Computer Tutorials

[winston66]

                      

Hello from the West.

winston66 here

I want to upgrade my puter skill and abilities , but as I am stuck here out in the country it is difficult to access  competent help.
So far I have been learning slowly, but at times I get quite stuck and then I am afraid of mucking up  making mistakes  and  interminably loosing stuff etc.
Does anyone know of a cheap or even free source of online tutorials  I can access that would be suitable for an older and slower brain like mine so that I can improve my abilities with the lap top running Windows prof.64.
Any clues or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
I am mainly interested in word processing  and file management, and handling  my pictures library including photo management, and the desktop publishing side of things, ( I am trying to work up a joke book).
So far I have collected about a ream of the best jokes that I could find and copy (printout) off the net.Have been collecting these for about the last five years.
I guess that by this time you will get the idea as to what I think I need.
Cheers , Winston66, Northampton, West Aus.

 

[Brock]

Winston,

The easiest word processor/Desktop Publishing software to get hold of is Open Office, it is free, and is from a very reputable company  Here is a link.

https://www.openoffice.org/download/index.html

Read the panel in green, select you operating system (Windows) Your Lanuage (Default is English US, you can select English UK) If you want an Oz dictionary for the way we spell, then click the UK english. Later on, I can walk you through setting it up so that the files will save in a format compatible with Microsoft Office.

Open office is about 90% compatible with Microsoft office, so most document sent to you by others will open.  Open office also has the ability to export a document to a PDF file, I use this function all the time.

[Brock]

Have a look here for tutorials, I havent gone in to it, but it will give you something to do.

Do you have anti virus software??? Its important to have something running to protect your computer.

http://www.free-computer-tutorials.net/

[Brock]

For antivirus, I suggest MS Security essentials, it works ok and is free  (I use it cos the mob I used to use went to India, and their customer support sounds like a scam....

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-au/windows/security-essentials-download

[cravenhaven]

This is always a difficult situation even if you are in a city.
The first thing to consider is: do you know someone who is competent, willing and able to help. If so, there is free software available such as teamviewer that allows a remote user to connect into your computer and show you how to do the task you're stuck on. ie you can see what they are doing on your computer and you have the ability to "chat" via a text window.
The only other suggestion I can offer is to not be afraid of giving things a go. A bit like learning to ride a bike, the most rapid learning happens when things are going wrong.
There are many online services that allow you to back up your data to their servers for free such as Microsoft Onedrive, Dropbox, Google drive. If you you use one of them you can at least be assured that even if you accidentally delete the data on your computer at least you can access it again from the online service. There are even a few paid services that automatically backup your computer regularly to an online service and allow you to restore individual files backdated as you require. eg Mozy for approx $6/month
These companies are all reputable so wont sell your data or lose it for you.

Allan

[Brock]

Allan,

Winston lives in Northampton WA, google it and you will see some of his difficulty....

Its one of those places that you cant get to from here... You need to go some where else first.

http://www.whereis.com/wa/northampton-6535

[alans1100]

Allan,

Winston lives in Northampton WA, google it and you will see some of his difficulty....

Its one of those places that you cant get to from here... You need to go some where else first.

Brock, Northhampton is about a 30 minute ride north out of Geraldton and the must be few people that live there that have courses available.....you couldn't get to the other side of Perth in that time.

 

[Brock]

Oh I know where Northampton is,,,,,

My Father used to be a teacher there along time ago. But thats another story

[cravenhaven]

Allan,

Winston lives in Northampton WA, google it and you will see some of his difficulty....

Its one of those places that you cant get to from here... You need to go some where else first.

http://www.whereis.com/wa/northampton-6535

I dont get your point Brock. I know where Northampton is and understand that it is a small town (I've even been there) so my suggestions were all related to remote access/internet solutions.
I also live in a remote country area and use many of the options I suggested.

Allan

[winston66]

             

Hi Brock, Cravenhaven, Allan, etc.

Thanks for the feedback and tips everyone.
It is great to have your interest and input.
Brock, I will have a close look at those links, Thanks, So far I have restricted myself in just trying to get a handle on the microsofy office word setup so it will be good to have a close look at your suggestions.
Thanks again everyone.
Cheers. winston66

 

[winston66]

 

Brock,
Tried downloading the open office link you suggested, however it did not want to cooperate.
Kept getting the message , it might harm the puter so Chrome has blocked it, then Reg cure comes on the scene  to offer a free scan and then wants money to clean up my register etc.
I am confused. seems like too difficult for me with my present level of competence,
so I am thinking that I might just persevere with the Microsoft office and word processor, that I have a small amount of understanding of,
Thanks again for your interest and assistnce.
Cheers, Winston66

 

[alans1100]

Brock,
Tried downloading the open office link you suggested, however it did not want to cooperate.
Kept getting the message , it might harm the puter so Chrome has blocked it, then Reg cure comes on the scene  to offer a free scan and then wants money to clean up my register etc.
I am confused. seems like too difficult for me with my present level of competence,
so I am thinking that I might just persevere with the Microsoft office and word processor, that I have a small amount of understanding of,
Thanks again for your interest and assistnce.
Cheers, Winston66

 

  the harm computer message is over kill from Microsoft as they only want you to install their stuff........That's what I think about that. I get the same message and I use explorer for my browser so you just go ahead and install.

the reg cure is all but a scam as Windows does that automatically......

This should get rid of most of those unwanted ads etc. https://adblockplus.org/en/chrome (just follow the install instructions)

[Brock]

Thats a problem with Chrome, not with the source. Chrome generates quite a few false alerts. I will park the file somewhere safe, that you will be able to get. stay tuned

[Brock]

Try this Winton.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/53770433/Apache_OpenOffice_4.1.1_Win_x86_install_en-GB.exe

[jf3000]

Gday winston66,

I may be able to help you out here:

Check out the website - https://www.udemy.com

They offer thousands of free online courses, a lot of free ones and then paid ones, check the site out. If there is a specific keyword you're looking for, narrow your keywords and keep looking.

[2Triky]

I was in a similar situation, when I purchased a new video editing suite.  I found great assistance from You Tube.  Simply went to You Tube and typed in a question on how to do?????, and I was amazed at what little vidoes are available that people post.  Some very cluey people out there.  anyway, I "asked" my way out of the crap and managed to find answers to my questions.  Give UTube a go.

[winston66]

         


Thanks for all of the tips and feedback everybody.
I am gradually working through them and trying to make some sense and headway. With some of the stuff.
It is difficult but occasionally something seems to click  and then stick in the grey matter.
I guess that the old saying of, Drop by drop, will eventually fill the bucket, but sometimes I feel that the head that I use for a bucket seems to have a hole in it.

cheers , Winston66