I was amazed again recently when I encountered a few different people on the same day with what I would consider a serious lack of basic computer skills. After conversations with some other individuals I was reminded that I’m not the average computer user.
The first conversation I had was with an individual I was helping troubleshoot some issues with their computer connecting to a network. As I tried to help her reboot her computer, then find the Task Bar, and then navigate to her Control Panel it started to become very clear I was almost talking in a foreign language.
Are these terms not ones that most people working in an office environment around computers daily would not know?
- Restart / Reboot / Shut-Down
- Task Bar
- Start Menu
- Control Panel
- Desktop
- Right-click
I think all of these are fairly basic tasks that anyone who’s even powered on a computer should be familiar with shouldn’t they?
I might be able to understand some challenges with verbiage, but I’d hope with a little bit of explanation the person would understand what I was referring to fairly quickly.
Not so much.
Image: sxc.hu