Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with novice

Please recommend a book or DVD for my Dad wants to learn to use computer basics.

tvjoshi — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:49:00 -0800

Please recommend a book or DVD for my Dad wants to learn to use computer basics. My dad recently started using computer (windows XP) for the first time ever in his life. He is 60 yrs old and retired. He can open firefox, type in web address (of the few websites that he knows) and click on links in order to surf news website. Beyond that he pretty much doesn't know anything about computers. He had computer on his desk in last few years of his service. He hated it and never tried to learn. Now he repents, as he recently discovered the beauty and power of computer and interenet. He wants to learn to use computer proficiently.

He lives in India and here on a vacation (visiting us) only for 2 more months. He wants to continue to pursue learning computer on his own, when he returns. I tried to teach him, but having used computer half of my life, it's very difficult for me to teach him anything (or may be that I'm not at all good at teaching or patient with him). It's frustrating most of the times, for both him and me, as he tries to comprehend the concepts that I take for granted.

I don't want to spend too much money. He is pretty smart that way and I'm sure he will grasp quickly if someone can go to his level and explain. I don't want to spend lot of money, but I'm open to resonable, affordable options. Can you please recommend a book or DVD course which can help him learn computer step by step?

P.S. I tried googling, but I was overwhelmed. I would rather trust crowdsourcing/hive mind than sheer advertising out there on shopping websites.

Thanks for all your help!

What are the best resources for computer novices?

contraption — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 23:14:36 -0800

What are the best resources for computer novices? I often find myself in the position of helping friends and family figure out how to operate their computers (typically Windows XP or Vista, but OS X tips are welcome too.) While I realize there's no substitute for face-to-face instruction, my time is not infinite and I'd like to be able to set them up with some bookmarks or documents that will give them guidance when I'm not around. I'm especially interested in a well-structured, non-intimidating quick reference tool with general tips like locating a file in the filesystem, compressing/decompressing files, using the clipboard, and selecting which program is associated with a particular file type. It should not take any knowledge for granted, and wherever possible should offer detailed step-by-step instruction with explanations of any necessary jargon terms. Reliable, regularly updated lists of good free programs for various tasks would also be helpful.

Making sense of Messenger

ricochet biscuit — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:49:54 -0800

Explain windows Live Messenger to a luddite. I have had a Hotmail account for ten years or so, and I gather that at some point Messenger got bundled into this. I have never used it and it was only by accident I discovered that it was there (clicking "Home" once while in Hotmail and figuring that would take me back to my inbox and discovering it actually brings me back to home.live.com).

As a stately old gen X-er, I think I am half a generation too old to be enthralled by instant messaging, so I have ignored it. However, I see the number of network invitations is steadily growing and now there twelve or fifteen people who have apparently invited me.

First of all, if I were to accept these invitations, what is the deal? These dozen people can now see when I am online and open up a chat window? Or do I misunderstand what this is about?

As well without my ever doing anything, I seem to have a connection already. It is from a Spanish-speaking woman I knew years ago but lost touch with. There is a single word after her name and I, being a novice (both with regards to Messenger and Spanish), am struggling to put some sense to it. What I see on the "home" page (beneath the three most recent e-mails):

------

What's new with your network

Maria: extranandote | Post a note

------

I gather "extranandote" is "extrañandote" ("I am missing you") stripped of its tilde. But is this a message for me? Is the long-lost Maria letting me know she misses me? Or is this just a handle that she uses that will appear after her name?

Novice Snowboard Costs, Zero To Sixty?

scrump — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:34:30 -0800

How much should I budget to both equip myself and my wife for snowboarding and get us enough instruction so that we enjoy it? I mean, we own nothing with the possible exception of some gloves we could use, and we want to get ourselves outfitted and capable of boarding happily all day at places like Heavenly or Whistler. What will this cost, or, barring that, what do we need to budget for?

Which Nikon DSLR lens for trip to Africa? (no there's no safari!)

urbanette — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:02:13 -0800

Which lenses/accessories should I have for my Nikon D60 for my trip to Africa? (no there will not be safaris!) I'm headed to Africa to meet my extended family for the first time. Heading to a country in the West part. We are going to have lots of family gatherings, in and outdoors, day and evening.

As well, we'll be visiting a lot sites so I imagine there will be cool scenery to shoot - wide vistas but some cool architectural details too.

I'm a total novice - bought the D60 kit with the 18-55mm with VR. I have been reading through some of the questions here and figure I should get a zoom lens and/or a wide angle lens. Any thoughts on which I should look for? Does it need to be a VR lens? Would you recommend a mounted flash as well?

Man this hobby is expensive!

Help me use GMail Better

arniec — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:25:14 -0800

My company recently switched from a standard POP mail server to having GMail as our MX server and hosting all our business accounts. Overall the benefits are quite positive, but I'm having some usage issues that bug me. Can you help me use gmail better? Specific questions inside. Part 1: I love the benefit of the IMAP mail system, allowing my inbox to be anywhere I am, rather than centralized around a specific computer. Previously I had my POP work account for 3 years and amassed thousands of emails coming in at about 4GB, all of which I must keep for reference of correspondence, e-mail addresses, etc. I had my mail sorted into folders, about 30-40 different folders depending on correspondence type. All of that mail was in Outlook until I recently became a Mac convert. Now it's all in Thunderbird.

So I can have ALL my mail available where I can get to it from anywhere, I'd like to migrate it all to GMail. I read that using IMAP I can just drag these old e-mails into my Inbox folder in Thunderbird, but given that I have about 40 folders, I'm not sure how to get them to GMail without just having a very large Inbox with a conglomeration of e-mails in it. I am guessing I could drag one folder to the Inbox, then organize that on Gmail, drag another folder, etc. but that leads me to problem #2:

Part 2: I know GMail uses labels...are there no folders? Would I need to drag in the e-mails, then label them all to use GMail's label system instead of my current folder-based system? And is that the most efficient way to do this?

Part 3: I am really NOT a fam of the "message threading" that GMail does. Often I will send solicitations to business partners and each subject line will be identical, the messages nearly so. However because the subject lines are the same, GMail takes e-mails from different business partners and puts them all in one thread, filling me with paranoia of sending the wrong e-mail to the wrong person or, worse, sending an entire e-mail chain from one business partner to another business partner which may contain confidential data. Is there any way to alter the functionality or, perhaps ideally, turn OFF this "feature" in GMail?

Part 4: As I'm still new to GMail, any "Power User" tips for me?

Final Notes: I still plan on using Thunderbird as my client of choice when at my work PC. I just want the ability to have ALL my mail accessible from ANY location as I feel it will enable me to work more efficiently, rather than having to hold some e-mails until I get back to my primary PC.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Two, two, two computer questions in one!

Northwest — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 16:06:28 -0800

I have DSL but am continually prompted to dial-up for a connection. Plus, how do I learn to manage my wireless home network myself? I'm running XP Home on two computers with a DSL modem and a Trendnet wireless router. Internet works on the computer physically wired to the router, but, XP constantly prompts me to dial up for any new page I access. I'm sure it's an easy fix but this stuff still mystifies and frustrates me.

Secondly, I'm having problems keeping the upstairs wirelessly connected computer on the network. I lose access to the downstairs computer and thus, the internet. I would like to be able to share files, pictures, music and printers between the two.

Where could I find a simple "how-to" guide? Microsoft.com is written in Gaelic to me, many sites seem to assume I have more knowledge than I really do. A book or on-line site would be great.

I'm pretty on the inside, now let me advertise.

Phalene — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 19:14:39 -0800

Image Management: 21 year old female wants to be able to ease into the girly arts without killing her bank account, with near zero starting knowledge. (May be long, this is several questions around one theme) Okay. I'm an extremely pale natural dark brunette with long hair and (mostly) dry skin. Growing up, my female role models were all either furry legged feminists or long dead monarchs, and that plus Aspergers means I missed that giggly stage girls go through where they mysteriously transform into being able to do hair, makeup and wardrobe from playing 'Warrior Princess'.

I think I have the fashion component nailed down; my youthful over exuberance with gothy duds, and later, plain middle-aged lady gear having been modulated with age appropriate tees, and carefully selected skirts and blouse combos. I have staples and a unique style and all is good. I'm even wearing the right bra size.

But hair, makeup and skin maintenance is something I don't get very well. I've noticed a huge improvement after I started professional brow waxing. The doctor fixed my pimples and contact lenses freed me from the prison of glasses. And yet, I'm either stubbly or razor burned, raspy fleshed like a lizard. Made up, I overdo it in the wrong way, the colours don't blend, I use products for the wrong thing and my cosmetics flake off.

I can't blow dry, or style hair well. My hair has a curl that rarely, when the oil consistency is right and the planets are aligned, falls in gorgeous shiny waves, but more likely either puffs into curls or hangs in waves with an aura of loose frizz on top. Curlers, irons and products are confusing artefacts of an alien civilization. I want more of the shiny waves and I’m even greedy enough to someday want to have choice in my hair texture like (gasp!) straightening.

At the moment I live in the middle of nowhere, so no major brands like Lush, MAC and Sephora are available except online. I have a credit card and I can purchase touted products, but not in bulk volume and high prices. I don’t know what girls are supposed to have in their makeup bag or what gear (brushes, sponges, removers) to invest in.

I want to be able to style my hair for formal events, class and office-y type work; remove body hair without bleeding or paying a fellow human being my entire weekly income to yank it out; stop flaking skin with a moisturizing product that works and find a means of gentle exfoliation; and do the makeup. The range of makeup mastery I wish to eventually achieve shapes this latter desire. I want something similar to what I’ve said about hair looks, that runs the gamut to that subtle glow my fellow female classmates paint on to impress each other, to office worthy war paint and the capacity to create great going out looks. This especially refers to eye makeup.

I’ll take any wisdom mefi can throw, but to get your magnificent hive mind warmed up, how about links to websites with excellent how tos; names of good guide books; product names that a starving student might be able to afford; helpful tools to build my arsenal; stories of how you (or females you know) do the girly routines, pro-tips for application and/or cautionary tales?

Why are these lines showing up on my webpage?

gfrobe — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 09:05:21 -0800

I'm creating a very simple web page and inserting images into the cells of a table. However, I can still see faint lines around the borders of the images. What am I doing wrong? Here
is a link to the section of the page. The blue background color for the table (using Dreamweaver) is 4B8AC9 and the text images created in Photoshop use the same background color . When I just place the table without the images, it previews fine so I guess I've got a mismatch somewhere. However, I can't figure it out.

new to biking

mustcatchmooseandsquirrel — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 20:29:10 -0800

I got a bike. Now what do I do? I bought a hybrid and a lock for it; it seem like a good bike and I feel comfortable on it. However, I did not really have a childhood filled with biking and only really had a bike that I rode briefly five years ago or so. Thus, I do not really know how to get into using the bike for fun and transportation.

How do I get to feel more comfortable riding the bike? Is there anything that I need to know that seems obvious? Do I actually need a helmet? (if so, how do I fix helmet hair? also, any tips for riding in a skirt?) What else do I need to know?

I don't have a car so aside from walking, this would be my only real mode of transportation other than bumming rides from friends.

Should I bake my good friend's wedding cake with little experience in such endeavors?

nataliecay — Thu, 10 May 2007 11:57:19 -0800

As a recreational baker, am I crazy to make my best friend's wedding cake?? I am the designated cake baker for our group of friend's birthdays, celebrations, etc. This year I decided to tackle fondant icing for the first time ever. Well, one of my engaged friends was so impressed with the results she asked me to make her wedding cake.

Things to consider:
*I am a bridesmaid in the wedding, so I'll definitely have my share of responsibilities without tackling this additional one.
*She said she doesn't care what it tastes like, she just wants it to be cute. I can do cute.
*I would be transporting the layers 6 hours away to her hometown.
*I have never made more than a two tiered cake.
*I have a year to practice.

Sooo, thoughts?

incoming sewing n00b alert

divabat — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 04:30:06 -0800

I've been inspired by t-shirt surgery and am thinking of getting into sewing. However, I've never sewed something in my life. Where do I begin? A request from a friend to design a t-shirt for her (odd, because I've only used an iron-on transfer before, but eh) and my fascination with t-shirt surgery has inspired me to delve more into it. I've been experimenting with cutting up stuff (right now I'm wearing a rudimentary skirt made by chopping a t-shirt in half) but know next to nothing about sewing.

I used to hate sewing. We had to do it as part of a Life Skills course in school and I just tossed the work to my mum. I get the basic idea of sewing, but can't tell you how to do a hem. I'm not even interested in fashion; I find it utterly boring. However, I like the creativity of turning something into something else, and t-shirt surgery seemed fun.

My qs:

1. I live in Brisbane, Australia. Are there any sewing classes in the area? Google doesn't get me anything specific (there is a Sewing Guild but that's all). Is it worth going? I'm a uni student, so time and money is a concern.

2. I've been reading up on sewing machines for beginners and I'm not sure where to get a good deal. I saw a beginner Singer for $199 at Lincraft but I have the feeling they're cheaper elsewhere. Any tips for where to look?

3. Where can an absolute beginner seamstress start? Assume I know nothing. I've been reading up things online but even the name of stitches elude me.

4. How do you do a hem?

Any info appreciated, though if it's Brisbane-specific even better. Thanks!

Dumbass knows nothing.

popcassady — Sun, 28 May 2006 15:59:51 -0800

Help this ignoramus understand his netgear admin log. I can understand most of what's going on in the log. But then there's this jargon in the middle that I don't understand. Who are RIPE? Who are APNIC? Who's Len? Why is he 470? What are they doing in my netgear's log?

03:40:12 [DOS]IN=ppp0 OUT= MAC= SRC=221.208.208.104 DST=**.**.**.*** LEN=490 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=40 ID=0 DF PROTO=UDP SPT=32976 DPT=1027 LEN=470

05:42:52 [DOS]IN=ppp0 OUT= MAC= SRC=221.208.208.104 DST=**.**.**.*** LEN=490 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=40 ID=0 DF PROTO=UDP SPT=32988 DPT=1027 LEN=470

07:03:46 [DOS]IN=ppp0 OUT= MAC= SRC=61.180.228.244 DST=**.**.**.*** LEN=485 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=42 ID=0 DF PROTO=UDP SPT=38005 DPT=1027 LEN=465

08:25:14 [DOS]IN=ppp0 OUT= MAC= SRC=221.208.208.104 DST=**.**.**.*** LEN=490 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=40 ID=0 DF PROTO=UDP SPT=32988 DPT=1027 LEN=470

09:05:21 [DOS]IN=ppp0 OUT= MAC= SRC=221.208.208.104 DST=**.**.**.*** LEN=490 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=40 ID=0 DF PROTO=UDP SPT=32988 DPT=1027 LEN=470

11:07:32 [DOS]IN=ppp0 OUT= MAC= SRC=221.208.208.104 DST=**.**.**.*** LEN=490 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=40 ID=0 DF PROTO=UDP SPT=32990 DPT=1027 LEN=470

11:10:54 [DOS]IN=ppp0 OUT= MAC= SRC=62.56.99.198 DST=**.**.**.*** LEN=48 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=125 ID=8041 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=1141 DPT=445 WINDOW=16384 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0

11:10:57 [DOS]IN=ppp0 OUT= MAC= SRC=62.56.99.198 DST=**.**.**.*** LEN=48 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=125 ID=8354 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=1135 DPT=445 WINDOW=16384 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0

11:10:57 [DOS]IN=ppp0 OUT= MAC= SRC=62.56.99.198 DST=**.**.**.*** LEN=48 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=125 ID=8355 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=1136 DPT=445 WINDOW=16384 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0

11:10:57 [DOS]IN=ppp0 OUT= MAC= SRC=62.56.99.198 DST=**.**.**.*** LEN=48 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=125 ID=8356 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=1138 DPT=445 WINDOW=16384 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0

11:10:57 [DOS]IN=ppp0 OUT= MAC= SRC=62.56.99.198 DST=**.**.**.*** LEN=48 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=125 ID=8357 DF PROTO=TCP

Finally, am I such an ignoramus that I've posted anything that could compromise my computer's security?

I don't pretend to be a unix or any kind of expert

lackutrol — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 16:26:21 -0800

Dumb question about curl and setting up Ruby on Rails from an extreme novice. Here's the question, and I'll follow with some more background information: is curl supposed to just stop when it's done? I am using curl to download readline. Curl says it has downloaded everything, but keeps running. I quit out of curl and attempt to unzip readline. I get the following error:



gzip: stdin: unexpected end of file

tar: Read 1655 bytes from readline-5.1.tar.gz

tar: Unexpected EOF in archive

tar: Unexpected EOF in archive

tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now

What am I doing wrong?

Background information: I have been doing marketing and (lately) technical writing for the Web for a long time. I have enough html knowledge to build a basic site, but was kind of curious to see if I could do any programming, sort of as a lark. Since everyone is talking about Ruby and AJAX and all that nifty stuff, I decided to try with that program. But I am stuck setting it up (see this tutorial).

Pro tips for selling on eBay?

loquacious — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 18:41:39 -0800

eBay newbie help. What pointers do you have for selling on eBay? Favorite websites and tutorials? How to list effectively? How to get started and build up a positive rep? Negative experiences? Positive experiences? I'm going to be selling custom artwork in the form of posters, postcards and t-shirts related to that artwork on eBay, as well as whatever odds and ends I feel will do well. (Think books, clothes, etc. Thrift store finds, that sort of thing.) Google is drowning in eBay links, and most are spurious. Site-Googling AskMe is also drowning in eBay hits. I would love to hear what MeFi has to say about this and how to go about it. I have also studied the eBay support tutorials, but I value the MeFi knowledge base. Thanks in advance!

Simple Site Design

ascullion — Sat, 02 Oct 2004 01:10:00 -0800

Help needed for a complete programming novice. I'm trying to design a simple web page to help out a colleague.. (more inside) I've got a very simple html page which consists solely of a single href link to another page. That link is to an address in this format

http:///www.testwebsite.com/test/1234567.stm

1234567 is, obviously a variable - I'd like for the web page I've built to ask the user, possibly via a javascript window, what that variable should be, and then when the user clicks on the link, they see the page they want to go to.

I'm pretty sure this should be possible - I've seen novelty websites do it - but I don't even know what the right terminology is, so can't google it. Links would be much appreciated.

Help me plan a ski trip when I know nothing about skiing

gatorae — Tue, 01 Jun 2004 23:51:34 -0800

I'm planning a ski trip (North American) for myself and 3 friends for the week before Christmas. Problem: we know nothing about skiing. Help! [MI] We are all under 25 and just want to get together after I finish my first semester of law school and do something fun. Skiing seems like a great option since none of us has done it before, and we all really want to try it. We want to go to a resort-type place to get the full experience. I'm thinking that renting a cabin will be the easiest and cheapest way for us to stay together and all have our own beds. We aren't really into clubbing or anything like that, we are mostly just interested in skiing/snowboarding.. and one of my friends really wants to rent a snowmobile. We want to keep costs low, but we live in Florida so the difference in cost between flying to Denver vs Canada are pretty negligible.

Any recommendations on where to go or any general tips? I know this is sort of a broad question, but I'm at a loss as to where to begin planning this one.

Question from a very beginner guitar player about chords and strumming.

Seth — Tue, 30 Mar 2004 11:08:04 -0800

Question from a very beginner guitar player about chords and strumming. I have learned the positions and how to make the most common chords. And I got these Tab sheets of songs. Over the first word of the song there might be a G and then a A over the second half of the sentence. Ok. Got that. But how do you know what to strum? Obviously one strum of the G then one strum of the A isn't enough. Is it just a constant rythmic strumming of G until you get to the A? Do you only strum down, or do you upward strum too? Is the only hope to play it by ear?