Re: Re: Job Depends On This

"" wrote:
> "R2D2Groupie" <R2D2Groupie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
> message
> news:4E760754-A85D-4518-8A14-4D59DFBEDD97@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > 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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