It has come to DrHGuy's attention that many readers are, by their own report, computer illiterate, a condition causing much embarrassment, especially when confronted with the whippersnapper generation that grew up in a cyber-saturated culture.  

DrHGuy offers a remedy - two easy, fun, no-risk Easter Eggs (named because they are hidden like Easter Eggs) from Google.  Now, knowing these maneuvers will not improve your useful computer skills, but they will accomplish a far more important goal - amazing the kids (unless your kids are themselves dedicated geeks, in which case they will be impressed that you know what an Easter Egg is - and how to use a keyboard).

Note: In my experience, both of these Easter Eggs work more rapidly and more reliably with FireFox and Chrome browsers than with Internet Explorer.

1. Zerg Rush is the latest in Google Easter Eggs. Enter the words “zerg rush” into the Google search box on the Google.com site. The usual search results appear on what seems like a normal page.

Clicking or tapping on the attacking Os will eliminate them one by one. Google keeps score, listing your hit count, showing the number of Os you've destroyed and your average rate per minute.

As is true in life, however, it's ultimately a losing battle. When your last search result is vanquished, two Gs ("Good Game") appear on the screen with your total score at the top. 

The hidden fame is Google’s homage to the computer game “Starcraft.” The Zergs are one of the alien races in the game and “Zerg Rush” is a game tactic.

2. Barrel Roll is an older (dating all the way back to November 2011), less elaborate nod by Google to gamers (specifically emulating a movement from the Nintendo video game Star Fox 64) but is perhaps even more dramatic than Zerg Rush.

Enter "do a barrel roll” or “Z or R twice” in the Google search box and watch the page rotate 360 degrees.

Get more windows on the Web with a three-monitor setup Probably the best bang for the buck improvement to ones computer use is adding a monitor - or two. Once I began using multiple monitors for my computer work, using a single screen became almost painful. While the difference between two and more than two monitors is less profound than the advantage gained by going from one to two screens, the improvement is nonetheless obvious. These apps help manage multiple monitors environment