“On the PC Side”

Column 1: Help with Computer Help

Want a little help with computer basics without first having to know a lot about computers? Here are some information sources that you may find useful.

For those of you living on the Los Angeles area, give a listen to Leo Laporte on radio station KFI (640 AM). Every Saturday and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. PT, Leo talks amiably in nontechnical language with listeners and takes telephone calls about everything from computers, printers, and scanners to digital cameras and camcorders to operating systems such as Windows XP and the new Windows Vista. (For those of you with a little more confidence in your computer skills, Leo posts show notes from each broadcast as well as audio recordings [podcasts] on his Web site.)

Here is what Leo recommended to a caller who claimed not to know "the first thing" about a computer with Microsoft Windows. (These suggestions are from the program broadcast on Saturday, November 11, 2006.) Do NOT purchase the CDs from the "video professor" John W. Scherer whose commercials you see so often on television. Leo's argument is twofold: the CDs, which arrive continually in the mail, become very expensive over time; and there are other less expensive informational resources that are even more useful.

For things that you can purchase, Leo recommends two book series, Que Publishing’s Absolute Beginner’s Guide series and the Missing Manuals series. Of interest among the former series might be the Absoute Beginner’s Guide to Computer Basics (2006). Now in its third edition, this 408 page book sells for $17.99. Other titles in this series from Que Publishing deal with computer security, spam, spyware, and viruses and with home networking. There are even beginner’s guides to eBay and to the iPod.

Published by Pogue Press, an imprint of O’Reilly Media, a long-time publisher of computer documentation, many of the missing manuals series were written by David Pogue, technology columnist for the New York Times. Books of interest might include Pogue’s Windows XP for Starters: The Missing Manual. Other topics covered in the missing manuals series include the new Windows Vista operating system, Microsoft Excel, Quicken, and even Google. [DISCLAIMERS: I have no personal knowledge of any of the books in either series; I have, however, read David Pogue’s columns in the New York Times for years and have always found them to be highly informative.]

Leo also believes that Wiley’s For Dummies series is not bad, but he finds the titles insulting. [Personally, I find the For Dummies books annoying and inefficient. I used Access 2000 for Windows for Dummies to teach myself how to use Microsoft Access (the database management program) and found it to be highly “linear”—something that you can only read in one direction (skipping topics does not work) and only once at that; its discussions are not sufficiently detailed to serve as reference material if reread. Also, the attempts to be humorous and lighthearted, while obviously meant to reduce the anxiety levels of nervous readers, became increasingly more irksome and distracting.] If you are not put off by these criticisms, then you might find titles such as Scanners for Dummies and CD & DVD Recording for Dummies helpful.

Another cluster of resources is the courses offered by public school systems’ adult education programs and by local community colleges. For example, in the Fall Semester 2006, the K-12 public school system serving the community where this writer lives offered seven different courses specifically for seniors. Beginning with Basic Introduction to PCs for Senior Citizens, these classes met weekly for three hours in late morning (typically from 9:00 a.m. until noon), were offered at more than one location, and cost $20.00 exclusive of any textbook purchases. In addition to the seven-course introduction to PCs sequence (there was also a course on Introduction to Macintosh Using OS X), topics included introductions to the Internet, to Microsoft Word, to Nero (a program for “burning” CDs), and to “power tools” (e.g., downloading files and updates from the Internet, using e-mail and e-mail attachments, and performing system maintenance such as disk cleanup and defragmentation). Though not specifically designed for seniors, other courses were offered on special topics such as using software to build a genealogical family tree, performing video editing, and using Adobe Photoshop.

Many community colleges offer free noncredit courses specifically designed for seniors. For example, Mt. San Antonio College offers courses in basic computing skills through its Community Education Division’s Older Adult Programs. Numerous for-credit courses are also offered. Since these most likely are typical of offerings at community colleges in your area, you might be interested in seeing what Mt. Sac offers.

Colleges and universities offer courses on computers through university extension programs such as that at UCLA. However, these programs primarily are aimed at mid-career students rather than seniors. The courses offered are not for beginners, but there may be some readers of this column who might find something of interest. Here are extension courses that UCLA offered in the fall of 2006. USC, of course, offers courses in computer science such as those in the Viterbi School, but, like coursework available through university extension programs, these are not for amateurs. (To see for yourself, check out these course descriptions from the Computer Science Department.)

However, there is an important resource available to USC retirees provided that they have a USC computer account. This is access to ITS’s computer support. With your USC computer account (we used to call this an e-mail account, but it is much more than that, as future installments of this column will demonstrate), you have a USC e-mail address (whether or not you actually use it for handling your e-mail), a username, and a password. If you have problems using any of the electronic resources that the university provides or with any of the free software that the university makes available, an e-mail message to consult@usc.edu using your USC e-mail address (e.g., myuscusername@usc.edu) or a telephone call to the Customer Support Center at (213) 740-5555 will provide you with free consulting help. [TIP: Be patient with the telephone consultants; they are specialists, but not necessarily in the subject of your problem.]

If you have questions or comments about this column, send them to Bob Stallings at rstallin@usc.edu.

Next: Column 2, “Changing the password for your USC computer account.”

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