OT - General Computer Question.

[Luv those Knicks]

I'm OK on computers, but not great and a lot of the stuff that's come out over the last 5 years or so has left me feeling somewhat behind. can anyone recommend a good book / class / online resource - to catch up.

Anyone know of any tests one can take to kind of get a reading on your tech ability (I'm sure they exist) and maybe proceed from recommendations off that info?


I know the very basics, like how to use the internet, MS office, but still like setting up a web page is challenging for me, though I'm sure it's easy once you know how. Basic PC protection, what programs I should remove from my PC that may not be totally friendly - stuff like that I'm a little weak on.


I recently ordered XP for dummies. Is that a good place to begin?

[FlashFlood]

Negative... Books are worthless. Did you know that anything currently in print is, at a minimum, 1 year behind? That generally speaking, most books published on computers are usually 4 years behind because of how hard it is to print books? That if you take schooling on computers, the curriculum is sometimes up to 6 years behind in technology? Okay, some of that is worst case scenario, but you get the drift... If youre trying to catch up, there's no point in studying history. To understand the current geo-political scenario, you wouldnt open up a text book history manual would you? You'd check the newspaper.

To really get up to date on technology, I would suggest google. Use key terms such as "how to use the internet" or "using MS office" or "creating webpages." You should get reams of hits because these are very popular subjects. There's also magazines available that provide cutting edge techniques for using today's applications.

[rrosario35]

Yea man, use Google... I learned how to use 3ds Max & Adobe Photoshop all by using google to help me find tutorials.
I even used google duringa j ob interview to help me with an excel task the owner couldnt figure out.

Also I noticed on youtube if you type in "Photoshop Tutorials" you can find TONS of helpful info... people put this stuff up there for free, you need to use it and save yourself some cash...

[livintoolive]

Use google. Setup a virtual machine on your computer and play around with it as much as possible.

It really depends on what you want to learn, but here's what I would set as a general guideline:

Basic Networking: Know the protocols and have a basic understanding of how they work. Understand what a server is both as a function and as a piece of hardware. Understand how different applications are distributed throughout a business.

Become very familiar with computer hardware. Be able to build a computer using just parts off newegg. Although this is probably not necessary for a business environment, the understanding of relationships between components will be a great help.

Web development: web 2.0.I'm reading up on this now so i'll lay out a few languages for you: html, xml, javascript, css, php, sql, AJAX, ruby. If you master those languages, you would be a hot commodity of a web developer. Make a few sample sites, and you'll be forced to learn all the graphics you need for a non-graphics job. I highly recommend w3 schools and their free tutorials to learn this stuff. After you learn it, try to follow best practices as much as possible while building sites. You can find these throughout blogs and communities on the internet. It's a market, in a sense, so the best ones are usually the most popular ones too. Google it.

Learn how to use linux. It's easy as hell although a daunting task on paper.

[NikeAir]

Use the Internet it is quick simple and easy just google your questions and whalla you are a expert.

[Turisas]

Google IS your friend. I do tech support in an IT company and I find that Google solves half of my problems. There is so much info out there.

[PrecociousNeoph]

if you want to learn how to make web sites, start with HTML and start making some basic static websites. you can safely buy basically any HTML book. I wouldn't worry about best practice or XHTML compliancy or anything like that. For now just grab a book if books work for you (they do for me too ). also, as you are learning HTML learn CSS at the same time, as they go hand in hand. as the other guys have said, make use of the internet when you are learning this kind of stuff. there are tons of free resources out there with examples and so forth, geared towards beginners. right click->view page source some pages and see how they did stuff. backend technology like php/mysql i wouldn't even worry about at all until you feel comfortable with frontend stuff. you might not even go that route at all if you don't want to. if you feel creative you could also dive into Flash and actionscript like me i'm a web developer so if you have any questions feel free to ask.

[Luv those Knicks]

Thanks guys. I appreciate all the suggestions.

I'd never even heard of a virtual desktop. That's cool.