Learning curve

most definately Heron, I'm wading through reams of computer work at the moment, and quite honestly, I'm completely baffled by it all

You were quite right in discribing you brain the old grey matter like a computer as that is what the computer is based on the human brain.

Perhaps you should find some one who does know about computers that you trust and have team viewer set on your computer, which is, they can come on to your screne from their home and control your computer from there and show you how to get into your programs or updates which ever you need to know and you can sit there and watch where to go and what to do to learn.

Also to bring to your desk top all the programs you use frequently, then all you have to do is go to your desk top page and click on and go straight in to it.
So for eg, if I wanted my windows media player, which has all my music on, I just go to my desk top where there is a symbol with windows media player written and just click on to it, if I want to then rip my cd to my pc I just go to the tool bar at the top and click on rip, insert my disc and click rip, which will then place the music from my disc to the media player.

Some times I think its fear of the computer that sets people back rather than learning, as I recall being frightened in case I wiped all data if I pressed the wrong thing, lol.

Empathise Heron? You took the words right out of my mouth!
I spend a lot of time repairing/upgrading PC's (for a hobby, I get them free from Freecycle and my local pc shop and then offer them back on Freecycle!) and just when I think I've got the low down on Windows XP (Never mind Vista) they bring out Windows Seven!!!!! Carol's laptop has Seven loaded on it and I'm trying to show her how to use it while I'm learning myself.

I am not a computer minded its all new to me its because of my sons that I manage.Its so high tech to me and as Morgana said its the fear of wiping every thing off or it going bang .My sons explain and show me where I have gone wrong and get me to run things through so my confidence is growing slowly but surely.Also being on GOY has helped my key board skills( still just one handed but a wee bit faster)

I agree Mavis, I had a couple of (tiny) strokes earlier this year and my left side was affected badly. Using the keyboard has vastly improved this though and now I can type faster than I can think. Lol

Mavis... I've noticed your confidence growing with computers since you've been on GoY. :o)

Ian ...you are doing well to bounce back so quickly after the (tiny) strokes. :o)

Good blog, Heron...

It occurred to me the other day, that not many years ago, when any new item was purchased, the usual thing was to study the instructions carefully, fill out the "date of purchase" card etc. etc.

These days I ignore nearly all the paperwork..... more along the lines of the saying... "If all else fails, read the instructions"....

and I'm reluctant to fill in a "date of purchase " type card and return it.... seems like companies just gathering statistics, and who knows whether doing that actually invalidates any other types of guarantee...

I've heard that Windows 7 is worth having Ian.

I am just like Mavis, If it wasn't for my son and 10 yr old grandaughter i'd be lost. I am still trying to figure out why when i put in a question or answer one it always says edit comment next to it, but nobody else gets it . I'm getting quite paranoid about it. Thanks for the blog Heron it's very true.

There's only you who can see it Mavis. It's the same for us all.

Another senior moment there Heron I'm Tulsalady. LMSO. thankyou are you sure.

I can certainly empathise Heron,just when you think you got it sussed another model comes out !
The edit comment is just for you Tulsalady,to delete or add something if you forgot when you submitted. So you can only edit your own comments. Sorry if you've worked this out :)

Macs use a different operating system which is much more user friendly and because my son works on them all day at work we all benefit from the latest info that they get~however I use a pc at work and because it is linked to a mainframe national computer it is obviously not either the latest technology or the fastest but it is so slow and unwieldy with so many security aspects that make it a pain to operate!

Heron and Aster you have both made my day.Thankyou .I can go out now for my chinese buffet a happy little bunny.
xxxx

I came to this computer caper VERY late in life and have learned what little I know the hard way over the past 4-5 years....no classes or personal trainers...just trial and error - mostly error! If it wasn't for a spell checker - nobody would ever read a word I wrote as my fingers and brain go at different speeds obviously....OMG
And like you say Heron - you just master one thing and it is deemed out of date. With me - it is definitely a case of "Stop the world - I want to get off" !!

Without technology none of us would be here - so I don't think anybody can argue - can they :>>>)))
As for Windows XP...never use anything else and refused to be modernised when I got this laptop last year!!!

ThanksTerratoonie confidence is not one of my strong points but I am getting there.Thats the good thing about GOY its so user friendly, help is always here when needed.

Technology who would be without it? The thing for me is talking to loved ones/old friends in other countries. My husband has a new Mac, my son and daughter got windows vista last year
I had the new windows 7 laptop for my birthday last week. I say had! I swapped this with my daughters 1 year old vista laptop. Had quite a job persuading her - but she needs windows 7 more than I do and for me Vista does so much more than my 8 year old one did anyway.
Youngsters certainly have a lot more to pay for theses days, mobiles, Ipods, computers, cameras, student loans, transport? I just feel so sorry for families on low incomes who still need technology etc. So well done Ian I use Freecycle to pass things on too.

Heron you are so right. I don't know how I ever had time to go to work because now I can't fit everything in to one day. As for computers, well a lot of it is still gobbledigook to me. As for reading instruction books, I don't even understand the language, it may as well be Greek. I have had this laptop since June, my first intro to computers, and haven't had any lessons, apart from grandchildren and children. Some things are coming gradually and I can cope with quite a bit, but daren't start anything else on it yet.
In Victorian times and earlier, we older GoYs would mostly be dead anyway,
so we're lucky eh? Even if we feel brain dead sometimes!!

~we use the latest Mozilla Firefox system Marguerite and that seems to be fine with most things.

Bring back scribes with their quill pens!

I've had nothing but problems with the tv since it went digital. Good job I only put it on about 3 times a week. I am geting to grips v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y with the computer :o) Now I can understand why my Gran didn't want a phone lol.

Hywel i'm like you, dony know alot about my laptop but i just think i know enough for what i wont to do.

What about DAB radio ? Nothing but crackles,that has to improve !

Aye Heron just find a slot you re comfortable in and stay there ..cant hope to keep up think children of tomorrow will need to be born with USB ports as plugged into so much ..

Hywell that made me laugh......about your Gran. Why oh why just when they get things right they go and invent something new. I wouldn't mind but it's not nearly as good. Take digital TV, you have to sit right in front of it like a computer screen and the sound offends your ears, to say it's tinny would be complementary. I do hope they don't cut off my analogue radio.

Not sure whether I was being had but a mother I met in a shop the other day told me that you can have a chip implant in your kids now that sets off an alarm if they stray. 1984 has long gone!

I''m not sure i want to know Heron mind you they are 44 and 42 yrs Lol

does she mean tagging for offenders?~maybe don't go there! did you see that film Enemy of the state with Will Smith?

Good blog Heron...I see there is a new computer out for older folk who want to join the techno age but struggle with the whys & wherefores of computers.

It's called Simplicity & has a training video at the beginning with Valerie Singleton. People have complained that her dialogue is patronising because she speaks slowly & carefully, describing every feature.

I would've thought that's what people would want if they are starting out...no good rushing thru' the rules & making it more complicated than it already is!!

Nothing simple about the price though !

No...that must be cos they think all pensioners are loaded!!

Grrrrrr!!

Is that you or the dog Alz?! But they do don't they? They assume if you are interested in computers you are willing to pay more. They start at £436.

Wot a flamin' cheek.....a SIMPLE one starting at that price ? No way, Jose...I'll just stick to the one I have ...and don't like actually.
I had a super IBM to start with and jolly well nearly wore it out....so went for a big sturdy all-singing and dancing Dell ....and find that the keyboard as way too big for my arthritic hands....and the typos multiply like crazy - especially when I'm tired...TG for a spell-checker!!!
So Grrrrr again Fluff! And that WAS me.....Honey and Di don't do Grrrr!!!!

Alz, i too have a laptop whose keyboard is huge and yes, the typing mistakes are endless because of it.
I have very small hands and some days it's just so hopeless that i give up !!!

The rest of it's brilliant - like yours, an 'all singing all dancing' one but because of its wide screen the keyboards the same wiiiiidth !!!

Yes - it is sod isn't it. I used to be a very accurate "typist" - my own version of speed-writing - and now I am absolutely hopeless. I guess we should buy a small plug-in keyboard that suits US.....but it rather defeats the object of having a laptop doesn't it !!! As I get older my hands are getting more and more arthritic and I can see me having to find a voice activated one eventually!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

:-/

You could sell your laptops & get notebooks...that's what mine is...an Advent notebook. Half the size of a laptop...room for the cat on your lap too...at a push!!

Mine just climbs over the keyboard, Fluff :-/

It would be a good idea to be able to lift the keyboard up so you could dust under there because mine will be full to the brim soon !

Twenty years ago we didn't have the 'Internet' and since we've become more and more digitalised. I don't get out much, apart from walking in the Countryside but from what I've seen 'society' is becoming transformed and I'm not sure if it's for the best. For some older folk who find getting getting out difficult it's a big plus, but the younger generation seem to have lost the ability to disengaged with their gadgets. Mobile phones are one thing but these Gooseberry things ??

Blackberry even?some kids seem to have their phones permanently clamped to their ear whilst I understood texting was far safer for the young?

I think Gooseberry is a more apt name Arlene.

~ you are probably right!

Whats a DSLR??

~ digital single lens reflex!I think!

Today I've ordered Windows 7 from Dell, only £15. Haven't fully understood Vista yet but I'm told 7 is much better.
Maybe I'm just an ' I D TEN T' but I stop I'll go backwards.

I'm none the wiser, Arlene, lol!
Heron, ???????????????

Try writing it on a piece of paper I D 1 0 T lol

LOL!!! Caught me out again!!

It came to me in one of those 'funny' emails Madperth, I get them all the time. I wonder where they all come from. Some are very clever/funny so they compensate for the 'Spam' messages that we get a lot of.

Hee hee! I get quite a few funny ones too!
There are some seriously warped minds out there, lol!

~ not to mention the scam ones purporting to be from your bank,paypal ebay,....and the odd Nigerian Prince...!

Lol! And the sex-aid ones! Unreal!