Windows® 7 All-in-One for Dummies®

Chapter I.1. Windows 7 4 N00bs

In This Chapter

• A newbie's quick guide

• Hardware is hard — and software is hard, too

• Windows' place in the grand scheme of things

• Those computer words that all the grade-schoolers understand

• Buying a Windows 7 computer

Don't sweat it. We all started out as n00bs ("newbies").

All those high-falutin' technical words you have to memorize, eh?

So you're sitting in front of your computer and this thing called Windows 7 is staring at you. If more than one person is set up to use your computer, the screen you see — the one with the people's names on it — is a Welcome screen, but it doesn't say "Welcome" or "Howdy" or even "Sit down and get to work, Bucko." It has names and pictures only for people who can use the computer. Why do you have to click your name? What if your name isn't there? And why in the %$#@! can't you bypass all this garbage, log on, and get your e-mail?

Good for you. That's the right attitude.

Windows 7 ranks as the most sophisticated computer program ever made. It cost more money to develop and took more people to build than any previous computer program — ever. So why is it so blasted hard to use? Why doesn't it do what you want it to do the first time? For that matter, why do you need it at all?

Someday, I swear, you'll be able to pull a PC out of the box and plug it into the wall, turn it on, and get your e-mail — bang, bang, bang, just like that, in ten seconds flat. In the meantime, those of us who are stuck in the early 21st century have to ...