A friend told me to get this book called Mike Myers A+ guide... bot the book is $70. The only library in this state that has it is some collage library that I don't have access to. The only thing I can get are outdated "For dummies" books at my library, but everyone is like "Oh no don't do that! They give you so little information! Get this $70+ book you can't afford instead!" :| Are there any online guides? I been using Google and all I can find is bunch of scams telling me to buy some CDs that has everything I need to know on them. I suck at Google. So The next at I'm at the library I'm going get a book called "XP for Dummies" (an outdated one too) despite everyone telling me it's no goo, it is probably better than NOTHING! :( Do they give any false Information I should worry about? I have no money and no job, if you have any suggestions it has to be something I can read online or find in a small library in a small town.
go to a book store and find a book that fits your needs. flip through it in the store, then look at the very last few pages and see if its going to take you where you want to get.
oh and google has a book search function as well, aka they have entire books ONLINE for free
It's not that hard to learn about computers... what do have to learn specifically?crazy-player
About... pretty much... everything. Some people say it is easy to manually find and remove viruses so anti-viruses are worthless, that would be nice. But mostly, I want to learn about extracting files. I could never get mods to work that didn't have an automatic installer. I also downloaded this game in a .rar file and kept messing up the files because I didn't extract them to the right place. (Finally got it to work, I don't know how tough.) I use 7-zip for extracting.
[QUOTE="crazy-player"]It's not that hard to learn about computers... what do have to learn specifically?Nerkcon
About... pretty much... everything. Some people say it is easy to manually find and remove viruses so anti-viruses are worthless, that would be nice. But mostly, I want to learn about extracting files. I could never get mods to work that didn't have an automatic installer. I also downloaded this game in a .rar file and kept messing up the files because I didn't extract them to the right place. (Finally got it to work, I don't know how tough.) I use 7-zip for extracting. Uh use winrar or 7zip you open the zip up that holds files there is no need for an explanation? BTW theres different types of computer literacy, programming, networking(often goes with programming), basic pc knowledge(winrar/7zip stuff) and building a pc(easy all hell, an idiot can do this) I built my pc when I was a 11 and it's not special at all, anyone who shows off about it is obviously arrogant, because what is actually hard is programming and some networking which I am pretty good at.
All archived(.zip/rar/tar gz/7z) files do is compress the files, they remove white space basically, this does not compress video files because they are already compressed, they compress images a little bit not much, but they are really useful for compressing program files, they also hold all your files in one place if that's your thing. 7zip allows you to encrpyt your files to AES 256 bit, which is government security.
all you should need for an anti virus is the free version of avast.
as for file extractions all you do is look at the end of the file after the period and look at the extention. .zip ect. then you just do a google search and you'll find out what you need to extract that extention.
i use winrar and that seems to extract every file i encounter.
One good way to learn about computers is to install and use linux. This breaks you out of the M$ mold and forces you to come to terms with the fact that the "Windows way" is not the be all end all of operating a computer.
If you're a beginner, I would recommend staying away from books until you know exactly what you want to know about. There is no such thing as a book that will teach you everything there is to know about computers. Due to the very large, complex and ever expanding nature of computer science such a book would be impossible to write.
My PC is a pre built from HP, I don't see anything I can unscrew or whatever, it's sealed up. :( Looks like I'm going wait till I can get a job. So there isn't anything, anything at all that I can read to get a basic understanding? My PC didn't even came with a manual.
[QUOTE="Nerkcon"]My PC is a pre built from HP, I don't see anything I can unscrew or whatever, it's sealed up. :( Looks like I'm going wait till I can get a job. So there isn't anything, anything at all that I can read to get a basic understanding? My PC didn't even came with a manual. watching the matrix a few times should help some
One good way to learn about computers is to install and use linux. This breaks you out of the M$ mold and forces you to come to terms with the fact that the "Windows way" is not the be all end all of operating a computer.
If you're a beginner, I would recommend staying away from books until you know exactly what you want to know about. There is no such thing as a book that will teach you everything there is to know about computers. Due to the very large, complex and ever expanding nature of computer science such a book would be impossible to write.
d-rtyboy
I'd really want him to stay away from linux, if he does ubuntu obviously, but for him that will make him just more confused. Sure it's not hard by any means it's just harder than windows which isn't saying much.
I have learned some things from coming to Gamespot over the years, I learned that pre build PCs are bad and over priced. I know how to find diver updates for everything except for my sound card. I know that a .exe file will have something automatic in it like an installer when you download it. I learned that my grahpics card (a Geforce 7300+ LE ) and all Geforce cards that do not end with 800 really suck. I have learned that Norton was the worst Anti-virus out there. But here is what I am working on learning: * All the hardware parts of the computer, what they look like, and how to put them together. (I want to build my next computer.) * How to use bitorret, everyone says its the best thing ever since fire yet the downloads are slow and I can't open the files when they're done. * How to find out how much bandwidth you're using and how to limit it. * How to install something manually. Does any of this information go obsolete in 3 months? Because that for dummies book has a lot of basic information that would be helpful for me...
I have learned some things from coming to Gamespot over the years, I learned that pre build PCs are bad and over priced. I know how to find diver updates for everything except for my sound card. I know that a .exe file will have something automatic in it like an installer when you download it. I learned that my grahpics card (a Geforce 7300+ LE ) and all Geforce cards that do not end with 800 really suck. I have learned that Norton was the worst Anti-virus out there. But here is what I am working on learning: * All the hardware parts of the computer, what they look like, and how to put them together. (I want to build my next computer.) * How to use bitorret, everyone says its the best thing ever since fire yet the downloads are slow and I can't open the files when they're done. * How to find out how much bandwidth you're using and how to limit it. * How to install something manually. Does any of this information go obsolete in 3 months? Because that for dummies book has a lot of basic information that would be helpful for me...Nerkcon
the best way to learn hardware is from online fourms and utube videos and all others are as easy as typing them in google and yes the info do get old and u need to learn new ones, like what u said about the nvidia cards not all nvidia cards ending with 800 is good nvidia now have a new naming system the 200 series and the 800 cardsare being renamed into 200 cards
I have learned some things from coming to Gamespot over the years, I learned that pre build PCs are bad and over priced. I know how to find diver updates for everything except for my sound card. I know that a .exe file will have something automatic in it like an installer when you download it. I learned that my grahpics card (a Geforce 7300+ LE ) and all Geforce cards that do not end with 800 really suck. I have learned that Norton was the worst Anti-virus out there. But here is what I am working on learning: * All the hardware parts of the computer, what they look like, and how to put them together. (I want to build my next computer.) * How to use bitorret, everyone says its the best thing ever since fire yet the downloads are slow and I can't open the files when they're done. * How to find out how much bandwidth you're using and how to limit it. * How to install something manually. Does any of this information go obsolete in 3 months? Because that for dummies book has a lot of basic information that would be helpful for me...Nerkcon
The best way to learn about hardware is to browse Newegg's product and specs lists, read the personal reviews, browse the Gamespots/TomsHardware Hardware forums and look at reviews of CPUs/GPUs in PC hardware centric sites like TomsHardware, Bit-tech, Hardware Canucks, Overclockers, etc. Eventually you'll know whatever is going on. To use bit torrent you have to open specific ports in your router, depending on which client you use. Just access your router's homepage, which should be done by typing 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.2.1, go to Port Forwarding and write the number your torrent client gives you and that's it. Slow downloads may also be due to a firewall in your system that restricts the speed of the bit torrent client. And you've most likely have run into .iso file, which is a disk image, you can either emulate a disk drive with a program such as Daemon tools or burn it and use it as a normal disk. Bandwidth overall? Go to a site to measure your Download/Upload speed, like Speedtest.net, which gives you your speed in bits that you can convert into bytes(the most common) by dividing the number they give you by 8. I'm not quite sure how and why to limit your bandwidth... As far as I know, there's no way to "manually" install a program. To answer your question TC, the most easy way to learn computer stuff is to be as resourceful as possible. For example, if you download something and you're not sure what it is, or how to use it, bet it an unknown format you're not aware of, you just google it, wikipedia, ask in a forum or look for similar question that has been most likely answered to someone a bazillion times before. Books are a good option as everything in them is found in the internet and it's completely free.
So I found this add on called stumble upon: http://www.stumbleupon.com/ And it lead me to some interesting websites, like this one: http:/www.hardware-revolution.com/mistakes-when-buying-video-card
I have learned some things from coming to Gamespot over the years, I learned that pre build PCs are bad and over priced. I know how to find diver updates for everything except for my sound card. I know that a .exe file will have something automatic in it like an installer when you download it. I learned that my grahpics card (a Geforce 7300+ LE ) and all Geforce cards that do not end with 800 really suck. I have learned that Norton was the worst Anti-virus out there. But here is what I am working on learning: * All the hardware parts of the computer, what they look like, and how to put them together. (I want to build my next computer.) * How to use bitorret, everyone says its the best thing ever since fire yet the downloads are slow and I can't open the files when they're done. * How to find out how much bandwidth you're using and how to limit it. * How to install something manually. Does any of this information go obsolete in 3 months? Because that for dummies book has a lot of basic information that would be helpful for me...Nerkcon
You can learn all that in 1 week :) BTW prebuilts arn't bad like from dell, you just gota know what you are doing. They have systems for 400 dollars with intergrated gpu's 4 gigs of ram and a q6600. They charge horrendously for ram upgrades, video cards, and hard drive space, which is why you buy those parts yourself and save cash. Otherwise they are downright good deals.
You could also check out your local goodwill or some place like that, many people donate old computers and you could learn how to take one apart and put it back together without the fear of messing up your own computer, possibly even ask at some computer repair shops and see if they have any old computers laying around they no longer have any use for..
Far as learning how to put a pc together is rather easy. I have taut my self how to install and unistall parts on a computer and have never taken a class. Over 27 years I have been with pcs from the kind that would take like 10 minuts to go to the next frame up until the current one that I have. Wich is a Acer and I have had it for 3 years now and the only thing that is original in it is the Mobo all of the other stuff I have bought my self and installed. I have learn a lot of info from this very site and the people around here have helped me alot. I plan on building me a pc as soon as I get the money for it. Also pc magazines do help out and I get a news letter from this one site and it sure does help out and I have downloaded a bunch of free programms that help get rid off bad registris and a free anti virus program as well and a lot of other stuff and so far all of it does what it is suppose to do. I have this program that keeps on changing the last 3 letters to a .efw instead of a .exe and so all I do is change the last 2 letter and it all works fine now. It all is very fasinating to me and I just want to learn more and more about a pc. I have also do control + alt + del and have googled what all is running in the background to see if I could get rid of anything and have taut my self that away as well. So all you really need to do is just do alot of reading up as to what does what.
To update a sound card all you should do is goto the manufactor site and see if you can download the latest drive and if not then there should be a place where it can auto update its self.
I'm sorry to bump this thread again, but I think making anew thread would be spam. I want to learn how to program, how can I get started on that? :) I'm going post my specs, what is the best version of Linux I can download? Manufacturer: HP Pavilion 061 Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3700+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.2GHz Memory: 1022MB RAM Hard Drive: 151 GB Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 7300 LE Monitor: HP vs17 flat panel monitor Sound Card: Realtek HD Audio rear output Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.080814-1236) (copied from my Xfire.)
I learned on my own through trial and error back in the early 90's. I would break something and then I would have to figure out how to fix it. Computers are so unbelievably easy compared to how things used to be so it should be no problem to learn the ins and outs pretty quickly. If you want to learn to build a PC you really do just have to dig in and do it. When you run into problems research it with Google.
2. Whip up a Google / Wikipedia search when encounter information unfamilar.
3. Rinse and repeat for 1-2 weeks.
Internet > books.
kaitanuvax
exactly this. except repeat for more than 2 weeks if you want to learn tonnes. only if you're interested tho.
i starting going on these forums regularly about a year ago, and i new absolute SQUAT about pcs. now am i the proud owner of my own custome built pc, and i consider myself pretty literate:)
2. Whip up a Google / Wikipedia search when encounter information unfamilar.
3. Rinse and repeat for 1-2 weeks.
Internet > books.
kaitanuvax
Seriously, this. Going back a few years I knew NOTHING about computers apart from how to turn them on/off and play a game. That was it. After reading loads of different threads across this PC Hardware board over a period of about a month, I quickly began to pick up the main functioning parts of a PC (CPU etc) and other crucial info. After a couple of months, I was looking into building a PC. And trust me, once you build a PC you'll never consider buying a pre-built machine EVER again (I hope).
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