Help and Support

[Nil]

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".

I say, I say, I say, it's a joke, son. It's only insulting if you don't
get the joke and/or if you take yourself way too seriously.

 

[Char Jackson]

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.

The last computer book I bought also happens to be the first computer
book I bought. It was a reference manual on how to do assembly
language programming on the 6502/6510 CPU.

We all learn differently. For some, settling down with a book works
well. Others are comforted just by having a book they can turn to when
needed, and they have no intention of actually reading it cover to
cover. Most people, though, probably skip the books and find their
answers via the Internet, as in web forums, Google searches, and even
a few of us dinosaurs who still use newsgroups.

 

[Char Jackson]

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.

I think I worked with that same woman! Besides not being able to
format a floppy, she came to me once with a real problem. It turned
out that she had been saving her Word files with her name (Marsha) and
a number, and since this was during the time of 8.3 filenames, she was
limited to 99 files. The time had come when she needed to save a file
beyond 99 and she didn't know what to do.

 

[Char Jackson]

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".

That seems like a silly distinction to me. You're complaining about
something that's nothing more than creative marketing, and quite
successful marketing, I might add. Personally, "newbie" is equally
insulting as "dummy", which is to say that neither is particularly
insulting to me.

 

[choro]

I think I worked with that same woman! Besides not being able to
format a floppy, she came to me once with a real problem. It turned
out that she had been saving her Word files with her name (Marsha) and
a number, and since this was during the time of 8.3 filenames, she was
limited to 99 files. The time had come when she needed to save a file
beyond 99 and she didn't know what to do.

And what did you tell her? To drop her pants?! ;-)
-- choro

 

[Char Jackson]

And what did you tell her? To drop her pants?! ;-)

I remember being horrified that she was using her name as the base for
every file, but it turned out that she had a cheat sheet in her desk
drawer that mapped her filenames with the document topic.

I think I told her to use her initials instead of her full first name,
or something equally non-technical. That was 30-some years ago.

 

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

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.

Try "net start /help". Much better information than just /?, which
only gives syntax. Why MS didn't provide the full help with /? is
anyone's guess...

 

[Gene Wirchenko]

I say, I say, I say, it's a joke, son. It's only insulting if you don't
get the joke and/or if you take yourself way too seriously.

I do get the alleged joke. I do not think that gratuitously
insulting others is really a joke. I believe in courtesy.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

And if Windows 7 has detailed descriptions of the syntax and function
of the command-line commands, I've been unable to find it.
Are you asking about the DOS-mode commands, like chkdsk and dir? What
happens when you type "help" in a command console?

Try getting information on "net start", for instance.
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.

Try "net start /help". Much better information than just /?, which
only gives syntax. Why MS didn't provide the full help with /? is
anyone's guess...

Geez. I never suspected that /? and /help were not synonymous :-(

Like you, I can't imagine why they aren't the same.

Thanks for the completely unexpected info!

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

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

I think I worked with that same woman! Besides not being able to
format a floppy, she came to me once with a real problem. It turned
out that she had been saving her Word files with her name (Marsha) and
a number, and since this was during the time of 8.3 filenames, she was
limited to 99 files. The time had come when she needed to save a file
beyond 99 and she didn't know what to do.

Clearly, it was time to put a hex on her.

Which still would only give her 255 files total, since she apparently
hadn't thought of 00.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

The last computer book I bought also happens to be the first computer
book I bought. It was a reference manual on how to do assembly
language programming on the 6502/6510 CPU.

We all learn differently. For some, settling down with a book works
well. Others are comforted just by having a book they can turn to when
needed, and they have no intention of actually reading it cover to
cover. Most people, though, probably skip the books and find their
answers via the Internet, as in web forums, Google searches, and even
a few of us dinosaurs who still use newsgroups.

I use all of the above methods, and also sometimes I ask friends in
person (when possible). Another method is experimentation, which can
also be effective.

And on occasion, I have been known to just give up

 

[Char Jackson]

Clearly, it was time to put a hex on her.

Applicable, but still a groaner. ;-)

 

[Gene Wirchenko]

On 3/06/2012, Zaphod Beeblebrox posted:
[snip]

Try "net start /help". Much better information than just /?, which
only gives syntax. Why MS didn't provide the full help with /? is
anyone's guess...

Geez. I never suspected that /? and /help were not synonymous :-(

Me, neither. This is extreme carelessness on Microsoft's part.

Like you, I can't imagine why they aren't the same.

Quite. I never would have expected it.

Thanks for the completely unexpected info!

From me, too.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

 

[Char Jackson]

I use all of the above methods, and also sometimes I ask friends in
person (when possible). Another method is experimentation, which can
also be effective.

Great additions to the thread, thanks.

And on occasion, I have been known to just give up

Giving up seems to get a bad rap, but sometimes it's the best thing.
I've done it myself.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Applicable, but still a groaner. ;-)

That's me!

 

[Ken Blake]

Where's your sense of humor? The "Dummies" books often make a good
*starting* point.

Yes, I've glanced at enough "Dummies" books to realize that some of
them are very decent. But my sense of humor goes away when I'm
insulted, and that's my view of what their titles do.

But feel free to have a completely different view from mine.

 

[Ken Blake]

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.

Threatened? No.

Insulted? yes.

You can call it a "gentle" joke if you wish (and I know that most
people feel the same way you do), but it isn't gentle to me.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

On Tue, 06 Mar 2012 12:30:02 -0500, James Silverton


Yes, I've glanced at enough "Dummies" books to realize that some of
them are very decent. But my sense of humor goes away when I'm
insulted, and that's my view of what their titles do.

But feel free to have a completely different view from mine.

I find myself wondering how you know that the publishers are referring
specifically to you when they say "for Dummies".

Just curious.

 

[Bob I]

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.

If at first you don't succeed, change a parameter, and try again. <grin>

 

[Stan Brown]

Many don't bother reading the app or OS included help.

Some of us do, but in vain. I have pretty much given up finding
*anything* in the "help" files in MS Office.
[and Windows 7]

That said, the information is usually out there somewhere on the Web.
It behooves everyone to try at least a rudimentary Web search before
posting a question, but I have to admit there have been times I have
yielded to the impulse to post to a newsgroup without first doing my
own search.

Perfect example: Firefox prints the URL, title, page number, and
date so close to the edge of the page that photocopying often cuts
them off. It's particularly a problem when I make a PDF and then
give it to the College print shop to duplicate. I've never been able
to find anything in Firefox help to control that.

Tonight, 5 minutes of Googling revealed the answer: "about:config" in
the URL window, and "edge" in the filter window. Set the bottom edge
to something like 25 or so, depending on your printer.