Some people using the Internet for the first time are also using a computer for the first time. In spite of claims by enthusiasts who have years of experience with computers, they are not totally obvious if you've never seen one before. Many things can be seen and dealt with on the surface, but there are several basic tasks you should learn to perform to have a good beginning control of your computer. Here's a list to either start from, or check yourself against.

You should be able to turn your computer off properly.

You should know how the keyboard and mouse work with the computer. You should know what the two mouse buttons do differently (Apple computers just have one button). It doesn't matter whether you had typing in classes, but you should know of the Enter key (or Return key, on older keyboards), the backspace key, the delete key, the arrow keys, the alternate key, the control key. It's a little different in a computer.

When a window opens, you should be able to return to the previous window, or at least close the one you've come to, knowing that you haven't accidentally changed something.

You should be able to open a file. You should be able to save a file, find a file, copy a file, move a file, and delete a file.

You should be able to open a folder. You should be able to create a folder, find the folder, place it where you want, save things into it, remove things from it.

You should be familiar both with the main screen of your computer and with the it's organization. In Windows 3.11 that's Program Manager and File Manager. In Windows 95 or 98, that's the Desktop and Windows Explorer. In Apple computers, that's the Desktop and the Hard Drive.

You should be able to make the main screen look the way you want, and show what you want. You should know what each icon is, whether it's a shortcut, whether you can move it or delete it.