One of the most difficult things for me to witness is my parents trying to navigate the basic functions of their home computer. It pains me. Granted, they have mastered various skills: my mom can make travel plans online like a champion, they both write e-mails to my sisters and me almost daily, and they look at the digital pictures we send them, but that is more Internet stuff than computer stuff. Their basic computer skills scarcely exceed being able to turn on the computer and opening their desired application. Their basic computer skills are hurting so bad that they don’t even know that an application is called an application! They don’t even know that the tower is the computer and the monitor is not. Sheesh. My father, who is an incredibly intelligent man, thought I was a genius for changing the wallpaper on his desktop.

How can this be? Well, it really is easy for a lot of people to overlook basic computer skills. As for my folks, they simply learn the particular task they need to when it’s necessary, but as someone who has a pretty thorough knowledge of how computers work, operating systems operate, and various programs function, I understand the importance of having basic computer skills. If one does not know how or why computers work, they are significantly more inclined to hit walls when trying to get a task accomplished, or it also can take so much longer to get any single undertaking done.

Computers, operating systems and applications are constantly being updated to make tasks easier for us, not harder as some (aka my parents) would like to believe. Granted, even I can get irritated with the constant updates of programs that I know and love, but once I see what was improved upon, I am always more than thankful. So if only they could grasp basic computer skills and learn how their computer and operating system work instead of just picking up tidbits here and there, I know that their lives would be made much easier. They are not averse to technology, they just have never taken the time to learn the simple and basic computer skills, but I found the best, simplest and most fun way for them to learn. It is by using the Video Professor Learn Windows® XP tutorial. Windows XP happens to be the operating system they use, but Video Professor also offers a tutorial for Windows Vista, Windows Me and Windows 98. The tutorial is completely hands-on, can be completed in as few as three hours and will provide them with the basic computers skills that they are fundamentally lacking but also so much more.

The tutorial is designed with Video Professor’s unique “What-You-See-Is-What-You-Do” method. It can be paused, stopped, rewound and fast-forwarded, and because it can be done on their own time at home, they can pace themselves. The best part for my folks, they do not have to attend any classes. They both already have their degrees so going to a crowded class now is not their cup of tea. So don’t overlook basic computer skills. Everything stable is built on a foundation. Let Video Professor help build yours.