Microsoft's Windows 9X IBM-PC operating-systems are generally thought to be ready-to-use straight after installation on a PC. That's true to an extent - but the actual scope of the installation (in terms of what's on offer to the PC's owner/user, and how easy it is to use) is determined very largely by the choices made by the technician who installed the system in the first place, and on what features he decided to include from the Windows installation-CD. This fact alone can mean that your installation of Windows may not be easily useable to its fullest extent - which is to say, as a fully-featured communications and data-processing tool - without a certain amount of tuning and assistance.

It's also true that many of Windows' installation default settings are less than optimal; and that documentation (either on or off the PC) which describes Windows' features and how to use them may be hard to come by, expensive, and not even particularly easy to understand even when you do finally manage to run it to ground. Once again, practically-orientated advice and help on system-tuning are likely to be called-for.

Personally, I've run into almost every single one of Windows 9X's sandtraps about five minutes after 'graduating' from Windows 3.11 (which I would still use in preference to its successors, if the software that I needed to use had been written to suit it), and spent a great deal of time on working out what went wrong so that it wouldn't happen to me again. On the basis of the user competence that I gained during that learning-process, I'm ready to offer a completely practical 'no potholes, no jargon, no grief, all fun' mini-course in the setup, use and modification of your own copy of Windows 9X, on your home (or works) PC.

The only downside to the course is that you won't actually obtain any sort of paper qualification to say that you know what you're doing, and (more importantly) where to stop doing it. What you'll gain instead (which could be far more important from a user's point of view) is proper familiarity and competence with all of the features of Windows; and the means to extend your knowledge of what it has to offer without further assistance, which will make you independent of the need for costly technical support.

The course that I propose to give is modular in form, and is fully supported by notes in a Windows-readable format. The trainee would be expected not to distribute those notes to others, partly as a sort of 'gentleman's agreement' and partly as a 'well, I paid for the course, so why should you have it for free?' sort of deal.

In terms of course duration: I have to be truthful and say that I do tend to find it easier (and quicker) to work with people who've already made a start on using Windows, and have got thoroughly confused or stuck. This is mainly because we'd tend to have the basics of a common language between us before we began; and also because I find that correcting a view can often be a lot easier than starting right from scratch. Having said that, I'd expect a reasonably competent Windows PC user to be well and truly 'up the grade' within 2-3 hours; and a complete beginner to be at roughly the same point within no more than 5-6 hours.

Needless to say with a course of this type, there's likely to be a 'boggle factor' to consider: that's to say that a semi-skilled Windows PC user would be likely to be able to take in far more information before getting 'boggled' than would, say, a complete novice. On that basis, it might be found to be as well to split the training into two or more sessions; since the course is fully supported by notes, the trainee would be able to consolidate the material that has already been covered before continuing with the next session.

In terms of group size, I've tended to find that a group of no more than three (each with their own PC) is optimal; larger numbers than that tends to lead to inefficiency in learning. Two trainees at one PC (or better still, two PCs), would be ideal (and half the cost - the course charge is geared to hours spent rather than head-count).

If you feel that this sort of practical training is just what you need, please email or call me to discuss suitable times and locations, and the list of topics. Times outside of 'normal' working hours (and outwith Unst) can be accommodated very easily, provided that I can still get home from Gutcher afterwards without having to swim for it.