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Newbie here..

CAS

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I happened to see this forum when I was surfing around the web.. been looking for a forum to join since the one I was a member of for a long time was removed (the elderly lady who owned it decided to let it go).

Most forums I've seen were location-specific, or only for people with certain hobbies/interests.. but this looks like an interesting place!

*waves*
 
I happened to see this forum when I was surfing around the web.. been looking for a forum to join since the one I was a member of for a long time was removed (the elderly lady who owned it decided to let it go).

Most forums I've seen were location-specific, or only for people with certain hobbies/interests.. but this looks like an interesting place!

*waves*
Welcome! What I'm wondering about is your age. Using words like "newbie", "surfing the web" and "elderly lady", wonder just how young you are. Don't generally hear folks, as in early Baby Boomers and before, using those words.
 
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Hello CAS, and welcome to our Forum. A lot of us are newbies! Hope you like it here.:):coffee:
 
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Hi @CAS!
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Welcome! What I'm wondering about is your age. Using words like "newbie", "surfing the web" and "elderly lady", wonder just how young you are. Don't generally hear folks, as in early Baby Boomers and before, using those words.
Hi Cody,
I'm 67 yrs old.
I guess I picked up words/terms from my kids- GenX & Millenial- they were experts with computers before I ever saw one.
 
...they were experts with computers before I ever saw one.
Just so you know, the term "Expert" isn't a very accurate description of 99% of computer users. I've been a computer user since 1989, and there is still so much I don't know. If your kids use those words you mentioned, they sound like typical kids. Mine said the same sort of things. But my #2 son tried to install Windows 7 as an update for Windows 10... Which in and of itself, it's not a bad a idea to replace Windows 10 with Windows 7, but you can't do it the way he tried to do it.

Another good example of why I say that is a guy I used to work for. He had a PH. D. in Electronics and Electrical Engineering, was one of the original programmers of the US Air Force Flight Trainer, a simulator of an F-16 Fighter Jet, and he had 30 years as a Main Frame Computer Programmer. (The ones that were the size of a New York City block.) He bought a Computer Renaissance store, and hired myself and one of my friends, Bob, to work as PC Repair Techs. We could fix a lot of computer problems, but to call us Techs made us laugh.

He called himself "Dr. Dan, The Computer Man", and even with all of his past experiences, he know next to nothing about PCs. Bob was much better at repairing PCs than I was and he taught both myself and Dr. Dan how to do a lot of PC repairs. We found it kind of amusing that Dr. Dan didn't know such basic things as most PC plugs are color coded on the back panel (it's still that way today with desktops) or have internal connectors that can only be plugged in one way.

He had no idea what Bob meant when he said "Look for Pin 1", or "look at the connector and find the one plug you can plug it into." I learned that stuff in the first week of a CompTIA A+ Certification for PC repair class I took back in 1995. That's when I realized that no matter how long you've been a computer user, there's really no really such thing, in my opinion, at least, as a Computer Expert.

But on the other had, don't belittle yourself for things you've never learned. I used to work as a phone tech support operator for awhile, and there were some callers who didn't know how to even turn one on. My co-workers would make fun of them, and finally I got fed up with it and told them "Did you know how to drive before you ever got in the driver's seat in a car, or like everyone else in the world, did you have to learn how to drive?"

There's practice tests for many CompTIA Certifications, and I always recommend people to try them. It's a great way to do the "book learnin'". I recommend you treat that website like any other, and make up an Internet Persona and "disposable email address" to register for it. Because once you do, just like so many other sites, once they have your email, they will teach you the literal definition of Email Spam.

Just remember what Colonel Sanders said:

"If at first you don't succeed, fry, fry a hen." 🐔
 
I started using a computer around 1984. The word "computer" wasn't even known when I was in the Navy during Vietnam. All ship inventory was done on Cardex 3x5 cards and ordering ship supplies was done on typewriters. My civilian jobs, in shipping/receiving/warehousing/inventory and purchasing were made so much easier when a computer was there. I already knew how to type from typing classes in high school, but the 10-key I had to learn how to use by "touch".

My wife knows the insides of a computer tower much better than I do, because she had a boyfriend, years before I met her, that was like a computer tech. Then again, each new computer that we've bought, I've put in all of the necessary software, like Word and Excel. Her and I installed extra Memory in one computer years ago. I've reinstalled a Windows program when something went wrong.

Today, I pay 99% of our bills online and buy different things online as well. IOW, I'm on our desktop on a daily basis. As for being any kind of "computer tech", I definitely wouldn't say that, but I do know my way around certain things concerning one.
 
I pay my bills online now too. Which is good, because all the places you can pay in person around here are on other side of Bakersfield, which can be as much as a 40 mile round trip drive away. Hard pass on that...
 
Hi Cass, glad you are still with us. Click on "What's New" at the top, and find a topic that interests you and start posting!
 
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