Looking for volunteers to review a document

[whs]

My local computer club has asked me to teach a class on System Facilities. The audiance are mostly retirees with beginner level knowledge of PCs. On the very first page (Preface - CH 0) there is a link to the club news which can give you an impression of the club members and current activities.
I have created a PDF document from which I will teach the class. I will walk them thru the document and demonstrate the various features and programs as we go along. I will also create videos captured from the screen for each chapter that should be as if I was holding the class. That will be done once the document is final.
If you have some spare time, I would very much appreciate your review of the document. I am looking for a check of the technical accuracy. Although I have tried my best to state correct technical information, it is very possible that there are mistakes. Please refer to the chapter and page numbers with your inputs.
One word of warning - the document is about 60 pages (with a lot of pictures though). So it will take some time to wade thru it. The class will be held in 2 times 2 hours on 2 different days. The attendees will get the link for the document so that they can do further studies at home (including watching the videos). Then, 2 weeks later, we will arrange for a Q&A session. During the class itself, I do not expect them to retain more than 10% of the content.
The document you can download from here: ( HCCC Class.zip - Windows Live ).

 

[whs]

Still looking. Suggestions for an attractive title would also be welcome - remember, this is mostly for little old ladies.

 

[SIW2]

Hi,

Just a couple of points CH-1 page 13 and 14:

On 7 (and, if I remember correctly also on Vista), you rt click Taskbar or Start Orb and select PROPERTIES then select Start menu Tab to get to customize.

Also, on 7 - the snipping tool is separate - you can use it even if you uninstalled Tablet pc ( tho. Faststone Capture is better).

CH1-Page 19. You need to rt click the top border of command window to Select Mark.

CH2 -page 4. I notice no difference in the size of each shadow copy between Vista and 7.

CH2-page 15. It might be easier to get them to run checkdisk from windows gui - rt click the drive>Properties>Tools.

I think you may be asking a little too much of them - using Process Explorer, etc.

Some free apps. they may find useful are the Windows Access Panel:

Windows Access Panel

And Fix Windows utility:

FixWin

 

[whs]

Thank you Very much SIW2. Very kind of you to have taken the time. I will reflect your suggestions in the next update.
I am, however, puzzled by your comment regarding shadowstorage. In Win7, I have 14 shadows in a used shadowstorage of 4.05GB. That is on average less than 270MB per shadow. In Vista they are between 500MB and 1GB. Maybe that's only on my system, but those are the numbers I see.

You may be right on the Process Explorer. But they have to start learning some time. And the PE provides so many functions. Maybe a couple of the attendees will play around with it.

 

[IggyAZ]

I used to do this about 5 years ago. The key is what do the retirees want to learn.

I have used the KISS principle. "Keep it simple stupid"
Your pdf pages have lots of information that I think is way over the heads of your audience.

If you remove most of the technical terms and use the KISS principle will work for starters.

I hope you plan on giving this in mutiple sessions. Max time per class 40-45 min.

If you present too much they will get bored because they will not inderstand or keep up. This may key many off the wall questions and yoou will lose your track.

Some of the subjects they wanted to learn were.

How do I hook up my digital camera
How do I install my new photo printer.
How can I save pictures sent to me via emails
Where and how do I save things so I can remember where they are located.
Do I need a virus scanner?
How do I delete all the old emails I have in Outlook Express or Outlook...

That is just my thoughts. Please don't take me wrong but I actually asked my class to write down what they wanted to learn from the class which really setup many great classes during the year. We only met once a month and everyone went home with a great handout to see if they can do it on their computer.

It was fun and made them very happy.

 

[whs]

IggyAZ, Thank you for your thoughts. Some of the subjects you suggested are already covered by other classes that are regularily scheduled in the club - the club has a very extensive education program. The aim here was to get them a bit beyond the basics. Even the teachers that teach a lot of the other classes are scheduled to attend because their knowledge is often very basic too.
I understand the "glazy eye" effect. The classes are for 2 hours each day, but interrupted by a coffee break of half an hour where they can discuss with me. And after the 2 hours, they can ask questions.
The aim is to get them from a beginner or beginner+ level to a beginner geek level and get them interested in the system work. But maybe that is too much asked. I would expect, however, that those who are not interested at all, will not show up. The club has about 650 members, so there are all kinds.
Since I give them the link to the document including the videos, they will have ample opportunity to review the material as often as they want in the comfort of their home. But maybe you are right and people are not that eager to learn. Although that would be something I have a hard time to understand. i am in the same age group (72years) and I would hate to stop learning.

 

[fseal]

If you are introducing process explorer, look at the "Resource Monitor" from the task manager (On the Performance tab), it's almosty the exact same thing (same code for the most part too!) but is built in and more simply organized.

 

[whs]

If you are introducing process explorer, look at the "Resource Monitor" from the task manager (On the Performance tab), it's almosty the exact same thing (same code for the most part too!) but is built in and more simply organized.

Understand, but I was working my way up to .dlls and the Radio icon for checking surprise messages. I thought that was neat to tell them about. And besides, PE has so much more function than TM - I think it's worth knowing about it. But I will include a bit more about Resource manager too. - Thanks for the comment.

 

[fseal]

[edited]

From what I was able to gather, the Rsource monitor does atleast 90% of what Proces Explorer does. It's actually the same code, repackaged for W7 basically.

 

[whs]

[edited]

From what I was able to gather, the Rsource monitor does atleast 90% of what Proces Explorer does. It's actually the same code, repackaged for W7 basically.

How do I check the source of an error message with RM?

 

[fseal]

As in.. looking up the pid? or finding out what DLLs are loaded by svhost? or ??? The drill down procedures are a little mystifying at times but they were on PE too.

Sadly I am not at my W7 machine to look up specifics...

I do seem to remember that there was one or two things missing, but it's always better to exhaust internal resources before installing additional software.

 

[SIW2]

Hi whs,

On my machine , Vista and 7 are on similar size partitions - with a roughly similar amount of used space on each.

Vista has one shadow copy - taking 249mb.

7 has five shadow copies - taking 1.1 gb.

Pretty much the same.

 

[whs]

Maybe that is the answer - partition size (used space). My Vista is 30GB and the Win7 is only 17GB (I have a seperate data partition that serves both). The total partition sizes are also different - 183GB for Vista and 43GB for Win7 (on a SSD). OK, now I think I understand.

 

[whs]

Hi,

Just a couple of points CH-1 page 13 and 14:

On 7 (and, if I remember correctly also on Vista), you rt click Taskbar or Start Orb and select PROPERTIES then select Start menu Tab to get to customize.

Also, on 7 - the snipping tool is separate - you can use it even if you uninstalled Tablet pc ( tho. Faststone Capture is better).

CH1-Page 19. You need to rt click the top border of command window to Select Mark.

CH2 -page 4. I notice no difference in the size of each shadow copy between Vista and 7.

CH2-page 15. It might be easier to get them to run checkdisk from windows gui - rt click the drive>Properties>Tools.

I think you may be asking a little too much of them - using Process Explorer, etc.

Some free apps. they may find useful are the Windows Access Panel:

Windows Access Panel

And Fix Windows utility:

FixWin

Hi SIW2,

I am just in the process of updating my document with all the comments I received from here and elsewhere. I have some questions regarding a couple of your comments. Could you please verify. Thanks.

Also, on 7 - the snipping tool is separate - you can use it even if you uninstalled Tablet pc

I think the snipping tool will still work when you disable the snipping tool service in Services (I checked that). If, however you uninstall snipping tool completely (e.g. with vLite), then it will not work.

You need to rt click the top border of command window to Select Mark.

You actually have to right click on a blank space of the cmd window. Right clicking on the top border can get you to Properties where you can change the appearance of the cmd window.

The next point we have discussed already and I agree with you.

 

[SIW2]

Hiwhs,

I meant even if you uninstall Tablet pc in Windows programs and features - the snipping tool will work on 7 - as it is a separate app.

On Vista , snipping tool will not be available if Tablet pc is uninstalled in Windows Programs and features.


LOL - I am so used to using cmd with insert mode enabled - for me , rt click inserts the last clipboard entry.

 

[whs]

Hiwhs,

I meant even if you uninstall Tablet pc in Windows programs and features - the snipping tool will work on 7 - as it is a separate app.

On Vista , snipping tool will not be available if Tablet pc is uninstalled in Windows Programs and features.


LOL - I am so used to using cmd with insert mode enabled - for me , rt click inserts the last clipboard entry.

Thanks for the clarification. I did not know that there was a Vista/Win7 difference regarding the snipping tool. - Live and learn.

 

[SIW2]

I only found out because I uninstalled Tablet pc on 7 - and found the Snipping tool still there - working fine.

Tbh - I use Fastsone Capture 53 - it's better.

 

[whs]

I only found out because I uninstalled Tablet pc on 7 - and found the Snipping tool still there - working fine.

Tbh - I use Fastsone Capture 53 - it's better.

I have FastStone Capture 6.5 and have used it a lot (like in the document). But recently I switched to free Jing Jing | Add visuals to your online conversations which is even better. It has more function (e.g. you can paste into the text boxes, text can be changed any time, colors too, etc.) I programmed F9 (just a setting) to call it and you can make snips (not only full screen) - but it will still capture the fly-outs. Suggest you try it. They also have a pro version where you can capture videos - but only max. 5 minutes. I use WM Capture for that. WM Capture - Super High Quality Video Recorder The $40 investment was really worth it. Here is an example where I captured a PowerPoint Photo Album (with music): Power Point color fading on Vimeo - best viewed full screen.

 

[Frostmourne]

I think you can also look at screen recorder:

Utility Spotlight: Screenrecorder

You could also add a section of useful free utilities.

 

[SIW2]

I looked at Jing a while back - I couldn't remember why I didn't like it.

Downloading and installing it now - it forces you to be online , and sign up for an account - not for me.