Are you considering pursuing it as a career? Or simply just interested? There are numerous Technical Colleges around that provide IT training. I'm in a networking course at a Tech school, and the circiculum comes from www.labsimonline.com. They are web browser (and desktop) based Lab Simulators that let you explore many computer functions (without messing yours up!) and most of them prep you for a certification test, so you're killing two birds with one stone. Some of the courses provided are: Network + , Windows 7 Configuration , A + , Windows Server 2008 , etc. So far these classes and Labs have been of great help. Anyone can purchase a one time only keygen that last about 3 years, but they are a bit expensive. $150-$20.
I also went out to a Books a Million and purchased Networking for Dummies. It has 9 books put into one, and the author really helps by breaking the complex terms down into basic ideas and understandings.
Try going on Cisco.com, Comptia.com, Microsoft.com. Check out all of their certification paths and pick some. go search amazon for some good reading material and STUDY. Getting certified is a great start! Cheaper than school too