AppleMac Feedback...#17
by Shell Weinberg

  For Beginners, New Users, & the computer curious...

If you happen to be a new computer user, or just curious about computers... because your children, or grandchildren, have shamed you into believing you must catch up with the rest of the world and learn how to operate a computer or be left behind, the following information may be of interest.

Should the above description fit your situation, we will try to give you some insight into what to expect in your quest to own, and operate, a computer.

To help you understand what you will be dealing with let’s break it down into four fundamental areas of computer activity you should be aware of:

1. The Operating System... this is the underlying control that manages all the Mac computer functions and you should understand the basics about such items as the mouse, icons, windows, menus, open & close windows, launch & quit programs, how to organize & use folders, and how to start & shut down the computer.

2. The Applications.... software programs that you actually use to do your computer work, such as AppleWorks (which includes Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Database, Drawing, Painting), Photoshop Elements, Quicken, iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes, Keynote, Pages, etc.,... you will need to know how to work & navigate in each of these programs to create a variety of computer files and documents.

3. The Internet (www)... this is a network connecting computers all over the world. It begins with your computer, and your interest in obtaining information from another computer somewhere on the network. Your computer links to another computer using either a telephone line for connection, or a special Digital Subscriber Line for connection, or a High Speed Cable connection. Navigating through this inexhaustible source of information is both simple and difficult at the same time. Simple, because you do not have to be an experienced or knowledgeable computer user to be successful at “surfing” the web.

Difficult, because it does require some basic training and understanding of all the images you will see on your screen... and then a lot of patience to complete the search for your subject because of the hundreds of hits you generally get when asking for information.

There is no denying the significance of the Internet in today’s world. It rivals, and in most cases surpasses, other media for presenting timely news events, sports scores, financial info, and other important news breaking occurrences.

4. Email, sending & receiving... much of the same explanation presented in the above Internet section can be applied to describe Email. It too requires either a telephone line for connection, or a special Digital Subscriber Line for connection, or a High Speed Cable connection.

When you subscribe to one of these services you are assigned your own personal email address. This will be your electronic mail system and all email addressed to you will be delivered to your electronic Post Office where it will wait until you ask that it be sent to your computer.

Once again, it does require some basic training and understanding of certain functions related to reading, saving, or deleting the email you receive. In addition, you will need to know how to create new email that you’ll be sending to friends and relatives.

But, interestingly, you do not have to be truly computer literate to operate in this program... and that probably explains why the Internet and Email programs are so very popular.