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It can often seem like kids nowadays pop into the world already able to use a PC. But theres no reason why you cant learn as well. It doesnt have to be as hard as it can look if you go about it the right way.

You can learn how to use a PC however you like its up to you! But here are some tips that you might find helpful.

First of all, dont try to learn it all in one go. Intensively going at it to try to learn in one afternoon just doesnt work very well and its not much fun, either! Instead, spend say 20-30 minutes an evening a couple of times a week on it. Of course, if youre having fun and want to do more, thats fine, but dont feel you have to.

Every so often, look back at what youve learnt and make sure you can still remember it. When you first learn something its easy to forget it again quickly when youve been back to it a few times it goes into long-term memory. The other key to making sure you remember things is to try everything out. Dont just read about something and think Oh yes, I can do that even if you can, still actually try it out. That way itll be much easier to remember.

Once youve tried a new skill out (for example putting photos into a text document), have a think about how you might use it (making a poster, a car advert, a story for the grandkids, a booklet about your holiday). Then try doing some of them. Trying out what youve learnt in a real situation helps it to stick in your mind plus you actually get something useful out of it. Even if you dont want to spend a lot of time doing this, do have a think about how you might use what youve learnt. Itll help you understand (and so remember) what youve learnt better.

Check youve got the right information for your country, too. Most things are the same for all countries but some do matter. For example, imagine youre trying to connect to the Internet for the first time, and you have information about connecting in America, through a Service Provider based in the US. Thats fine if youre in the US but could be confusing if youre in England with its different phone system and Internet Service providers. Similarly if you have websites about booking train tickets or shopping or so on, check theyre in the right country or you might have some odd problems!

A lot of people are nervous when they first start learning to use a PC. Its not surprising when youre starting something new. But dont let that stop you experimenting. If youre not sure how to do something, try a few different ways that might work. If youre not sure where an option is in a program, hunt through the menus. And if youre not sure what something does, just try it though its best to save any important work first! In fact saving your work often (and backing it up to floppy disk, zip disk or writable CD) is a good idea if you have anything important on your PC.

Dont worry about trying to learn everything. I dont think theres a single person in the world who could say they know it all about PCs. Even without buying any extra software, just in Windows, there is a huge amount you could learn. Add in extra software you can buy and the internet and its practically infinite. Just learn the basics, then pick what you want to be able to do and learn that.

And most important, while youre doing it, have fun!

Tim Wakeling is the Author of Computers One Step at a Time, a home course using plenty of pictures of the screen to show you how to use your PC. He also writes a free monthly newsletter about computers for non-experts. Find out about both at http://www.osaat.co.uk

Tim Wakeling, UK 2005. You may re-publish this article online and in print as long as you leave it unchanged.