently only used my parents computer and AOL account to send a few emails every blue moon that I went to their place.

Now I find myself here and I really enjoy it and plan on staying. I tried to read some posts on this forum but it flew well over my head for the most part. I read the vB code help section and I am sad to say it took me 45 minutes to do this

woo-hoo

I am wondering how I can learn to do simple things on a computer. Presently I don't own a computer and use the one at work. I hopefully will be getting one at the end of the year, but I want to be able to use it to some degree. For example I read the help section on how to get a picture into your post and I don't think it was written in english. Any help no matter how infantile it may seem to you would be greatly appreciated.

Well this may not work for everyone, but it has for me at least.

Its all just trial and error. Get yourself a half decent computer, and just start learning about it, how it works, what does what, etc...

And just so you know... your going to break things, your going to be annoyed, but in the end, its all worth it.

Just have fun, its a hobby.

for basic computer literacy, there are lots of classes that can be taken (adult education centers are in most towns/cities or at local community colleges). there are also books that will walk you through the basics (like the For Dummies series - dont let the name put you off, they are excellent). but you will learn the most by doing. play around with one, click on everything to see what it does.

Yep, thats exactly how I learned. There are plenty of classes and books around offering to teach people how to use a computer, but those never really worked so well for me--I always had to go with the trial-and-error method. You can get a good computer for pretty cheap. Check www.techbargains.com for cheap Dell deals--you can usually get a pretty nice system with monitor for less than $500, and sometimes around 350.

I was pretty much computer illiterate three years ago and now people come to me for low level advice.
The trick for me was having friends who know one hell of a lot more about puters then I do and are willing to explain in words I understand.
I have learned by trial and error too.
Keep reading the computer section too.
Pretty soon the threads will start making sense.

are you looking for user competency, or to code? I'd start with getting comfortable in your system. read some of the "help my computer doesn't work!" type threads to see common problems and solutions. check out windows software threads to see some programs you may want to check out, and feel free to ask questions!

bout the best thing you can do to learn what NOT to do INSTALL EVERYTHING YOU SEE, do not use a virus scanner, dont even think about learning about spy/mal/adware grab a zopy of EVERY p2p file sharing app on the net and install em all leave all sharing on and download anything and do not forget the cardinal rule of ignorance DO NOT DOWNLOAD updates for your computer.

seriously though, wanna learn

just dont do what i listed above.

That's exactly how I learned. I got my first computer about ten years ago (an old packard bell 100 mhz monster ;) ) and just went at it going through all the folders and files and seeing how everything worked. Sure I screwed some things up, but they can always be fixed.

The thing with computers is there is SOOO much you can learn. Start by learning your basic OS (operating system) functions then move on to exploring different programs. Fortunately your already on the internet so you have a vast resource to learn anything you need. Get yourself an inexpensive computer and just hack away.