AI for complete beginners: what to install on your computer and phone, and the difference between chat, Cowork, and Claude Code

I'm preparing for [a meeting with three suppliers about shipment
delays]. I'm pasting in my messy notes:

[paste your notes as they are — bullet points and typos are fine]

Turn this into:
1. a 30-minute agenda with a time breakdown of the points
2. one sentence per point on what I want to achieve
3. three questions I have to ask even if time runs out
4. a list of information I need to gather beforehand

Keep it short and to the point. Where something's missing from
my notes, ask rather than guess.

I'm a complete beginner, this is my first time working with a
command line. In the folder you're running in, I have [three
years of scanned invoices].

For now, don't change, delete, or rename ANYTHING. Just look around
and write down:
- how many files are here and of what types
- what naming pattern they follow, if any
- which files look like duplicates
- what you'd suggest renaming or reorganizing, and why

At the end, spell out exactly what steps you'd take if I approved
them, and which of those couldn't be undone. Explain it in plain
language, I'm a layperson.

You have my calendar and email connected, read-only for now.
Don't send anything, don't create anything, don't cancel anything
— just put together an overview for me.

Go through my calendar for the next seven days and my email from
the last three days:
1. what I have firmly scheduled this week, chronologically, with times
2. which meetings the email suggests I should prepare something for
3. which emails I clearly haven't replied to and someone's waiting on me
4. where two events overlap, or where I have less real time between
   locations than the schedule implies

For each point, note which specific event or email it came from,
so I can verify it.

Work in this project's folder, but read-only for now.
Don't edit, don't create, don't rename anything.

The folder has [scanned receipts and invoices from the last
quarter]. Go through all of it and tell me:
1. how many files there are, of what types, and covering what period
2. which files are unreadable, blurry, or cut off and will need
   to be rescanned
3. which look like duplicates of the same document
4. what in the folder, in your view, doesn't belong to this task at all

Then suggest how to turn this into one spreadsheet: which columns
it should have and why those specifically.
Don't build the spreadsheet yet — wait for my approval.

This is dictated, expect typos and names that might be transcribed
wrong. Where you're not sure, ask rather than guess.

So. I'm coming back from a meeting with a client, their name is
[name], they do [field], and they'd like us to [job]. About five
things came up that I need to remember. First, they want it done
by [deadline], which feels tight to me. Second, they asked about
price and I said I'd send a quote by the end of the week. Third,
they had reservations about [item], I'll need to address that in
the contract. And they also mentioned something about [another
item], but I didn't quite catch it.

Turn this into meeting notes with a task list of who does what by
when, list separately what I promised and by when, and write three
questions I should have asked and didn't.

I'm attaching a photo of [a whiteboard after a meeting / handwritten
notes]. First, transcribe exactly what you see in the image,
including anything hard to read — for uncertain spots, write
[illegible].

Then turn it into:
1. a task list in the form: who — what — by when
2. decisions that, according to the notes, were made
3. points that were left open

Don't guess at names or deadlines that aren't in the image. Where
a responsible person or date is missing, write NOT SPECIFIED.

I need [a poster for an open house] for [audience]. Don't make an
image — I know you can't. Prepare a brief for an image generator
and the text that will appear in the visual.

I want:
1. three visual concepts, one sentence each
   (what's in the image, what mood, what colors)
2. for the chosen concept, a detailed brief for the generator: what's
   in the foreground, what's in the background, style, color palette,
   format, where text should fit
3. the text separately: a headline under 5 words, a subhead under
   12 words, practical details ([date, location, time])
4. one sentence per concept on why it might not work

Write the generator brief in English, the text in [language].

Over the past week we worked through these things together:
[list in bullet points what you tried, including what didn't work]

I work as a [profession] at a [type of organization], my job is
mainly [what you focus on], and the biggest time sink is
[time-waster].

Based on this, suggest text for my custom instructions — permanent
information about me you should remember for future conversations:
- who I am and what context I work in
- how I want you to write (length, tone, structure of answers)
- what to always include and always flag for me
- what to avoid

Write it as finished text ready to paste in, no more than 200 words,
in the first person as if I wrote it. Then, separately, explain why
you included each part, so I can edit it myself.