Thanks folks! Me mind is reeling trying to make sense of it. I'm gettingnthe odd glimmerinmg of understanding. Maybe in the morning I might be able to make more sense.

So far I've always found that, when you actually get round to working out how something is done, it's normally pretty easy. Much easier than playing a musical instrument. But the manuals get written by people who seem to have different shaped brains.

And that applies just as much to all these series of boopks with titles like "Computers for really stupid people like you". Jokes and cartoons and pseudo hippy chit chat to soften you up - and then, wham, they hit you with a lump of undigested technology. About the only people I can understand when it comes to conmputers are on the Mudcat.

Mostly I just put the manual on one side, and fiddle away until something goes right.Like putting flkat-pack furniture tiogether, chuck away the instructions once you've checked that all the bits are there, and try to think like Robinson Crusoe.