This area is mainly aimed at older computer users, who, perhaps, have been bought a computer by relatives, but aren’t making as much use of it as could be wished.  Throughout my career I have taught IT skills to people of all ages and backgrounds.  I have always found that age is neither a problem nor an asset in reaping the benefits of computers.

This course can also, however,  be a very good introduction to even very young children, who need to stay one step ahead of their class mates. I even believe that you can't introduce a child to a computer too soon.

For the older user, I have a range of courses including a simplistic overview of the Internet, what can be achieved with it, and how to streamline the most popular activities.

Backup your work regularly.  I'll say that again, in big letters.  BACKUP YOUR WORK REGULARLY.  Have more than one copy.  If you have something very important, treat it like it deserves to be treated.  Give a copy to a friend to look after, and replace it frequently.  Save a copy of your ADDRESS BOOK.  Remember to save your supplementary dictionary. THEN DO ANOTHER COPY OF THE REALLY IMPORTANT STUFF.  It'll stop you getting tears on your keyboard!!!!!  And occasionally check that your backups are reliable.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE KEEP COPIES OF YOUR VALUABLE DOCUMENTS AT REGULAR STAGES OF CREATION.  SAVE YOUR WORK EVERY FEW MINUTES.  ONCE AN HOUR SAVE IT UNDER A DIFFERENT NAME.

Email is probably the most important way of keeping in touch, whether it is with family in the next street, another town, or across the globe.  For some, the very concepts can be bewildering.  I pride myself on being able to talk to a complete cross-section of users, at their own speed without jargon, that puts so many people off computers.

I can help your family make email easy, Internet interesting, surfing safe and learning fun.  I will help explain addresses, address books, attachments, web sites, browsing and how to prevent the commonest PC problems. 

The press is full of scary computer stories almost every day.  Many people arrive home from work or school, full of nightmare reports of how the computer ate my data, deleted my homework, lost my thesis etc etc.

Some of the words they use are almost incomprehensible and unnecessarily bewildering.  Bugs, viruses, pornography, scams, hoaxes, disk crashes.  The very words are enough to put anyone off returning to the keyboard.

Throughout my career I have seen people literally reduced to tears from lack of the computer experience needed to adequately do their job,  (and often that’s been the Managing Director!) 

Computer books are unbelievably expensive, and too often concentrate on detailed specifics.  There are various simple procedures that apply to almost all aspects of PC & Internet use.  Learning these procedures can give you the grounding that your employer, or IT teacher overlooks.

For information, .

To quickly, safely and accurately copy a section of text, position the cursor at the beginning of the section you wish to copy.  Holding the left mouse key down, drag the cursor to the end of the required section. Release the mouse key.  Then, hold down the Ctrl key, and press C.  You have copied the block of text into memory.  Now insert it into another document by repositioning the cursor, then hold down the Ctrl key, and press V to insert the copied text.  Practice makes perfect.

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