Help and Support

[Dave \Crash\ Dummy]

And this is where I maintain that a well written manual, with lots of
images, is far superior.

You look for the relevant area in the manual, and by checking the
images, you've got a good shot of identifying an image that solves
you're problem, plus you learn that all this time, you've been calling
the problem a bucket, when you should have been calling it a pail.

That's where books like these come in handy (watch wrap):
http://www.amazon.com/Windows-7-Dummies-Andy-Rathbone/dp/0470497432
http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Seniors-Dummies-Justice-Hinton/dp/0470509465

 

[Ken Springer]

That's where books like these come in handy (watch wrap):
http://www.amazon.com/Windows-7-Dummies-Andy-Rathbone/dp/0470497432
http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Seniors-Dummies-Justice-Hinton/dp/0470509465

I might be a senior these days, under some definitions, but I'm no
Dummie! LOL My first computer is an Atari 800. I say "is", since I
still own it, and a 2nd one. <grin>

I've bought lots of books over the years for computers, covering most
subject/topics, but have found most of them lacking in information.
They look good on the shelf, but when I start looking for something I
want/need to know, the information isn't there. :-(

--
Ken

Mac OS X 10.6.8
Firefox 10.0.2
Thunderbird 10.0.2
LibreOffice 3.5.0 rc3

 

[choro]

I might be a senior these days, under some definitions, but I'm no
Dummie! LOL My first computer is an Atari 800. I say "is", since I still
own it, and a 2nd one. <grin>

I've bought lots of books over the years for computers, covering most
subject/topics, but have found most of them lacking in information. They
look good on the shelf, but when I start looking for something I
want/need to know, the information isn't there. :-(

Then why do you keep buying them? If they published them in PDF format
they'd be a lot more useful. But then they wouldn't be able to charge a
fortune for them, would they?

I gave up on computing books ages ago. The only one I found useful was
one which had a practical follow through course on programming with
QBASIC (Oh yes, it WAS that long ago!) with excercises to do at the end
of each chapter which you were supposed to do successfully if you had
understood the course covered in that chapter.
-- choro

 

[Ken Blake]

I might be a senior these days, under some definitions, but I'm no
Dummie!

I know I'm in the minority, but I find the titles of all those "...for
Dummies" books insulting, and I refuse to buy them.

I've bought lots of books over the years for computers, covering most
subject/topics, but have found most of them lacking in information.
They look good on the shelf, but when I start looking for something I
want/need to know, the information isn't there. :-(

As long as you say "most of them," rather than "all," I agree. Many of
them are pretty good, but it's rare one that's really outstanding.

 

[James Silverton]

I know I'm in the minority, but I find the titles of all those "...for
Dummies" books insulting, and I refuse to buy them.




As long as you say "most of them," rather than "all," I agree. Many of
them are pretty good, but it's rare one that's really outstanding.

Where's your sense of humor? The "Dummies" books often make a good
*starting* point. The "Missing Manual" books are of various qualities
but can be useful even if they don't always go into enough information
on topics that interest me; producing and modifying Excel 2010 graphs
for example.

 

[Ken Springer]

I know I'm in the minority, but I find the titles of all those "...for
Dummies" books insulting, and I refuse to buy them.

I've bought a couple, as a starting point, but eventually found out I
already knew enough that I didn't need them. My first Windows computer
was Win98.

--
Ken

Mac OS X 10.6.8
Firefox 10.0.2
Thunderbird 10.0.2
LibreOffice 3.5.0 rc3

 

[Nil]

I know I'm in the minority, but I find the titles of all those
"...for Dummies" books insulting, and I refuse to buy them.

You're only hurting yourself. The title is only a gentle joke, designed
to put those who are uncomfortable with the subject at ease. Most of
the "Dummies" series that I've looked at have lots of good information
for everybody. There's no reason to feel threatened by a book title.
We're all bozos on this bus.

 

[Ken Springer]

Then why do you keep buying them? If they published them in PDF format
they'd be a lot more useful. But then they wouldn't be able to charge a
fortune for them, would they?

I don't buy a lot, anymore. But when I do, I buy used copies, sometimes
at just $.99 plus shipping. Sure beats the $50 price on the cover, and
many of them you can't tell from brand new.

I gave up on computing books ages ago. The only one I found useful was
one which had a practical follow through course on programming with
QBASIC (Oh yes, it WAS that long ago!) with excercises to do at the end
of each chapter which you were supposed to do successfully if you had
understood the course covered in that chapter.

Been a long time since I've heard/read "QBASIC". Which reminded me of
Qbert! LOL

These days, they seem to be most handy to me in learning better ways of
explaining computer basics to newbies, and those that really struggle
with understanding computers.

I once worked with a woman, when computers were just beginning to invade
the workplace, that was sent to a DOS basics class, and still couldn't
figure out how to format a floppy.


--
Ken

Mac OS X 10.6.8
Firefox 10.0.2
Thunderbird 10.0.2
LibreOffice 3.5.0 rc3

 

[VanguardLH]

My, you sound bitter! Yes, some questions here do seem particularly
badly expressed, and for those who try to help it's like pulling hen's
teeth getting details of what's wanted.

But I don't mind people asking here first, if the question is reasonably
well put. Searching - either the web or the internal help - can be
frustrating if you just happen to be using a word/phrase for whatever
you're looking for that isn't the one everyone else is using.

I would say that to my eyes the 7 help is a lot better at finding what
you're looking for than that in earlier Windows (well, I don't know
about Vista).

Replies to queries that say "go to help, type this, and it's the second
hit", or even something similar with Google etc., are good; replies
that just say "use help" or "Google" give the impression that the person
typing them isn't very helpful and thinks themselves superior.

How is what I said considered bitter? Humans are born and they die.
There are new crops of humans being born every day. They get educated
by those that are older. At the start, everyone is a newbie regarding
any topic. The uneducated will continually exist. That's an
expectation, not the problem. Uneducated that have initiative will
research first and then ask when they've exhausted what avenues of
knowledge they know about. The problem is with the uneducated that LACK
initiative to even try to resolve their own problem.

 

[VanguardLH]

Thank you!!!!! You have no idea how many times I've tried to tell
people this, and all I get is a digital blank stare.

There is a huge difference between *looking* for yourself to see what
you might find versus not bothering to look at all and instead posting a
knee-jerk question without expending any effort of your own to resolve
your own problem.

As I said in my reply to Stan, if you're going to tell someone to go
look in Google, MS support KB, or elsewhere then make sure to include a
search URL that points them to relevant articles or to give sufficient
focus for the that someone to find their own help. Someone who posts
"Go Google it" is just as *lazy* as the poster that knee-jerked their
post here without expending any effort beforehand; i.e., you have a lazy
poster (vainly upping their post count with trivia and useless replies
but disinterested in actually participating in a discussion) who is
responding to another lazy poster. You have the lazy complaing about
the lazy.

 

[Dave \Crash\ Dummy]

You're only hurting yourself. The title is only a gentle joke,
designed to put those who are uncomfortable with the subject at ease.
Most of the "Dummies" series that I've looked at have lots of good
information for everybody. There's no reason to feel threatened by a
book title. We're all bozos on this bus.

We are all born as dummies. I find the Dummies books good when I am
brand new to a subject, so new that I wouldn't even know how to look up
an answer in a more advanced book. It doesn't take long to outgrow the
Dummies book, but it is a very useful first step.

 

[Ken Springer]

The problem is with the uneducated that LACK
initiative to even try to resolve their own problem.

I think this is only true when you know for a fact the uneducated
individual knows how to search for a resolution, and where to search.

--
Ken

Mac OS X 10.6.8
Firefox 10.0.2
Thunderbird 10.0.2
LibreOffice 3.5.0 rc3

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Are you asking about the DOS-mode commands, like chkdsk and dir? What
happens when you type "help" in a command console?

net start /?

I was going to post the same advice, but I tried it first and cancelled
my post. I'm on Windows 7 Pro 64 bit.

Here's why:

<Command window>
[C:] net start /?
The syntax of this command is:

NET START
[service]

</Command window>

And net /? is not much better.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I think this is only true when you know for a fact the uneducated individual
knows how to search for a resolution, and where to search.

And maybe the only search technique they are aware of is to post on
Usenet, or even Google Groups.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I figure that if I can't get an answer, I'm looking at the problem
incorrectly, on the other hand, I see an amazing number of folks expecting
the question to be divined and the answer to be delivered by the time they
refresh the browser page.

I am aware that I might very well be looking at the problem
incorrectly, but a failed search does little to help me figure out how
to look at it correctly.

That said, failure is, of course, a strong motivator to rethink.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

On Tue, 06 Mar 2012 09:05:36 -0700, Ken Springer


I know I'm in the minority, but I find the titles of all those "...for
Dummies" books insulting, and I refuse to buy them.

[...]

I give +4 in favor of the For Dummies series.

That's +1 each for Ken Springer, James Silverton, Nil, and Crash.

Basically, those four people have said all I could say.

And no, I don't see the books as perfect, just frequently useful for
me.

BTW - I guess, given his nym, Dave "Crash" Dummy just *has* to like the
For Dummies books

 

[Ken Springer]

I give +4 in favor of the For Dummies series.

That's +1 each for Ken Springer, James Silverton, Nil, and Crash.

Thanks, Gene.

--
Ken

Mac OS X 10.6.8
Firefox 10.0.2
Thunderbird 10.0.2
LibreOffice 3.5.0 rc3

 

[Gene Wirchenko]

On Tue, 06 Mar 2012 10:35:53 -0700, Ken Springer

[snip]

Been a long time since I've heard/read "QBASIC". Which reminded me of
Qbert! LOL

I still use it. I have a couple of very useful utilities that I
wrote for myself. One has I have not modified since 2008. The other
I added new functionality to at the end of January.

[snip]

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

 

[Gene Wirchenko]

On Tue, 06 Mar 2012 09:05:36 -0700, Ken Springer

I know I'm in the minority, but I find the titles of all those "...for
Dummies" books insulting, and I refuse to buy them.

I am the same way. I think that calling a newbie a dummy to be
insulting and rude. I prefer, "Welcome, newbie! Let's get you
started." regardless of which side of the fence I am on.

I have read a number of books that just deal with the very basics
of getting started and do not cover how to do a professional job of
it. It has taken me way too long to get where I am with HTML and
JavaScript, and I am aware of significant to me gaps that have to get
filled.

As long as you say "most of them," rather than "all," I agree. Many of
them are pretty good, but it's rare one that's really outstanding.

Many are OK, a few are outstanding. Some are not good enough to
use a doorstops. I am rather picky, particularly since technical
books tend to be costly.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

 

[Gene Wirchenko]

You're only hurting yourself. The title is only a gentle joke, designed
to put those who are uncomfortable with the subject at ease. Most of
the "Dummies" series that I've looked at have lots of good information
for everybody. There's no reason to feel threatened by a book title.
We're all bozos on this bus.

I am not threatened. I am insulted. I do not like being
insulted.

I would read "<whatever> for the Complete Newbie", but *NOT*
"<whatever> for Dummies".

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko