computer training courses for learners.

[owdamer]

Does anyone know any good online training couses that i can download that will offer very basic pc skills for a beginner?

My dad (who's 72) wants a pc and has been looking at spending about £350 on a new one. Now i'm all for people learning and i've no problem with him getting one, but he knows absolutely nothing about them and watching him trying to do anything on one is painfull. He keeps picking the mouse up and trying to point it at things, he seems unable to grasp double clicking and when he tries he generally moves the mouse so that by the time he's managed 2 clicks he's no longer pointing at anything.

My uncle had persuaded him he needed a pc and decided to take it upon himself to give him his old one. trouble is, he wanted the contents of the hdd so he took that out.
What he gave my dad was a 5 year old tatty base unit minus the hdd, no monitor, no keyboard, no mouse and obviously no O/S.
"Your lad can easily get it running for a few quid" he told him.

I had a few bits lying about so i got it running ok, although I couldn't find drivers for the soundcard so it has no sound. not really a problem. I've just gaven him the pc, but he hasn't got a clue what he's supposed to do with it. I can't let him loose on the net unsupervised if he cant drive the damn thing so its just a basic pc running xp and has office installed.

I figured that rather than blow £300+ on a new pc it would be better for him to learn the basics on a simple pc, then if he gets on with it he can go out buy one then.
I've given him a couple of windows 98 learner guides, but thought that maybe I could download a basic training course and stick it on the pc for him so he can do that. trouble is I cant find anything and I dont really have to time to write one myself.
Anyone got any suggestions??

[bazza]

[Itchy]

get him an asus EEEPC , with linux on it and probably a USB keyboard and monitor on it.... as the EEEPC901 screen is tiny and the keyboard isn't so good either.

reasons:


You can restore it to factory settings in 30 seconds the old F9 trick if he messes it up... can't do that on windows.

Its cheap about 300 or less over seas for a 901 or a 904,

you can stick a touch screen on it as per JKK mobile's website (a fairly easy mod so he can point at things directly on the screen if he wants its a 50 quid mod.

Being linux even though iptables doesn't work for the stripped down version of Xandros it has much fewer vulnerabilities than windows , such that when something downloads onto your desktop which you don't want it to do it can do very little. configure the KDE advanced desktop and its pretty much windows but with a few missing things, but all the important things ie audacity , gimp , MSN , skypeare all on it though

Its also upgrades differently to windows and thus unless you know how to open a terminal and get yourself into root , there is little damage you can do to the OS and if you do you can use the F9 trick. Windows of almost all flavours lets you go into the OS files drivers and whatnot and happily in the GUI delete core files and stuff.

Also if the Kernel is kept upto date it really is plug and play functional for all sorts of stuff.

Beware though the linux SSD 901 does not have the ability to stick a HDD in it, without some seriously difficult soldering thus the 904 might be a better choice as it has the HDD in it.


Oh and if you want there are some small invisible programmes you can use to monitor him via the webcam and the internal mic .
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[panrider_uk]

[cril]

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[Scotsman37]

In regards to using windows XP a video introduction tutorial guide to watch!

https://www.top-windows-tutorials.com/free-flash-tutorials.html

common windows files

https://www.top-windows-tutorials.com/free-windows-tutorials.html

Another windows text based tutorial and it even has help for Office programs

https://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/bc/beginnerscomputing.html#xp_tuts

Another one which you may like similar style but maybe better for him

https://www.baycongroup.com/windows_xp/index.htm

[Scotsman37]

[Shinigami]

get him a tablet instead, much simpler and by the sounds of his purposes for wanting one a tablet will do
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Current: Honda City Fly CLR125 2003 Honda CB600F Hornet 2008 Yamaha FZ6 S2 + 1991 Kawasaki GPZ500
"Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense.

[James83]

lol, guys, the threads 4 years old. Its only up because a spam bot bumped it...

[Shinigami]

...could be a very thorough long drawn out decision?

that or I didn't read much of that ^

and i'm half braindead
____________________
Current: Honda City Fly CLR125 2003 Honda CB600F Hornet 2008 Yamaha FZ6 S2 + 1991 Kawasaki GPZ500
"Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense.

[Scotsman37]