Forum REALLY a beginner

Am so old have only written on typewriters...yes, I know...ancient lady. Computer savy only for emailing, shopping, games. What would be a good yet user friendly software program to use for short story writing?

Have you tried Microsoft Word?  I would recommend the 2003 version.  I feel that is more user friendly than the 2007 and 2010 versions, especially for beginners.  I don't know how familiar you are with Microsoft Word.  It has a spell and grammar checker as well as a word counter.  I hope this helps. 

welcome from another....um.. mature writer. yeah, i remember typewriters before they even plugged in.
anyway, if i were you i'd just dig around on your computer and find out what programs you have available that were installed when you bought it. most of the computers i've had over the years contain some sort of word processing program hiding amongst all the standard software. often it's some Microsoft program such as Word, MS Office, or MS Works. the word processors are easy enough to figure out. don't be afraid of them. for short pieces, there might be a Notepad feature on your computer that might come in handy.
good luck.

Thanks invs and Sapphire Jewel.

...and if all else fail, there is always a plain ole email or here on WC. Writer's Cafe works rather well, actually. But I do recommend always keeping an updated backup.

I am equally as old, lol  and Microsoft Works Word works!!!

Actually in light of one post I saw, I would suggest staying away from Microsoft Word Works Proccessor. It continually crashes every time I attempt to copy and paste some text from a website to the program. Microsoft Word *is* a good program to use, although it does cost money. The more recent versions do, at least. I would personally suggest "Open Office," considering it's free, and has a large majority of the features that Microsoft Word does. Cheers. ~Kage

honestly I'm 13 and I've found Microsoft completely unreliable it often crashes and wipes out my work. I use paper and pen and then type it into writers-cafe to post. If you do use Microsoft I suggest only for a quick copy and paste option for a backup.