Learn Any Computer Program in 5 Easy Steps -- Step 1

Yesterday, I told you that any program can be learned in 5 easy steps. Now, these 5 steps won't make you an expert, but they can help you get started. Once you get your feet wet with these steps, then you can focus on what you want to learn how to do instead of wading through stuff that is the same from program to program.

So let's get to that first step!

Step 1: The box

The first step to learning any program is to read the box. Now, I know this sounds basic, and it really is. But it can be the most critical step. Why? Because the box can tell you a lot of information long before you even run the program for the first time. So what are you looking for when reading the box?

The first, and most important, is to answer the question "Will this program do what I need it to do?" Nothing can be more frustrating than to buy a program only to get home and find that it won't do what you bought the program to do. Look through the list of the features to make sure that the program will do what you want it to do. While there may not be a "list" of features, you can usually tell what the capabilities are by what it says it can do. If there are a list of features, it might be on the sides. Some programs compare themselves to other, similar programs. This can be helpful in deciding. Some boxes have a book-like flap. This can be a great place to look for features.

Once you are certain that the program will do what you want it to do, the next thing to make sure that it will run on your computer. If the program will not run on your computer, it is just as useless as if it could not do what you needed it to do. The system requirements will usually be stated on the sides or bottom of the box. The key things to look at are the minimum and the recommended requirements. Pay special attention to CPU and memory requirements, as these can affect performance more than any other. Also, make sure that you have the right version of the operating system needed to run the program. While a program could run on a system outside of theses requirements, the makers of the software won't guarantee it. In fact, in many cases, the install program may even fail if certain requirements are not met. So this is an important piece to pay attention to.

So what if you are downloading the program from the internet and are not holding a physical box? The great news is that any decent program worth trying on your computer will have all of this information where you can find it. And in many cases, this information can be more detailed than information that you find on a box.

Now that you know what to look for, and you have the software ready to install, tomorrow we'll look at the next step -- The Quickstart guide.