Our February program featured ICON member, Mick Topping, who presented “Google, More Than a Search Engine.” Mick shared with us many of the features and tools provided by Google, and showed us how to use them too. The most popular search engine in the world, it is faster and simpler to use than others, and provides better usability features besides. Many thanks are in order to Mick for his efforts in providing this informative program.

I don’t have our program for March worked out yet, but keep your eye on the calendar; I’ll post the information as soon as I have it.

Those of you who think we always talk over your head should definitely attend the Beginners SIG on March 26 th (and every 4 th Saturday) at 2:30 PM. Whatever new thing you are struggling to learn, you are among friends and don’t need to worry about asking “stupid” questions, there aren’t any! In fact, you should do yourself a favor; attend the Windows SIG at 1:15 PM…you will most likely learn some helpful hints for using your computer!

If you feel really daring, bring your lunch at 11:30 AM. We sit around eating while we visit and talk more about computers…you will almost assuredly learn something even if you try not to! If you drag yourself out of bed and arrive at the ridiculously early hour of 10:00 AM, it’s a pretty sure bet that you could learn something about genealogical research that would help you understand how to research other topics as well. (We have a similar schedule on the 2 nd Saturday, but with different topics.)

Only 5 years ago, I was a complete beginner. I too was afraid of damaging the computer, and I didn’t know what questions to ask. The best advice I ever received about using my computer came from my father. To help me get started, Dad gave me an old 486 with Windows 3.1 that he wasn’t using. After he got it set up, he said, “You can’t hurt a computer by using it. If it locks up, turn it off and re-boot it,” then he went home.

With the assurance that I couldn’t hurt the machine, I looked around, I poked and I prodded. As I found things I didn’t understand, I asked someone to explain it to me. I too thought it might sound ignorant if I asked a “stupid” question, but I asked anyway, I sat in on many discussions, and I listened a lot. Since I’ve learned so much, I consider myself an advanced…beginner! The more I learn, the more I realize I don’t know.

ICON is only as committed to helping you as you are to helping yourself! Work at it!

Happy Computing,
Terry