Patrons are on a separate NT domain from staff. Until recently, dedicated WP PCs were not networked, but virus problems necessitated networking so that updates could be sent to the local PCs remotely. With the exception of LearningLinks, patrons are supposed to be self-sufficient. We don't promise a lot of help, but patrons who use the PCs are often inexperienced and they do need some basic assistance. For example, they use the space bar for formatting then can't understand why it gets them in trouble later on.
Staff provide limited assistance as time and their own expertise permit.
Easy, visually-oriented manuals are provided. I think staff feel more secure in their knowledge of Word basics than they did a few years ago, so the stress level is reduced a bit. Staff have been encouraged to attend formal Word training sessions offered monthly by library training staff, and this has been a big help. We do monitor time. Most branches set an hour time limit.