My Number One Piece Of Tech Advice*
A Non-technical Reader Asks For Computer Advice
Q: Tech Paul, about a month ago I found your website by a accidental click of my mouse. Your article made me laugh, and I think I learned something too but I am a older person and computers are not very interesting to me.
I can do the basic things like answer my e-mail and hunt for good deals on the internet. I have Yahoo and my son installed a genealogy program for me which I really enjoy. Most of what you write about I find too complicated but I like your articles on scam email.
My question is what one piece of advice you would give for someone like me who is not very technical?
A: Dear Reader,
Thank you for sending me this challenging question. The question is a challenge to me not because I don’t have Tech advice to give.. but in trying to limit myself to just one answer! And, I’m not sure I can do it…
Hmmm….
Don’t be afraid of, or intimidated by, your computer (or gizmo, or digital doodad). That’s it: my one piece of advice. All else flows from there.
Simply understand that:
* Your computer is NOT “smarter” than you. In fact it’s quite dumb — it can only think in terms of “off” or “on”, “false” or “true” (a zero or a one), and you can do better than that!
* You cannot, typically, damage it so badly as to make it irreparable. Often (like, 90% of the time) all you need to do is power it off and then on again to resolve the problem (called a “reboot”). When that doesn’t work, you may need to look up an answer (the owners manual is a good place.. or the manufacturer’s FAQ page, and you can always “Google it”), or ask for help.. and/or maybe buy a new part, but you might be surprised at what you can fix yourself. (See My favorite Life Saver flavor? System Restore)
* Computers are there to obey YOU, not the other way around. You’re the one with a creative mind. Did you know that almost everything on your computer is customizable? Make things the way YOU want them.
Yes, Dear Reader, I do have a second piece of advice, which I offer up here free of charge: keep coming back and reading my Tips & Tricks articles, and when you see one you like, give it a try.
And who knows? Maybe I’ll make you laugh again too, and in this day and age that’s worth something, right?
* Orig post: 6/6/09
Copyright 2007-2010 © Tech Paul. All Rights Reserved. 
post to jaanix.
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2 Comments »
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• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.
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Tech - for Everyone 
Taking this one step further – what would you say is the optimum computer set up for a beginner? I am thinking of Internet Security and keeping the system optimised. I have Kaspersky and I think it is good.
Optimisation bugs me. I have Win7 and the other day, despite having Tune Up utilities, I found I had 20 svchost processes running. I’ve cut it down to 10.
What are the basics we should employ?
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John,
I will answer in an article posting shortly. Great question!
[Update: the article was written and you can read the answer here, This Reader Question Is A Doozie]
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