Expert: Pat Dunlap - 1/5/2005

Question
Hi Pat, I've been a beginner, beginner for about a year now and I'm about ready to give up once and for all.I cannot read directions and have them make any sense to me[pertaining to everything, not just computers]I generally have to be shown how. I've actually taken 2 so called beginners classes.I was assured that what beginner meant to me meant I truelly didn't even have terminology down.And as I expected the class was so far beyond me I eventually gave up. My daughter and my grandson are in Kuait for a year and a half now and if it weren't for the internet anddaily emails I couldn't have made it this far. I am learning ever so slowly enuf to be able to do that, but that's it.And today I've been sitting here for 3 hours now.I've just taken the time to find out what the icons at the top were for and I wrote my grandson a note and decided I wanted to make it a bit more fun than the usual so I went thru all the category's i could find telling me how to choose my font, background color, text color , music, and smiley faces.I thought I had done all of these correctly and with all my fun new info started to retype my note and I guess my question is...Where are all my different colors to begin with? I thought that my background would immediately turn red and my font black..but no...HELP?

Answer
Hi, Marcia!  Please join my club of folks who can't read directions and follow through on them.  You must be a Capricorn?  Anyway, instructions are not written very well anymore.  

Today is your lucky day!  I am going to give you my private email address for more exchanges on topics that frustrate you and for more questions.  It is patdunlap@verizon.net  It's easier than using allexperts.com.  Don't give up.  I've been fighting computers, Internet, etc. for a lot of years and still learning as a "beginner" as the technology has advanced.  I fly by the seat of my pants, and keep learning slowly like you.  Feel free to email me with Qs.

I'll respond to your bottom-line Q in a minute, but first let me tell you that I have been volunteering here since March 2001 answering Qs from all over the globe about any topic under the sun.  Frustrating at times.  You are my 1503rd Q.  Rarely do I give my private email address to "strangers", but when I do I help and have gained four friends doing so.  Two men in Canada in their 60s, one woman in South Australia in her 60s and one woman in Scotland in her early 70s.  At one point last year I got us all connected and it's been fun and we teach each other about the problems of computing, world events, etc.  I call us the AE5.  All four of them were where you are now.  Ready to quit.  They didn't!

You did not tell me so I have to guess that you are using as an operating system either Windows ME or XP???  As a Internet browser you are using Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6.0 and Outlook Express for email.  How am I doing so far?  Do you know what you have?

OK, forget trying to send a fancy-dancy email to your grandson via your current complex email client - Outlook?
It's just too complicated to learn the ins and outs!  I've got a better solution and I think you will like it - Incredimail.

Waiting for your reply and you'll like the future, but will be hesitant with the suggestions I have for you to enjoy the computer and not put a hammer through it.    

All the best!  Pat aka Patrick in Clarksville, MD

Oh, by the way (BTW), what is your Internet Provider, dial up, DSL, cable, etc?