These videos are from Google’s "Send Your Parents A Tech Support Package" site.
Basically it is a site that lets the techies (usually the younger generation) send some ‘canned support’ to their parents and elders. But these are also especially useful to those that are either new to computers and technology or just a little less tech savvy.
The short videos are actually very well thought out and clearly and quickly presented so that just about anyone can learn from them.
I believe that many folks who ‘think they know it all’ should just take a look anyways. In my line of work I am amazed that people who literally work for 8+ hours on a computer do not know how to do many of these simple tasks.
The reasons, I think, are that many people are afraid to ask for help, they think they can just ‘figure it out’, or truly don’t care to learn how to more efficiently or properly use technology. Some people refuse to learn out of some warped sense of ego or pride too.
Don’t be one of those. No one’s head has every exploded from learning how to do something new or more efficiently.
I am going to link to all the videos directly so you can peruse them at your leisure. This is very large post with LOADS of great information. I really hope many of you will take the time and view these very short helpful videos. If you wish to watch them full screen you can click on the ‘arrow’ below the YouTube icon on the lower right hand corner and choose ‘full screen modes’.
So let’s start with the first category – THE BASICS:
COPY & PASTE
ADJUST THE TIME ON YOUR CLOCK
CHANGE YOUR DESKTOP BACKROUND – MAC
CHANGE YOUR DESKTOP WALLPAPER – PC
MAKE TEXT BIGGER OR SMALLER
TAKE A SCREENSHOT
CHANGE YOUR SCREEN SAVER – MAC
CHANGE YOUR SCREEN SAVER – PC
Next – WORLD WIDE WEB (INTERNET)
CREATE A STRONG PASSWORD
MAKE BOOKMARKS
MAKE A BLOG
SHORTEN A LONG URL
CHANGE YOUR DEFAULT HOME PAGE
CREATE AN ONLINE CALENDAR
BROWSE THE WEB WITH TABS
Next – COMMUNICATION
SET UP AN EMAIL AUTO-RESPONDER
TRANSLATE TEXT
MAKE CALLS FROM YOUR COMPUTER
CHECK YOUR SPELLING
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=En8e79YvA0Y
CHAT
VIDEO CHAT
GET A NEW PHONE NUMBER
CREATE A MAILING LIST
CREATE AN EMAIL SIGNATURE
CHECK YOUR EMAIL ON YOUR PHONE
Next – MEDIA
RESIZE A PICTURE
SHARE A BIG FILE
ATTACH A FILE TO AN EMAIL
SHARE PHOTOS
CROP PHOTOS
SHARE VIDEOS
TRANSFER FILES BETWEEN COMPUTERS
KEEP TRACK OF FREQUENT FLIER MILES
Lastly – FINDING INFORMATION
FIND A PIZZA(OR OTHER) RESTAURANT NEAR YOU
GET MOVIE SHOWTIMES
FIND THE DEFINITION OF A WORD
GET DRIVING DIRECTIONS
TRACK A FLIGHT’S STATUS
CONVERT CURRENCY
USE GOOGLE AS A CALCULATOR
GET PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION DIRECTIONS
FIND A BUSINESS’S PHONE NUMBER
GET STOCK QUOTES
FIND RESTAURANT REVIEWS
VIEW LIVE TRAFFIC