how do i became computar literate?

On a serious note, how would I go about doing this? I'm not saying I'm a complete fucktard with computers, but I want to learn more than I already do. Lately, I've been wanting to get into programming again (before it didn't work out, because I didn't know anything about hardware), but this time I want to actually know what I'm doing. I know all the basics (TCP/IP, hardware, etc). What should I look at to learn more stuff?

help appreciated.

two ideas to try:

1) You don't know what you don't know. A good way t find out what you don't know is t try to teach other people stuff; their questions will point out your lack of knowledge.  There are plenty of places where newbies ask for help.  visit those places and provide help.

2) Learn by doing. buy cheap shitty computers.  buy cheap shitty networking stuff.  try and make it work.  then, when you've got it working, break something, and fix it.  then, when you've fixed it, install a different OS on one of the boxes.  make sure you have a wide range of hardware and software.