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SOLVING THE RIDDLE OF MICROSOFT AND YOUR COMPUTER by Mark Riddle

SOLVING THE RIDDLE OF MICROSOFT AND YOUR COMPUTER

2nd Edition

by Mark Riddle

Pub Date: Nov. 8th, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-66554-319-4
Publisher: AuthorHouse

This second edition of a manual focuses on computers in general and Microsoft in particular.

Riddle devotes the first half of his book to a simple and heavily illustrated guide to the basics of operating a computer, everything from adjusting the screen saver and manipulating the mouse to organizing files and synching things up with a printer. In all cases, he combines step-by-step instructions with screenshots and images carefully depicting, with arrows and highlighting, exactly what he’s talking about. His screenshots and flowcharts show readers every single variable they’ll encounter while navigating the sometimes-bewildering variety of branching paths and separate options for every action. Newcomers and unsophisticated computer users (inexperienced older readers, for instance, are an ideal target audience for this kind of approach) will be walked through every moment of their likely actions, with bulleted points and graphics designed to maximize basic understanding and minimize frustrating missteps. They will learn about hard drives, file storage, and, in the book’s concluding section, Microsoft specifically. And throughout the manual, Riddle frequently injects consistent notes of both optimism and enthusiasm that will be extremely welcome to readers struggling with what can seem to be a very daunting new world. “Most computers come with a variety of goodies that is just fantastic,” he writes in one such outburst. “When I first started to learn about computers, I was like a kid in a candy show.” His concentration on Microsoft is likewise both wise and strategic. It’s the famous operating system that his readers are most likely to encounter in offices and homes—and the one that will probably confuse them on first exposure. His skill at compressing and clarifying is nothing short of amazing; readers will be pleasingly astounded at how much ground this compact guide covers in such little space.

An invitingly clear and upbeat elementary breakdown of computer basics for a general audience.