Advertising for Computer hard- or software wants to make us believe that to run a computer, knowlegde isn't required. Everything is so easy, everybody can do it!

This wasn't true 15 years ago and it hasn't changed a lot since then.

Although applications and operating systems have become more userfriendly, at the same time the variety of tasks that can be accomplished using a computer has grown significantly - thus maintaining the gap between advertising and reality.

Dialog boxes that ask questions you can't possibly answer (because the question requires knowledge you don't have) still keep popping up, and the "I don't know" button has not yet been invented.

It is a simple fact that managing a complicated machine requires knowledge and practice - and a computer with the applications on it is a complicated machine. The trick is, to know what you want to do and to obtain just as much knowledge as necessary. You don't want to be a geek - and you don't have to.

But how can you draw the line between important and needless knowledge? Often this decision alone requires knowledge - that you might not have. Frustrating.

We want to help you to accomplish a more satisfying computer experience, and no matter what your personal skill level is: to address exactly this level when explaining something to you so you can understand and work with it is our challenge. We want you to know what you need to know to do what you want.

In this section we will publish articles about things we think you should know about computers, if you want to use one. Take a little time for reading and let us know if it has been helpful for you (or whatever we can improve).

Moreover, if there's a specific topic you would like to know more about, let us know and we'll write an article about it or add it to the FAQ section, if it's of common interest. Or we'll just answer your request personally.