A friend needs some suggestions for a computer program that teaches you how to type. A ton of stuff shows up in a search of the net, so I’m wondering if anyone has personal experience with a good program.
I learned how to type years ago, so I have no idea what programs are out there for this sort of thing.
YYour help is appreciated, as always!
I learned to type years ago using Mavis Beacon Typing Tutor. Not that I can do 90 words a minute, but I’m not bad.
Zev Steinhardt
I can’t help, but I’m also interested. Just getting on the ‘list’, 
Peace,
mangeorge
Micro Type Pro is good, my high school used it. I emailed myself a copy to use at home; I have no idea where you can buy it.
There’s a PC demo for what seems (very oddly) to be only a Dreamcast game: “The Typing of the Dead”. It’s highly amusing, a conversion of a lightgun game that originally involved blasting zombies apart with a specialized gun-shaped controller you aim at the TV screen. In this case, you type the zombies to death.
For teaching typing, well, not so good, but by gum it’s fun to drill with.
I’ll echo zev. Except that I can type about 90 words per minute*. 
I learned to touch-type w/Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing v5. It’s a pretty old program, and I don’t know how many newer versions have come out since then. The version I have was taught me to type well enough that I never felt the need to upgrade.
On the version I have, the only downside is the corny music. If you can get past that, you’ll find well paced tutorials. In general, the program does a good job of making sure you’re ready to move on before it introduces new keys.
I’m not sure, but since it’s so old, I’ll bet that you can find this program in the deep discount bin at your local software store. If you can find it, by all means pick it up.
*At least that’s what Mavis tells me.
I’ll echo the echo, if you don’t mind: I learned on Mavis Beacon as well.
I also have a few suggestions for beginning typers. I’m not an expert typing-teacher (although I have successfully helped several friends learn how to type), but I consider myself an expert typist (100-120 wpm). I’m adding my qualifications simply because my suggestions go against the majority opinion; most programs/people are hardcore “DON’T LOOK AT YOUR FINGERS!!!” types. I’d have to say that for extreme beginners, it helps a lot to be able to look at your hands to make sure they’re staying in the right place, using the right fingers, etc. If you’re getting any of these wrong because you’re not looking down, you can get into some very difficult habits.
After a few of the keys (like the home keys) are down pretty well, it’s good to practice for awhile without looking at your fingers. Then add some more keys, etc.
Once the letters and shift keys are down, type a LOT of real literature, as opposed to more exercises and stuff. This will help get your fingers used to patterns in real words, instead of zqkj hdwwxp type stuff. Try to keep your eyes on the screen as much as possible (ideally the literature is on the screen). But this shouldn’t be the focus, and any time you forget where a key is, LOOK DOWN. None of that qweadzxc when you’re looking for the ‘s’ key. That only gets you into bad habits, and it doesn’t train your finger to hit the s key when necessary, but instead to mash all the keys next to it.
Every so often (actually quite often) check back to see if you’re using the right fingers for the right keys. You HAVE to avoid bad habits. Once you’re pretty good at typing, the remaining looking-down stuff will fade away if you make a conscious effort. It won’t be hard, because you’ll know all the keys anyway!
Be aware that occasionally a particular letter will be REALLY awkward the way you’re supposed to do it. People vary, as do typing programs. My very old version of Mavis said to use the index finger for ‘r’, but I use my middle finger. That’s not a bad habit. Bad habits are things like hitting x with your index finger because it’s easier when you’re just starting. It’ll screw stuff up later. Anyway, that’s all of my suggestions for now
You hit the “R” button with your middle finger? Shame on you! Mavis Beacon cries…
Naw, just kiddin’.
I’ll always hit the the “6” key with my left hand. 
BTW, on the version of Mavis Beacon that I have, there’s a little on-screen keyboard with “ghost” hands. This really helps beginners break the habit of looking down to find the right key. Plus, I think if you take it slowly and learn the keys in small groups, looking down won’t really be a problem.
mavis tought me to tipe to. itsi hard to gorong with mavis exept thea dont deal with speling.
Seriously though, Mavis Beacon is inexpensive and really is immediately effective. I had countless hours of typing in school and it didn’t help me near as much as Mavis did quickly.
Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country. .0001 seconds…beat that!
It has already been mentioned once, but I’d like to put in a good word for Typing of the Dead.
I’m not exactly sure how well it introduces typing to a beginner, as I never went through its tutorial in full, but I know that it explains what most other programs do too, such as the home row, where the hands go, which fingers hit which keys and so on.
Typing of the dead offers a lot of different options on how to work on your typing. In addition to the actual game, there are different drill modes. So if you feel like working on speed, you can see how many zombies you can type to death in x number of seconds. If you instead feel like working on accuracy or the special keys (!@#$%^&*()), there are a number of drills for that as well. The game keeps records of your best times so that you can watch your typing improve, which I think is very cool.
The reason I think this is such a good program is that it not only covers and teaches the basics of typing, but it’s actually fun. I know I got really bored when I was learning to type back in fifth grade on some cheap apple II program typing the same thing over and over and over again. In this game, not only do you rarely see the same words/sentences too much, but the words aren’t as boring as what I’ve seen with other programs.
Here’s something that will help build up your accuracy/speed/amusement level as you see fit. That’s all I would ever ask for in a typing tutor.
The only thing is… you might have a hard time finding a place to buy it…I personally, uh, borrowed it from a friend.
I liked “Typing Tutor IV” and improved my typing speed and accuracy tremendously. The thing I liked best is that it was “heuristic,” that is, it recorded your keystroke speeds and what keys you made mistakes on the most often, and drilled you extra on your weak spots. The course seemed to pack the most drill into the least effort, and reformed a lot of my bad typing habits.
I see that now the product is “Simon and Schuster Interactive Typing Tutor 10.0” and surely it’s even better than the v4 I used.
I’ll echo the vote for Typing of the Dead. It’s a great game. If you’re not sure about it, download the demo at 3dfiles.com and give it a shot.
My workplace has just received five packages of Typequick, which is an Australian-written typing tutor program that’s gained an excellent reputation over a number of years.
I have used a previous version that ran in DOS (and worked very well) but I have not looked at the new version yet.
An excellent Typing teacher is Mavis Beacon which you can get at any local Comp Usa or Best Buy store. Mavis Beacon has been around for almost 20 years and hasn’t failed anyone yet. It’s what I used when I was in High School and the entire typing class was structured around it
We use this one on our public machines where I work and people seem to really like it.
Off to IMHO.
I thank you, and I’m sure Grok thanks you all for your good advice.
I’m off to do some shopping.
Peace,
mangeorge