As I gear up to help seniors, freelancers, small business owners, and academics (an admittedly motley crew) to use their computers more productively, I'm starting to enumerate skills I think will be useful. I have substantial experience with many of these topics but I'm excited to rise to a new level of understanding as I systematically teach others these skills.<\/p>\n

Relearning Windows<\/strong>. It's been a long time since I had a Thinkpad with Windows XP! I would like to re-immerse myself in using a Windows laptop to help other Windows users. The last time I used Windows seriously was running Windows XP as Parallels virtual machine on a MacBook Pro. I've been wondering whether to pursue the same route of virtualization or buy myself a cheap Windows laptop -- or both.<\/p>\n

In order to become proficient in using a PC, should I buy a laptop and\/or run Windows virtually? For example, what's a decent budget Windows laptop cost these days? The Best Cheap Windows Laptop: Wirecutter Reviews<\/a> points to a $600 laptop from Walmart. That price tag makes me thik that maybe running windows virtually is not a bad approach. I should try the Virtualbox + Windows 10 route: You Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Need a Product Key to Install and Use Windows 10<\/a>. Maybe I can get a good deal this week since we're approaching Black Friday.<\/p>\n

I turned to my Facebook friends<\/a> with the following question<\/p>\n

\n If my goal is to learn Windows to help others use Windows, what would I miss out if I ran Windows virtually on a Mac -- as opposed to getting myself a cheap Windows laptop?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In a future post, I'll summarize what I learned in the ensuing exchange and what action I ended up pursuing.<\/p>\n

iOS devices; iPhones and iPads<\/strong> Are iPads good devices for seniors to use? My Dad has an iPad and enjoys it a lot. My working assumption has been yes, but I need to learn more.<\/p>\n

I may need to buy an iPad to teach myself how to use one to help others. (oh darn.) I've resisted buying one for a long time because I already have a lot of gadgets. But iOS is mysterious to me. I have Laura's old iPhone running iOS 11. Maybe if I learn that well, I won't need to acquire an iPad -- though I'm guessing there are important differences between an iPhone and an iPad.<\/p>\n

I also want to keep an eye out this week for an iPad. I might want to get a 10.5 inch Pro, but that's probably overkill for my purposes. What's the market for used iPads? In the meantime, I will start to learn my iPhone iOS 11 systematically.<\/p>\n

I should also work on systematizing my knowledge of the platforms I already use: MacOS, Android, Chromebook.<\/p>\n

Other Perennial topics<\/h1>\n

I quickly brainstormed a list of topics where developing some expertise may be of use for my various audiences.<\/p>\n

\n
• email management<\/li>\n
• onsite, offsite, and online backups<\/li>\n
• photo management and photo sharing<\/li>\n
• practical computer security<\/li>\n
• hardware and software diagnosis<\/li>\n
• home networking<\/li>\n
• VPNs<\/li>\n
• password management<\/li>\n
• cloud storage<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  I should also consolidate the ideas that my friends have already provided me:<\/p>\n

  \n
  • how to clean up your data from computer equipment you are passing on intact<\/li>\n
  • how to make fullest use of accessibility features to help people at different stages of life<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As I gear up to help seniors, freelancers, small business owners, and academics (an admittedly motley crew) to use their computers more productively, I’m starting to enumerate skills I think will be useful. I have substantial experience with many of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[145],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mybizwrimo"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7I6qs-ip","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hypotyposis.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hypotyposis.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hypotyposis.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hypotyposis.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hypotyposis.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1141"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hypotyposis.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1152,"href":"https:\/\/hypotyposis.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141\/revisions\/1152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hypotyposis.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hypotyposis.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hypotyposis.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}