Post interesting tips for the novice computer user

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Hmm - the clip uses a language I do not speak. Was that intentionally ironic?

No, it wasn't. I have never seen an equivalent one in English, and I did provide a translation, so thought it would be OK. Sorry about that.

I've had an idea. Maybe, to keep MCalavera pleased, this thread could be turned into a Q&A thread, where novices ask their questions and the knowledgable people provide the answer. I am tempted to start by teasing and asking "what is a window?"

But it occurred to me that the whole concept of a computer "window" is something that we all take for granted nowadays but that I'd struggle to define. So maybe it's a genuine question: What is a window?

Some googling brought up this answer: "an operating system which is an interface or bridge between computer hardware and software." But, again, that assumes that the reader knows what an operating system is, and understands the difference between hardware and software.

Is a window really an operating system? How?

I thought an operating system was the thing that ran my computer. "Windows" the program is an operating system, yes. But are the "windows" that show up as a result of installing it actually mini operating systems in themselves?

No worries. I was joking anyway, so I'm sorry that failed too.

I'd call it a view.
What's actually viewed in it depends on what (and why) the window was created, so it could be the main screen of a wordprocessor or the type of window that pops up when you do something like "File|Open".
One shows a work area, the other shows a list of file names. Both are unrelated windows (views) of different things.

Hardware is that which can be kicked; software is that which cannot.
It's the OS which makes the hardware capable of 'doing stuff', and it's the applications (programs) which make it 'do stuff'.

No, it's not.
An operating system sits behind the mechanism which creates the windows (or at least it should do: in Microsoft Windows the (technical) distinction is a little more blurred and this helps make Microsoft Windows the insecure mess it is today).
An OS is the 'supervisory' program which controls all other operations on a machine; it's the 'one ring to bind them all'. The actual operations of the OS itself are generally invisible - a user only experiences the result of applications making use of the facilities provided by the OS, and this may include the ability to display windows - but not all OSes support windows in the same way that Microsoft Windows does and some don't support any form of window.

No. Microsoft Windows (TM) is the OS and it is able to display individual windows (noun) for various purposes.

Thank you for all your clever answers!

I do actually know about hardware/software and different OS. I was only saying that some people might not. I'm not a total novice; I'm a semi-novice.

Next question: how user-friendly is Linux? I've been wanting to switch to Ubantu for a while, but I'm worried that I won't get the hang of it, or that only super-geeks are able to use it. I already made the switch from IE to FF.

Define "user friendly".
Or to put it another way: when running the usual GUIs most Linux distributions are provided with, it's not Microsoft Windows and neither is it a Mac. But it does display windows.
The second part is: what's the point of creating a graphical application which, when (say) providing a user with the ability to select a file, uses something other than "File|Open" as a menu option?
And so it goes with most other things you'd expect to find available on any graphical interface: they become obvious, once you've learned where they are.

Anyone can be taught to drive a car (well, generally speaking ) but it takes extra training for a mechanic to be able to understand a car well enough to repair it or improve its performance. Would someone wanting a car for business or pleasure need to bother with that?
Same with Windows; same with Linux; same with a Mac.
But it's important to remember that only one of these is Microsoft Windows and if that's all you've used, there will be a learning curve.

This is obviously supposed to be a rhetorical question, but I don't know the answer, so the point was lost on me. Whatever you're trying to teach me has still not entered my brain, because I don't really know what you are talking about.

Edit: P.S.: I can't drive a car.

Well, "user friendly" is generally taken to mean "easy to drive", or "available options are obvious to me" - but because it's so subjective I didn't really want to go there with my own preconceptions of what I find easy.

Therefore, and I hope, generally: once the basic concept of a GUI being pretty mouse-oriented, and the concepts of movable and re-sizable windows are grasped, a GUI interface becomes fairly obvious through interaction with it. It's all pointy-clicky-draggy with nothing fiddly to remember.
The same can be said for the typical menu arrangements for applications (File, Edit, View etc.) and their commonality of purpose between applications. You just point at something you want and click it, and there's a very high certainty that "File|Open" here will mean exactly the same as "File|Open" over there in another application.

This given, there's no practical reason for the typical window behaviour and menu arrangement you'd see with any Microsoft Windows program to be deliberately ignored and replaced by something incomprehensible (like what - Egyptian hieroglyphs? ) in graphical applications as seen under other operating systems. (In fact this all descends from something which predates Microsoft Windows: that was by no means the first GUI and it largely inherited what was already in general use)

It ain't broke, so people tend not to try and fix it - with the result that what you've learned with one GUI will be largely applicable to another GUI.
There will be minor cosmetic differences - like with a Mac (or at least the last one I used), application menu options tend to disappear automatically unless you select something, but with Microsoft Windows they 'hang around' until dismissed or something is selected.

Executive summary: if you've seen one GUI, you've (pretty much) seen 'em all so there's (practically) nothing new to learn.

You're doing it again. Using jargon...

*goes away to google GUI*

"In computing a graphical user interface (GUI, sometimes pronounced gooey,) is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices"

A gooey?

Ha ha ha ha ha!

I like that. Still don't know what it means, but it sounds nice and childish and messy and fun.

Oops, sorry.

Graphical User Interface.
Uses a mouse-based system with (hopefully self-explanatory) pictures and icons as opposed to text-based commands that would require typing.
So instead of having to remember potentially complex strings of commands (with all the likely typing errors involved), users simply point at things and click to achieve the same thing.

I dislike the pronunciation and there's actually an even worse reverse-naming effect which seems to have appeared as a result of Microsoft Windows spreading like a rash: a text interface (where you're expected to type commands to get the OS to do stuff) is sometimes referred to as a TUI ('too-ey') - Text User Interface.
Gah. I think some people have nothing better to do than come up with silly acronyms.

I remember having lots of fun when I befriended someone in an IT department who taught me how to type in funny commands and make windows pop up on my workmates' computers containing funny messages. I always wish I could remember how to do that, but it wouldn't work now, because my home computer is not linked up to anyone else's.



But you liked my ones in the other thread.

GUI = Geeky Unidentified Information?

Ah yes - but they're done in jest and for fun.
Nonsense like TUI seems to be done because it looks all techy and somehow 'necessary': everything vaguely technical must be compressed into as few letters as possible and if what's left can be pronounced - bonus points!

Often: Garish Ungainly Interface.
Which is to say: a mouse is nice but fingers are faster!
Well mine are, anyway. In practice I tend to use the GUI for things which actually require graphics (photography work etc) and a text interface for almost everything else. I don't think I've ever seriously used the equivalents of Microsoft's File Explorer (or whatever it's called these days) which are available with most Linux distributions, because it can all be achieved so much quicker by typing a few commands.

You're so clever.

Nah. I forget more than I remember, and I know so little as it is. But what I do remember tends to be the most efficient means to an end.
It's just that I've been doing it for so long, and by the random laws of chance some of it has to stick!

Well, looks like Cornflake is handling the situation well for me, so it's all good.

Next tip:

Your computer isn't responding properly to your requests? Use a good hammer and smash it to pieces.

Nah. There's nothing quite so satisfying as the noise a PC makes when dropped out of (at least) a first-floor window, and it's astonishing how far the bits can spread.

A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
Emo Philips