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How to help a user who can't find the Start button or the keyboard?

Martin Summers Silver badge

"Which is a perfectly reasonable thing to do - if this is the very, very first time you have ever used a computer."

No, I would argue that it really isn't. That would be like me not having ever driven before thinking it perfectly reasonable to drive around on the pavement or backwards everywhere. Thing is, because I have what's called common sense, I didn't do that, because I observed drivers driving on the road where they are meant to be and certainly not going backwards. So if someone was going to be learning how to use a computer, as computers have been around for even longer than I have, I would at least expect that the learner has been able to observe how others use the computer (specifically the mouse at this point) either on TV in pictures or perhaps even around them at the college while they are sat there. I used to do the same job as you some time back and this mouse on the screen thing actually happened while I was watching. I fear there is little chance of someone who hasn't learnt via observation at least a little bit is not going to get very far with a computer. Children learn by observation and they are unlikely to do this having never used a computer before.

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