Thursday, June 18, 2009

Free Online Classes and more From HP plus Photoshop Elements 7 for only $59.99...


I taught myself computers when I was a stay at home mom by taking online classes. I would do them while the kids were napping or playing and enjoyed expanding my knowledge in different areas. Today, thanks to all the skills I acquired I work in the computer field and I still love to learn all I can about computers and software. One of my favorite sites for free, decent classes is the HP learning center. It has classes in lots of different areas:

  • Digital Photography (Camera composition, creativity, taking close-ups, taking people shots, photo restoration, etc.)
  • Software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Photoshop, Vista, Web-building, Programming, etc.)

  • IT Professionals (Data protection, security, firewalls, Linux, network infrastructure, etc.)

  • Business Skills (Building & funding your business, time management, marketing, etc.)

  • Computing and Networking (Networking basics, laptop pc's, server technology, backup strategies, etc.)

  • Government & Education (Grant writing, IT management, virus protection, internet safety, web strategy, educator resources, etc.)

  • Graphic Arts (Adobe Photoshop, large format printing, etc.)

But wait, it doesn't stop there. Want to learn to take better photo's? How about editing and restoring photos? HP has an entire Digital Photography Center dedicated to helping you pick out software and learning to use it. If you just want a very basic photo editor, they even offer their Photosmart Essentials software for free download!

Finally, HP also has a Creative Studio where you can download and print free projects. There is everything from a family tree to back seat summer travel games, to scrapbooking and NBA themed projects. If you are looking to upgrade to some serious photo software, you can also get the Download only (no cd) version of Photoshop Elements 7 for only $59.99. (This is the FULL version which regularly retails for $99.99 and is a HOAD.) This Photoshop offer ends July 6th, but you can download a 30 day trial version first to see if you like it!

Just make sure you have plenty of time to browse, learn and play before you get on HP's website. You probably won't want to leave for a bit.:)

2 comments:

Becky @ Babes in Hairland said...

So I've got PSE 6 - does it just update that or completly upload a new version? Do you know? What about all my photo's and stuff that are in PSE6? Does it all transfer over w/o issues?! I'd love to upgrade for 1/2 the price! Thanks for all the info on all these great free tips ... also ... how different is 7 from 6? Maybe you don't know, but any wise words would help this computer dummy! :)

*~Petra~* said...

When you download you will want to hit "save" and it should give you the entire PSE7 version. (Not an upgrade.) That is what it did for me. I would recommend downloading the 30 day free trial to see what the differences are. As far as the photo's. Your photo's are always stored on your hard drive, not in the actual software. It just indexes them for you so you should have no problem finding your pics with the new software. My guess is it will search for all the pics on your hard drive and index them for you automatically. That is what most good photo editing programs do. Sorry I can't be of more help. I haven't used any of the elements software before this one.