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I'm a finalist for a computer trainer/support position and Monday morning
they want me to do a 15 minute test teach "on some aspect or option in
Windows XP that users probably don't know but could probably benefit from."
The users are accountants and financial gurus who have a good but not great
knowledge of computers. I'm unable to come up with anything that would
impress them. Can anyone suggest anything? Desperate Dan
 
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"R2D2Groupie" <R2D2Groupie@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4E760754-A85D-4518-8A14-4D59DFBEDD97@microsoft.com...
> I'm a finalist for a computer trainer/support position and Monday morning
> they want me to do a 15 minute test teach "on some aspect or option in
> Windows XP that users probably don't know but could probably benefit
> from."
> The users are accountants and financial gurus who have a good but not
> great
> knowledge of computers. I'm unable to come up with anything that would
> impress them. Can anyone suggest anything? Desperate Dan

I would definitely focus on remote desktop, remote assistance, and personal
system security. People will like that because they can go right home and
do it on their own computers and laptops.

The other thing that tends to be a big hit is showing people how to backup
their own presonal data and application settings. If they are using Outlook
with Exchange Server, this should include instructions for Exporting their
Outlook Folders (ost) to a PST file called backup.pst or something like
that. Another piggy-back onto this is how to use Archiving while giving
them access to all their Archived folders locally.

Another would be how to organize their own start menu and strategies for
managing their My Documents folders (piggy-back this off the HowTo Backup
explanation).

Good Luck,

Carl
 
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Talk about popup blocker in IE?

JP

"R2D2Groupie" <R2D2Groupie@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4E760754-A85D-4518-8A14-4D59DFBEDD97@microsoft.com...
> I'm a finalist for a computer trainer/support position and Monday morning
> they want me to do a 15 minute test teach "on some aspect or option in
> Windows XP that users probably don't know but could probably benefit
> from."
> The users are accountants and financial gurus who have a good but not
> great
> knowledge of computers. I'm unable to come up with anything that would
> impress them. Can anyone suggest anything? Desperate Dan
 
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Do a 15-minute tutorial on Task-Mgr. Show them how to monitor
their system. Change or update the various columns in Processes &
how to monitor network traffic. Demonstrate System loading by
opening and closing applications. If it's Financial/Accounting folks
they'll be impressed by all the numbers, graphs & charts.

"R2D2Groupie" <R2D2Groupie@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4E760754-A85D-4518-8A14-4D59DFBEDD97@microsoft.com...
> I'm a finalist for a computer trainer/support position and Monday morning
> they want me to do a 15 minute test teach "on some aspect or option in
> Windows XP that users probably don't know but could probably benefit
> from."
> The users are accountants and financial gurus who have a good but not
> great
> knowledge of computers. I'm unable to come up with anything that would
> impress them. Can anyone suggest anything? Desperate Dan
 

galen

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In news:4E760754-A85D-4518-8A14-4D59DFBEDD97@microsoft.com,
R2D2Groupie <R2D2Groupie@discussions.microsoft.com> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

> I'm a finalist for a computer trainer/support position and Monday
> morning they want me to do a 15 minute test teach "on some aspect or
> option in Windows XP that users probably don't know but could
> probably benefit from." The users are accountants and financial gurus
> who have a good but not great knowledge of computers. I'm unable to
> come up with anything that would impress them. Can anyone suggest
> anything? Desperate Dan

You have 15 minutes? Simple security practices of not opening attachments
from unknown senders, reading email in plain text format, keeping their PC
up to date, and avoiding surfing to unknown sites on what should be secure
PCs. Keep it simple, short, and make sure to use words they understand.

Galen
--

"But there are always some lunatics about. It would be a dull world
without them."

Sherlock Holmes
 

vanguard

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"R2D2Groupie" <R2D2Groupie@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:4E760754-A85D-4518-8A14-4D59DFBEDD97@microsoft.com...
> I'm a finalist for a computer trainer/support position and Monday
> morning
> they want me to do a 15 minute test teach "on some aspect or option in
> Windows XP that users probably don't know but could probably benefit
> from."
> The users are accountants and financial gurus who have a good but not
> great
> knowledge of computers. I'm unable to come up with anything that would
> impress them. Can anyone suggest anything? Desperate Dan


Tell them about Microsoft's support site (http://support.microsoft.com/)
and show them how to perform basic and advanced searches. That way,
with a hint towards inclining them to do even a little bit of
investigation before crying for help, maybe they'll use that instead of
calling or posting with their knee-jerk inquiries. Telling them how to
use the Start -> Help and Support menu would be obvious but lots of
users never even bother looking there, either.

Otherwise, and besides the security topics already mentioned by other
respondents, tell them the advantage of defragmenting their hard drives,
how to run it, and how to schedule a regular defrag of their drives
during off-hours (but note to them that the computer must not be in
standby or hibernate mode unless they enable the wake-up option - but
that will also bring their computer out of hibernate mode).

Tell them how to use msconfig.exe to disable startup programs to help
when troubleshooting a problem in behavior of their computer.

Try to instill in them the need to backup their system either by saving
drive images and/or by backing up their data. Yes, they are accountants
and should be familiar with backing up their data but often they assume
that a network admin is backing up some networked file server from which
they retrieve and write their files and yet that doesn't help them when
their own workstation crashes because of a hard drive failure. Mention
to them that the included NT Backup program will only span tapes and not
any other type of removable or fixed media, like CDRs, Zip disks, or
hard drives, so they'll need a non-crippled 3rd party backup program to
do that.

For those still too lazy to do backups, tell them how to use the System
Restore utility (to create their own restore points and how to use
them). Remind them that this is for restoring the system and NOT for
their data, so they should not be trying to use it as a equivalent to
GoBack or RestoreIT.

When using NTFS, you can create ADS (alternate data streams) on files.
Their filesize reflected in Windows Explorer will only show the size for
the primary data stream and yet when they try to copy a 10KB file onto a
floppy they lose the 10MB ADS attached to that file. However, it is
likely that you don't know how to manage and create ADS'es, either. See
http://www.ntfs.com/ntfs-multiple.htm as an intro to the subject. There
are tools to let you see if ADS is used, like LADS and CrucialADS. Some
anti-virus products, like Kaspersky, use the ADS to store a hash code of
the file and a status of a scan, so a subsequent scan on an unchanged
file can be skipped and how Kaspersky sped up their scanning.
Unfortunately, uninstalling the product does not also have it remove all
those now superfluous alternate streams that they attached to the files.
Few anti-spyware will scan the ADS (AD-Aware does but only since the SE
version), so malware could reside in the ADS and not get detected;
however, eventually it needs to be read by a program to load the content
of the ADS (to read it or to execute it) and that is when, hopefully,
the anti-spyware's real-time scanner or the anti-virus on-access scanner
will detect the malware on your system. Few anti-virus programs scan
the ADS of files, and some only do so by enabling some option that
doesn't sound like anything to do with ADS, like archive scanning.

Tell them how to create junctions and hard links to files and folders.
Under Unix, you can create soft links and hard links. Soft links are
like shortcuts in Windows: they are fixed in their definition and point
to where the file was when the link was created. If you move the file,
the soft link can't find it (unless the OS helps out to update the soft
link). Deleting a soft link (i.e., shortcut) does not delete the file.
A hard link is another entry in the file table for that file, so
deleting a hard link will delete the file. A hard link will know
wherever is the file after you move it. Peculiarly Microsoft calls hard
links for files as hard links but hard links for folders are called
junctions. Same thing.

Install the Windows XP powertoy for multiple desktops, enable it in the
taskbar, and show how they could have multiple virtual desktops to
reduce the clutter of having lots of windows open on the same desktop.
This powertoy is limited and sometimes popup dialogs will show up in
other virtual desktops, but it will give them an idea if it is something
that they might be interested in rather than using multiple monitors and
video cards.

Have them us the TweakUI powertoy for Windows XP and configure to group
all icons for an application under one button in the taskbar. That way,
they can get the equivalent of tabbed browsing, for example, for
Internet Explorer. Click on the one taskbar button for IE and get a
roll-up listing of all open instances of IE with the full text of their
titles without ending up with a dozen buttons for IE in the taskbar that
get squished into tiny buttons with useless truncated titles.

Show them how to use Fast User Switching (provided your audience
actually perceives any value for that feature).

Tell them how to enable and setup the Fax Service so they can fax from
their computer (provided they have an analog modem with fax
capabilities). Unfortunately, it is not designed to send multi-page
faxes but you could use Word to compose your fax and then print it to
the Fax printer to then send your multi-page fax. Faxing isn't much
used anymore but sometimes they may need to use it.

Somehow, by asking what topics to discuss in just 15 minutes to train
your pupils, it looks like instead are a wannabe trainer in need of
training yourself. I've run out of interest in coming up with more
topics since there are plenty. You could simply walk through your Start
menu looking at all the submenus to pick out something that is little
used or little understood by non-techie users. You could also just lurk
around the newsgroups for Windows XP and look at past posts to see what
type of questions are asked that you are qualified to answer.
 
G

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Guest
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

In article <4E760754-A85D-4518-8A14-4D59DFBEDD97@microsoft.com>,
R2D2Groupie@discussions.microsoft.com says...
> I'm a finalist for a computer trainer/support position and Monday morning
> they want me to do a 15 minute test teach "on some aspect or option in
> Windows XP that users probably don't know but could probably benefit from."
> The users are accountants and financial gurus who have a good but not great
> knowledge of computers. I'm unable to come up with anything that would
> impress them. Can anyone suggest anything? Desperate Dan

How about using their network and firewall to allow them easy remote
access to their workstations from outside the office in a secure manner.

--

spam999free@rrohio.com
remove 999 in order to email me
 
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Guest
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

In article <#CAjGzujFHA.3144@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl>,
jpbreton@videotron.ca says...
> Talk about popup blocker in IE?

Or to not use IE except in HIGH-SECURITY mode - something MS suggests
but few follow - or just not using IE at all.


--

spam999free@rrohio.com
remove 999 in order to email me
 

Sparda

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"" wrote:
> "R2D2Groupie" <R2D2Groupie@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
> message
> news:4E760754-A85D-4518-8A14-4D59DFBEDD97@microsoft.com...
> > I'm a finalist for a computer trainer/support position and
> Monday
> > morning
> > they want me to do a 15 minute test teach "on some aspect or
> option in
> > Windows XP that users probably don't know but could probably
> benefit
> > from."
> > The users are accountants and financial gurus who have a
> good but not
> > great
> > knowledge of computers. I'm unable to come up with anything
> that would
> > impress them. Can anyone suggest anything? Desperate Dan
>
>
> Tell them about Microsoft's support site
> (http://support.microsoft.com/)
> and show them how to perform basic and advanced searches.
> That way,
> with a hint towards inclining them to do even a little bit of
> investigation before crying for help, maybe they'll use that
> instead of
> calling or posting with their knee-jerk inquiries. Telling
> them how to
> use the Start -> Help and Support menu would be obvious but
> lots of
> users never even bother looking there, either.
>
> Otherwise, and besides the security topics already mentioned
> by other
> respondents, tell them the advantage of defragmenting their
> hard drives,
> how to run it, and how to schedule a regular defrag of their
> drives
> during off-hours (but note to them that the computer must not
> be in
> standby or hibernate mode unless they enable the wake-up
> option - but
> that will also bring their computer out of hibernate mode).
>
> Tell them how to use msconfig.exe to disable startup programs
> to help
> when troubleshooting a problem in behavior of their computer.
>
> Try to instill in them the need to backup their system either
> by saving
> drive images and/or by backing up their data. Yes, they are
> accountants
> and should be familiar with backing up their data but often
> they assume
> that a network admin is backing up some networked file server
> from which
> they retrieve and write their files and yet that doesn't help
> them when
> their own workstation crashes because of a hard drive failure.
> Mention
> to them that the included NT Backup program will only span
> tapes and not
> any other type of removable or fixed media, like CDRs, Zip
> disks, or
> hard drives, so they'll need a non-crippled 3rd party backup
> program to
> do that.
>
> For those still too lazy to do backups, tell them how to use
> the System
> Restore utility (to create their own restore points and how to
> use
> them). Remind them that this is for restoring the system and
> NOT for
> their data, so they should not be trying to use it as a
> equivalent to
> GoBack or RestoreIT.
>
> When using NTFS, you can create ADS (alternate data streams)
> on files.
> Their filesize reflected in Windows Explorer will only show
> the size for
> the primary data stream and yet when they try to copy a 10KB
> file onto a
> floppy they lose the 10MB ADS attached to that file. However,
> it is
> likely that you don't know how to manage and create ADS'es,
> either. See
> http://www.ntfs.com/ntfs-multiple.htm as an intro to the
> subject. There
> are tools to let you see if ADS is used, like LADS and
> CrucialADS. Some
> anti-virus products, like Kaspersky, use the ADS to store a
> hash code of
> the file and a status of a scan, so a subsequent scan on an
> unchanged
> file can be skipped and how Kaspersky sped up their scanning.
> Unfortunately, uninstalling the product does not also have it
> remove all
> those now superfluous alternate streams that they attached to
> the files.
> Few anti-spyware will scan the ADS (AD-Aware does but only
> since the SE
> version), so malware could reside in the ADS and not get
> detected;
> however, eventually it needs to be read by a program to load
> the content
> of the ADS (to read it or to execute it) and that is when,
> hopefully,
> the anti-spyware's real-time scanner or the anti-virus
> on-access scanner
> will detect the malware on your system. Few anti-virus
> programs scan
> the ADS of files, and some only do so by enabling some option
> that
> doesn't sound like anything to do with ADS, like archive
> scanning.
>
> Tell them how to create junctions and hard links to files and
> folders.
> Under Unix, you can create soft links and hard links. Soft
> links are
> like shortcuts in Windows: they are fixed in their definition
> and point
> to where the file was when the link was created. If you move
> the file,
> the soft link can't find it (unless the OS helps out to update
> the soft
> link). Deleting a soft link (i.e., shortcut) does not delete
> the file.
> A hard link is another entry in the file table for that file,
> so
> deleting a hard link will delete the file. A hard link will
> know
> wherever is the file after you move it. Peculiarly Microsoft
> calls hard
> links for files as hard links but hard links for folders are
> called
> junctions. Same thing.
>
> Install the Windows XP powertoy for multiple desktops, enable
> it in the
> taskbar, and show how they could have multiple virtual
> desktops to
> reduce the clutter of having lots of windows open on the same
> desktop.
> This powertoy is limited and sometimes popup dialogs will show
> up in
> other virtual desktops, but it will give them an idea if it is
> something
> that they might be interested in rather than using multiple
> monitors and
> video cards.
>
> Have them us the TweakUI powertoy for Windows XP and configure
> to group
> all icons for an application under one button in the taskbar.
> That way,
> they can get the equivalent of tabbed browsing, for example,
> for
> Internet Explorer. Click on the one taskbar button for IE and
> get a
> roll-up listing of all open instances of IE with the full text
> of their
> titles without ending up with a dozen buttons for IE in the
> taskbar that
> get squished into tiny buttons with useless truncated titles.
>
> Show them how to use Fast User Switching (provided your
> audience
> actually perceives any value for that feature).
>
> Tell them how to enable and setup the Fax Service so they can
> fax from
> their computer (provided they have an analog modem with fax
> capabilities). Unfortunately, it is not designed to send
> multi-page
> faxes but you could use Word to compose your fax and then
> print it to
> the Fax printer to then send your multi-page fax. Faxing
> isn't much
> used anymore but sometimes they may need to use it.
>
> Somehow, by asking what topics to discuss in just 15 minutes
> to train
> your pupils, it looks like instead are a wannabe trainer in
> need of
> training yourself. I've run out of interest in coming up with
> more
> topics since there are plenty. You could simply walk through
> your Start
> menu looking at all the submenus to pick out something that is
> little
> used or little understood by non-techie users. You could also
> just lurk
> around the newsgroups for Windows XP and look at past posts to
> see what
> type of questions are asked that you are qualified to answer.

searching microsoft web sites is far easyer by just using
site:support.microsoft.com on google, the search engian on microsofts
site is the most pathetic search engian i have ever used.

I think teaching "How to use google" should definitly be in basic
computer training, how many poeple have i found that dont know how to
google, more thne 1 is too many, i have found more then 10!!

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Something quick and easy - Lots of people used to use Office's Task Bar before
upgrading to Office 2003 where it no longer was available.

I created a folder called "shortcuts", dragged some shortcuts there, added it to
my Windows task bar as a new tool bar, dragged it to the right side of my
screen, right clicked it, and set it up to display icons but not labels.
 
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"R2D2Groupie" <R2D2Groupie@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote

> knowledge of computers. I'm unable to come up with
> anything that would
> impress them. Can anyone suggest anything? Desperate Dan

How about "Therefore I am not really qualified for this job
position"?

--
Bob
 

Jim

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Yeah, and I'm sure all the ideas in your professional life have been
original, if you've had any at all.

"Opinicus" <gezgin@spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:11e2mlfoh5t5eb5@news.supernews.com...
> "R2D2Groupie" <R2D2Groupie@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote
>
>> knowledge of computers. I'm unable to come up with anything that would
>> impress them. Can anyone suggest anything? Desperate Dan
>
> How about "Therefore I am not really qualified for this job position"?
>
> --
> Bob
>
>
 
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Avoid spreadsheets. They know more than you'll ever know.

Perhaps a email mail merge in Word? How to use and customise the Sendto menu? Or customise the Start Menu.

--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://webdiary.smh.com.au/archives/_comment/001075.html
=================================================
"R2D2Groupie" <R2D2Groupie@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:4E760754-A85D-4518-8A14-4D59DFBEDD97@microsoft.com...
> I'm a finalist for a computer trainer/support position and Monday morning
> they want me to do a 15 minute test teach "on some aspect or option in
> Windows XP that users probably don't know but could probably benefit from."
> The users are accountants and financial gurus who have a good but not great
> knowledge of computers. I'm unable to come up with anything that would
> impress them. Can anyone suggest anything? Desperate Dan
 

Sparda

Distinguished
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"" wrote:
> Avoid spreadsheets. They know more than you'll ever know.
>
> Perhaps a email mail merge in Word? How to use and customise
> the Sendto menu? Or customise the Start Menu.
>
> --
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------------------------------
> http://webdiary.smh.com.au/archives/_comment/001075.html
> =================================================
> "R2D2Groupie" <R2D2Groupie@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
> message
> news:4E760754-A85D-4518-8A14-4D59DFBEDD97@microsoft.com...
> > I'm a finalist for a computer trainer/support position and
> Monday morning
> > they want me to do a 15 minute test teach "on some aspect or
> option in
> > Windows XP that users probably don't know but could probably
> benefit from."
> > The users are accountants and financial gurus who have a
> good but not great
> > knowledge of computers. I'm unable to come up with anything
> that would
> > impress them. Can anyone suggest anything? Desperate Dan

Id say you should tach them how to defend agenst spyware on there home
computers, a quick spybot tutorial should do, and you should recomened
(but dont insist) they use a diffrent intenret browser, such as
firefox, if they have macs at home as well as IBM standard PC’s,
there probably more suted to netscape, show them where they can get
netscape for windows from!

Of course if they only have a MAC at home, then all of this is rather
irelevent.

To make sure they listen, rather then just sit and stare, make it
clear that not defending agenst spyware could mean that there computer
might brake when a critical peice of work has to be done!

If you need more for a 15min class (i carnt see how you would) but you
should explain that "google is your friend", show them how to look
things up using google!!

--
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Articles individually checked for conformance to usenet standards
Topic URL: http://www.windowsforumz.com/General-Discussion-Job-Depends-ftopict399296.html
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No one asked you moron.

--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://webdiary.smh.com.au/archives/_comment/001075.html
=================================================
"Sparda" <UseLinkToEmail@WindowsForumz.com> wrote in message news:3_1318779_c59352c00235ef8227fda369fd313237@windowsforumz.com...
> "" wrote:
> > Avoid spreadsheets. They know more than you'll ever know.
> >
> > Perhaps a email mail merge in Word? How to use and customise
> > the Sendto menu? Or customise the Start Menu.
> >
> > --
> > --------------------------------------------------------------
> > ------------------------------------
> > http://webdiary.smh.com.au/archives/_comment/001075.html
> > =================================================
> > "R2D2Groupie" <R2D2Groupie@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
> > message
> > news:4E760754-A85D-4518-8A14-4D59DFBEDD97@microsoft.com...
> > > I'm a finalist for a computer trainer/support position and
> > Monday morning
> > > they want me to do a 15 minute test teach "on some aspect or
> > option in
> > > Windows XP that users probably don't know but could probably
> > benefit from."
> > > The users are accountants and financial gurus who have a
> > good but not great
> > > knowledge of computers. I'm unable to come up with anything
> > that would
> > > impress them. Can anyone suggest anything? Desperate Dan
>
> Id say you should tach them how to defend agenst spyware on there home
> computers, a quick spybot tutorial should do, and you should recomened
> (but dont insist) they use a diffrent intenret browser, such as
> firefox, if they have macs at home as well as IBM standard PC’s,
> there probably more suted to netscape, show them where they can get
> netscape for windows from!
>
> Of course if they only have a MAC at home, then all of this is rather
> irelevent.
>
> To make sure they listen, rather then just sit and stare, make it
> clear that not defending agenst spyware could mean that there computer
> might brake when a critical peice of work has to be done!
>
> If you need more for a 15min class (i carnt see how you would) but you
> should explain that "google is your friend", show them how to look
> things up using google!!
>
> --
> Posted using the http://www.windowsforumz.com interface, at author's request
> Articles individually checked for conformance to usenet standards
> Topic URL: http://www.windowsforumz.com/General-Discussion-Job-Depends-ftopict399296..html
> Visit Topic URL to contact author (reg. req'd). Report abuse: http://www.windowsforumz.com/eform.php?p=1318779
 
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"" wrote:
> I'm a finalist for a computer trainer/support position and
> Monday morning
> they want me to do a 15 minute test teach "on some aspect or
> option in
> Windows XP that users probably don't know but could probably
> benefit from."
> The users are accountants and financial gurus who have a good
> but not great
> knowledge of computers. I'm unable to come up with anything
> that would
> impress them. Can anyone suggest anything? Desperate Dan

Here’s a site full of usefull info...
http://www.tweakxp.com/
:)

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I Screwed up - Bad. I got some comments - deservedly so - about not being fit
for the job if I couldn't come up with an example myself. I should have said
that I worked with / trained users in MS SQL, VB, Pervasive SQL, Crystal
Reports, Access VBA, etc., for six years and was very familiar with the DB
world. I had come up with a few (dull) exercises in XP and needed, as I said,
something to impress them. I was just looking for something "flashy" and
impressive.
I was told that the job will actually only have a couple of one-day Windows
classes a month. Most will be Office and SQL/Crystal Rpts classes for inhouse
staff. Its at the U of Kansas and since I'll be on the staff I'll have a
chunk of my MBA with emphasis in IT paid for.
Thanks for all responses.


"rctechs" wrote:

> "" wrote:
> > I'm a finalist for a computer trainer/support position and
> > Monday morning
> > they want me to do a 15 minute test teach "on some aspect or
> > option in
> > Windows XP that users probably don't know but could probably
> > benefit from."
> > The users are accountants and financial gurus who have a good
> > but not great
> > knowledge of computers. I'm unable to come up with anything
> > that would
> > impress them. Can anyone suggest anything? Desperate Dan
>
> Here’s a site full of usefull info...
> http://www.tweakxp.com/
> :)
>
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> Posted using the http://www.windowsforumz.com interface, at author's request
> Articles individually checked for conformance to usenet standards
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Daniel

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Mar 30, 2004
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Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general (More info?)

There is always one nasty person per thread!
"Opinicus" <gezgin@spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:11e2mlfoh5t5eb5@news.supernews.com...
> "R2D2Groupie" <R2D2Groupie@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote
>
>> knowledge of computers. I'm unable to come up with anything that would
>> impress them. Can anyone suggest anything? Desperate Dan
>
> How about "Therefore I am not really qualified for this job position"?
>
> --
> Bob
>
>
 
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Teach them how to post on a newsgroup without regurgitating every single
sodding previous message.

"Sparda" <UseLinkToEmail@WindowsForumz.com> wrote in message
news:3_1319053_c779a5454a00f797b1ba3d92ed67b286@windowsforumz.com...
> "" wrote:
> > "R2D2Groupie" <R2D2Groupie@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
> > message
> > news:4E760754-A85D-4518-8A14-4D59DFBEDD97@microsoft.com...
> > > I'm a finalist for a computer trainer/support position and
> > Monday
> > > morning
> > > they want me to do a 15 minute test teach "on some aspect or
> > option in
> > > Windows XP that users probably don't know but could probably
> > benefit
> > > from."
> > > The users are accountants and financial gurus who have a
> > good but not
> > > great
> > > knowledge of computers. I'm unable to come up with anything
> > that would
> > > impress them. Can anyone suggest anything? Desperate Dan
> >
> >
> > Tell them about Microsoft's support site
> > (http://support.microsoft.com/)
> > and show them how to perform basic and advanced searches.
> > That way,
> > with a hint towards inclining them to do even a little bit of
> > investigation before crying for help, maybe they'll use that
> > instead of
> > calling or posting with their knee-jerk inquiries. Telling
> > them how to
> > use the Start -> Help and Support menu would be obvious but
> > lots of
> > users never even bother looking there, either.
> >
> > Otherwise, and besides the security topics already mentioned
> > by other
> > respondents, tell them the advantage of defragmenting their
> > hard drives,
> > how to run it, and how to schedule a regular defrag of their
> > drives
> > during off-hours (but note to them that the computer must not
> > be in
> > standby or hibernate mode unless they enable the wake-up
> > option - but
> > that will also bring their computer out of hibernate mode).
> >
> > Tell them how to use msconfig.exe to disable startup programs
> > to help
> > when troubleshooting a problem in behavior of their computer.
> >
> > Try to instill in them the need to backup their system either
> > by saving
> > drive images and/or by backing up their data. Yes, they are
> > accountants
> > and should be familiar with backing up their data but often
> > they assume
> > that a network admin is backing up some networked file server
> > from which
> > they retrieve and write their files and yet that doesn't help
> > them when
> > their own workstation crashes because of a hard drive failure.
> > Mention
> > to them that the included NT Backup program will only span
> > tapes and not
> > any other type of removable or fixed media, like CDRs, Zip
> > disks, or
> > hard drives, so they'll need a non-crippled 3rd party backup
> > program to
> > do that.
> >
> > For those still too lazy to do backups, tell them how to use
> > the System
> > Restore utility (to create their own restore points and how to
> > use
> > them). Remind them that this is for restoring the system and
> > NOT for
> > their data, so they should not be trying to use it as a
> > equivalent to
> > GoBack or RestoreIT.
> >
> > When using NTFS, you can create ADS (alternate data streams)
> > on files.
> > Their filesize reflected in Windows Explorer will only show
> > the size for
> > the primary data stream and yet when they try to copy a 10KB
> > file onto a
> > floppy they lose the 10MB ADS attached to that file. However,
> > it is
> > likely that you don't know how to manage and create ADS'es,
> > either. See
> > http://www.ntfs.com/ntfs-multiple.htm as an intro to the
> > subject. There
> > are tools to let you see if ADS is used, like LADS and
> > CrucialADS. Some
> > anti-virus products, like Kaspersky, use the ADS to store a
> > hash code of
> > the file and a status of a scan, so a subsequent scan on an
> > unchanged
> > file can be skipped and how Kaspersky sped up their scanning.
> > Unfortunately, uninstalling the product does not also have it
> > remove all
> > those now superfluous alternate streams that they attached to
> > the files.
> > Few anti-spyware will scan the ADS (AD-Aware does but only
> > since the SE
> > version), so malware could reside in the ADS and not get
> > detected;
> > however, eventually it needs to be read by a program to load
> > the content
> > of the ADS (to read it or to execute it) and that is when,
> > hopefully,
> > the anti-spyware's real-time scanner or the anti-virus
> > on-access scanner
> > will detect the malware on your system. Few anti-virus
> > programs scan
> > the ADS of files, and some only do so by enabling some option
> > that
> > doesn't sound like anything to do with ADS, like archive
> > scanning.
> >
> > Tell them how to create junctions and hard links to files and
> > folders.
> > Under Unix, you can create soft links and hard links. Soft
> > links are
> > like shortcuts in Windows: they are fixed in their definition
> > and point
> > to where the file was when the link was created. If you move
> > the file,
> > the soft link can't find it (unless the OS helps out to update
> > the soft
> > link). Deleting a soft link (i.e., shortcut) does not delete
> > the file.
> > A hard link is another entry in the file table for that file,
> > so
> > deleting a hard link will delete the file. A hard link will
> > know
> > wherever is the file after you move it. Peculiarly Microsoft
> > calls hard
> > links for files as hard links but hard links for folders are
> > called
> > junctions. Same thing.
> >
> > Install the Windows XP powertoy for multiple desktops, enable
> > it in the
> > taskbar, and show how they could have multiple virtual
> > desktops to
> > reduce the clutter of having lots of windows open on the same
> > desktop.
> > This powertoy is limited and sometimes popup dialogs will show
> > up in
> > other virtual desktops, but it will give them an idea if it is
> > something
> > that they might be interested in rather than using multiple
> > monitors and
> > video cards.
> >
> > Have them us the TweakUI powertoy for Windows XP and configure
> > to group
> > all icons for an application under one button in the taskbar.
> > That way,
> > they can get the equivalent of tabbed browsing, for example,
> > for
> > Internet Explorer. Click on the one taskbar button for IE and
> > get a
> > roll-up listing of all open instances of IE with the full text
> > of their
> > titles without ending up with a dozen buttons for IE in the
> > taskbar that
> > get squished into tiny buttons with useless truncated titles.
> >
> > Show them how to use Fast User Switching (provided your
> > audience
> > actually perceives any value for that feature).
> >
> > Tell them how to enable and setup the Fax Service so they can
> > fax from
> > their computer (provided they have an analog modem with fax
> > capabilities). Unfortunately, it is not designed to send
> > multi-page
> > faxes but you could use Word to compose your fax and then
> > print it to
> > the Fax printer to then send your multi-page fax. Faxing
> > isn't much
> > used anymore but sometimes they may need to use it.
> >
> > Somehow, by asking what topics to discuss in just 15 minutes
> > to train
> > your pupils, it looks like instead are a wannabe trainer in
> > need of
> > training yourself. I've run out of interest in coming up with
> > more
> > topics since there are plenty. You could simply walk through
> > your Start
> > menu looking at all the submenus to pick out something that is
> > little
> > used or little understood by non-techie users. You could also
> > just lurk
> > around the newsgroups for Windows XP and look at past posts to
> > see what
> > type of questions are asked that you are qualified to answer.
>
> searching microsoft web sites is far easyer by just using
> site:support.microsoft.com on google, the search engian on microsofts
> site is the most pathetic search engian i have ever used.
>
> I think teaching "How to use google" should definitly be in basic
> computer training, how many poeple have i found that dont know how to
> google, more thne 1 is too many, i have found more then 10!!
>
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> request
> Articles individually checked for conformance to usenet standards
> Topic URL:
> http://www.windowsforumz.com/General-Discussion-Job-Depends-ftopict399296.html
> Visit Topic URL to contact author (reg. req'd). Report abuse:
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