Free Computer Training, Tips and Advice

I offer more than 50 hours of free computer training at my website www.teachanolddognewtricks.com to anyone that wants or needs it. Yesterday, someone donated $10 to me through the website and I’m thrilled!

One of the main reasons I decided to offer all of my computer training for free is because I believe that almost anything you want to learn about will be available to you for free in the not-too-distant future.

If you want to learn about computers visit my site www.teachanolddognewtricks.com, or go to sites such as YouTube and you will find a large variety of tutorials about computers.  Maybe you don’t want to learn about computers, it doesn’t matter.  Virtually anything you can think of you can find on sites such as YouTube.

Unfortunately, anyone can post anything on YouTube and it differs in quality.  Well, almost anything.  Need to learn how to boil water?  Visit www.YouTube.com and type in “how to boil water.”

Ninety percent of the training at http://www.teachanolddognewtricks.com  has been created by me and it is very time-consuming to produce.  Each hour of training takes approximately 3 hours to plan, produce and post on my website.  Individual and corporate donations allow me to take the time needed to produce that training and all donations both big and small validate what I’m attempting to do.

My goal is to bring computer training to anyone in the world for free and your donations allow me to do that; even a $10.00 donation.

Thank you so very much for your donation!

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A while back I read an article about gas mileage for new cars.  Car companies put stickers on new cars that suggest the typical gas mileage that you should expect from that car.  In particular, the article talked about one person who exclaimed that his gas mileage didn’t come close to what was on the sticker.

The article then went on to describe why gas mileage can vary so widely.  Was the car being driven on a hot or cold day?  Was the heater or air conditioning on in the car?  And if so, was it on high or low?  Was the car being driven in stop and go traffic or doing highway driving?  What was the road surface like and how old was the driver?  Were the windows up or down?

The main point I took away from reading the article was that many factors affect gas mileage.  Let me tell you why I’m mentioning this story to you.

I recently saw a post in a LinkedIn group from and ACT! user that was having all kinds of issues with ACT.  The issues were getting so bad that both he and his boss were having negative thoughts about ACT.  They were blaming the software about some issues and it made me wonder if that was fair.  When you install ACT, or any software for that matter on a computer, it is expected to work as advertised.  When it doesn’t, we get frustrated and take our frustrations out on the software.

I want to be clear here: I’m not defending the software.  What I’m suggesting is that sometimes these issues are not clear-cut.  Every computer is different and every user uses different software on that computer.  Could it be a firewall issue, or antivirus software that is creating the problem?  Maybe the user downloaded his favorite game and that’s impacting the situation.

The main point I’d like you to think about after you’ve read this is that there is no such thing as an average ACT! user.  We are all different and that impacts the way the software works.  If nothing else, recognizing this fact will hopefully make the whole process a little less stressful and make your situation a little easier to deal with.  Hopefully.

Many ACT! Certified Consultants and ACT! consultants specialize in the complex installation of ACT! in a complex multiuser environment.  I implore you to make sure you enlist their services if you don’t have the requisite skills to address all the variables that can impact the performance of ACT.  Best of luck, regardless of what you decide to do.

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Checking Your Email

Accessing Work Email via the Web (2:00)

Google Tools & Tips

Creating a Free Google Account (1:00)
Google Alerts (3:00)

Reviewing Microsoft Word 2010 Tabs

Word 2010 Insert Tab (5:00)
Word 2010 Page Layout Tab (2:00)
Word 2010 References Tab (1:00)
Word 2010 Mailings Tab (3:00)
Word 2010 Review Tab (2:00)
Word 2010 View Tab (2:00)
Word 2010 Add-Ins Tab (1:00)

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Tony Holowitz | 781-728-9777 | www.TonyTheTeacher.com

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Teachanolddognewtricks.com Update

I have a great front porch.  I start many days there drinking my morning cup of coffee, reading and planning my day.  I like to write on the front porch and morning seems to be the time when my mind is most creative and focused.  It is my time to plan for the day and the future.

Regarding the future and my website http://www.teachanolddognewtricks.com, I plan on doing a lot of new training videos over the summer months.  Summer school so to speak.  I will use this page keep you informed of new tutorials when they are added to my website.

I’d like to make a request of you.  If there is something you want to learn about please let me know so I can make a tutorial on that subject matter.  I’m always looking for good ideas for tutorials.

While I’m at it, let me make one more request.  Please tell your friends and business associates about all my free computer training at teachanolddognewtricks.com.  It would be greatly appreciated.

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I believe that virtually anything you want to learn about will eventually be made available to you for free on the web.  And that includes computer software training.

In the October of 2010 I started offering all of my online computer training for free; it was previously offered as part of a subscription service.

All of the training videos on my website www.teachanolddognewtricks.com were written, edited, and produced by me and every hour of tutorials took about three hours to create.

I started to realize that the time I spent marketing my subscription services would be better spent producing additional tutorials on a wide range of subjects.  So I decided to place the cart before the horse and offer all of the videos on my website for free.  My hope is that companies and individuals will sponsor my training by making donations to reward my efforts.

Another reason I decided offer my training for free is because so many people have been hurt by the bad economy over the last few years and my hope was that people would use my training to enhance their professional skills, which in turn would help them get a job or to get a better job.

In particular, I remember watching a news story about a restaurant in a small town having to lay off a longtime waitress; the owner was distraught at having to let his longtime employee and friend go.  She had no idea what she was going to do for work to support her family.

After watching that story, I found myself wondering if a person like her could benefit from having access to my training.  Maybe it would help her get a job the she so desperately needed.

My hope is that my free computer training will help you in some way and eventually you’ll make a donation.  I understand that it might be a while before you can do that, especially if you’ve been out of work.  At a minimum, please tell others and about my free computer training at www.teachanolddognewtricks.com.

The bottom line is I just think it’s the right thing to do at this point in time and I’ve always believed that if you do the right thing it will come back to you in some way or the other.

Tony Holowitz
781-641-0909

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I use a tool called Google Alerts.  Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.

One of the alerts I’ve setup is for “teach an old dog new tricks.”  I own the free computer training website www.TeachAnOldDogNewTricks.com and that is my motivation for creating that particular alert.

Today, my Google Alert made me aware of an article written by George Smith in the Morning Sentinel entitled “Technology has its place, but sometimes you can’t beat paper.”  In the article he writes:

“In order to launch my new writing career this fall, I’ve had to step it up, technologically speaking. Daughter Hilary helped me set up a new e-mail system and address, using gmail. I actually like it a lot. Apparently you can teach an old dog new tricks — if he has to know them to survive.”

Hence, my alert.

When I came across his article in the Morning Sentinel I had no idea where the paper was located, so I clicked on the Connect With Us link which provided me with contact information but no physical address.  Note to the Morning Sentinel, put your address on the page so people know where you are located;  the web has made the world smaller and I’d like to know where you reside in this world.

Let me get back to George Smith for a moment.  George, my website is designed for “old dogs” just like you and me.  My website offers more than 40 hours of free computer training to anyone that wants to feel like a young dog.  In fact, tell all your friends about www.TeachAnOldDogNewTricks.com.

If George Smith, whose website is www.georgesmithmaine.com, already uses Google Alerts, he should get an alert about this post about two hours after it’s posted.  If George doesn’t use alerts, maybe the Morning Sentinel does.

If that doesn’t work, let it be known that I did some old fashion social networking and called his house and left a message.  I think I spoke to his wife.

About the Author
Tony Holowitz is the owner of the John Anthony Group a computer training, consulting and web design business located just outside of Boston, in Arlington, Massachusetts.

In addition, he is the Chief Old Dog and instructor at TeachanOldDogNewTricks.com, which offers more than 40 hours of completely free computer training to anyone and everyone. Please visit www.johnanthonygroup.com or www.teachanolddognewtricks.com to learn more.

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