Tech Tutor Video: Computer Basics for Beginners

Our house laptop has been mysteriously slow for a couple months, and I’ve tried a bunch of things to speed it up, including: removing extraneous files, defragmenting, check disk, virus check, and checking the wireless network speed. All of these efforts to no avail. At this point, I suspected extraneous background services were sapping this system’s resources (RAM) and I needed a tool to help discover them. Based on some web research, existing recommendations point to WinPatrol.

I downloaded WinPatrol free version from Cnet’s download.com (as you know, it’s my favorite place to learn about programs) onto this laptop. After the install I eagerly anticipated finding a lurking service, and to my dismay, everything looked okay. However, when I clicked on the ‘IE Helpers’ tab I found a malicious looking browser-helper-object (BHO). I had to do some web searching to find out that this was surely a bad-guy. (Alternatively, you can purchase the WinPatrol Pro version for $24.95 that gives you access to their database of information and recommendations about which programs to remove). After I was sure I wanted that BHO out of there, I used the ‘remove’ function from within WinPatrol. And what a relief! We are back surfing the internet at blazing speed! I’m a new raving fan of this product. If you’re interested, I also located on Cnet this brief instruction on how to use WinPatrol.

Next task is to get WinPatrol on my father-in-law’s laptop to tame his system tray!

Best Wishes, Brett

NPR news reported a great story today about Elder Widsom Circle. Elder Wisdom Circle is a group of senior volunteers who answer requests for advice sent to them via their web site.

Elder participants, who must be at least 60 years old and pass a screening, can participate from their home computer or via groups in various nursing homes.

I’m impressed with this concept; first it shows respect and admiration for the wisdom of our elders, second it uses computers and the internet to unite Seniors in a virtual community, and finally, its goal is to help others.

Well Done!

Even for casual use, learning keyboard shortcuts is a great way to enhance your experience using your computer. If you’ve ever watched a friend or family member fly around the computer with the screen flashing so fast you can barely keep up, they are probably using some keyboard shortcuts to get around.

One keyboard shortcut I couldn’t live without is “Alt + Tab”. This keyboard shortcut command switches between active programs running on your computer. To execute this command, first hold down the “Alt” key, then while remaining to hold the “Alt” key, press the “Tab” key. Now lift up the “Tab” key. This will switch you between two active programs. If you have more than two programs, you can press the “Tab” key multiple times (still holding “Alt”) which will move through multiple applications. A display box with icons will appear indicating what program you are moving to. This command is a great “click saver”, meaning you don’t have to reach and use your mouse each time you want to switch programs.

There is a giant list of helpful keyboard shortcuts commands, but don’t let this list intimidate you. Most computer users use only a fraction of the shortcuts in this list, but everyone seems to have their own favorite command. I encourage you to pick a few commands and experiment. After some practice with some of these shortcuts, your kids and family members will start asking you, “Hey, how did you open that page so fast?”.

We’ll be talking about “Alt + Tab” and more keyboard shortcuts in our next training video, currently in production. Until then, keep surfin’ and we’ll see you soon.

I’ve always been impressed with the beauty and flexibility of what can be achieved with oil and acrylic paint. I’ve also been a bit fearful of placing that first brush to canvas, knowing what horrors may arise. I think I’ve found a great way to test out some ideas and get a bit of feel for painting without the cleanup.

I downloaded the free version of Art Rage 2 from Ambient Designs, and as you can see, I already have my first attempt in progress (no intent of quitting my day job just yet). The interface is wonderfully clean and simple, and with the first few strokes, you can clearly see the details of the brush streaks in the paint. Pretty amazing.

I am by no means an artist, but I know I will have a lot of fun experimenting with this tool. This fine example has already been exported to a jpg and is now my desktop background.

We’ve recently had some questions about the best way to introduce someone to using a mouse. Our answer is typically ‘Solitare’. There are some other web-based mouse learning tools, but the best way to get someone comfortable is to let them start with a game that is familiar. The Solitare game is included with Microsoft operaing systems. Access this game by going to your start button > ‘All Programs’ > ‘Accessories’ > ‘Games’ and click Solitare. Users will learn mouse basics such as pointer movement and left-click.

Deceptive pop-up adds really frustrate me. Not because I fall victim to them, but because I can only imagine the confusion these ads cause new computer users. What are these things? Plain and simple, they are trying to sell you something by mimicking warning messages. Don’t be fooled- clicking on these ads is only encouragement to the advertiser. Let’s discuss some ways to identify these annoyances, avoid them, and close them.

Here is an example:

This is typically “popped up” or “popped” behind the web page you are viewing. The advertisement is mimicking a system warning message. This is not a warning message, only a web page in a web browser with all the toolbars removed. If you click on this message, you are forwarded to the website of whatever they are selling or offering. As always, be wary of any “free” offers on the web.

How to Tell it is an Advertisement

The obvious tip that the pop up is an advertisement is that it has some sort of free offer. No real “System Messages” coming from your computer will include such offers.

The second giveaway in this example is in the title bar of the window (top part in blue). In it is the word “Advertisement”. Not all producers of such pop-ups are so kind to include this, but be warned when they do.

Avoiding These “Pop Ups” in the First Place

An imperfect solution, because they don’t prevent all “pop-ups”, but helpful none the less is a pop-up blocker. Pop-up blockers are included with Windows XP2 and various toolbar extensions from AOL, MSN, or Google. They are also native to some of the more progressive web browswers such as Firefox and Opera (but more on those later).

If you do get one, just close it!

Close these ads by right-clicking the red X in the top right corner.

Best wishes and happy internet surfing.

We’ve heard that the Internet can seem a bit overwhelming for newcomers. To help overcome this “where do I start?” feeling, we’ve highlighted a few good places to begin your exploration, including where to go to make sure your Windows is updated, and a list of the more common anti-virus software makers.

Portal/Search Sites

Yahoo - A massive web portal including free email, news, games, search, chat, and just about everything else.
MSN - Microsoft’s portal on the web including email, news, search, etc.
Google - The quintessential internet search site.

Knowledge / History

Wikipedia - An encyclopedia anyone can add to or edit.
The History Net - Online articles from History Magazines.

Microsoft Sites

Microsoft - The main page for Microsoft Corporation.
Microsoft Windows Update - Where to check if your Windows software is up to date.
Microsoft Security at Home - A great place to learn more about viruses and internet safety.

Anti-Virus Software Makers

McAfee - Home page for McAfee
Norton - Home page for Norton
Trend Micro PC-cillin - Home page for Trend Micro

Product Reviews

Cnet - Great tech product reviews.

Health

Healthfinder - A U.S. goverment website with links to health news and information.
WebMD - Numerous tools and resources for specific health information.

Entertainment

PBS Online - Portal for companion websites to PBS television shows and specials.
PBS Online - Companion to the Discovery Channel.

Space / Science

Mars Exploration Rover Mission - Details on the Mars rovers.
Exploratorium - The Exploratorium is a museum of science, art, and human perception located in San Francisco, California. Online since 1993, the Exploratorium was one of the first science museums to build a site on the World Wide Web.

When helping friends and family with their computers, I like to show them the Microsoft Defrag utility. For one, it’s easy to use, but also, primarily because it really does the trick in helping to speed up disk access and overall system performance.

A Little Background
When you save information to your computer hard drive, it sometimes end up scattered across different areas on the physical disk (kind of like the papers strewn in my office). This is known as fragmentation. Over time, this fragmentation increases, especially when adding or removing lots of data or programs. If this data on your disk is ordered more effectively, you computer can access it more quickly. Hence, the Defrag utility.

Using Defrag
You can access the defrag utility by clicking on Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter. It should look like this:

Click the ‘Analyze’ button to check the fragmentation first, or if you’re the adventurous type, click the ‘Defragment’ button. Depending on the speed of your computer and the degree of fragmentation, this may take a bit of time. Sit and watch the colors change from ‘red’ bad to ‘blue’ good. Or find something else to do for a bit and let this run for awhile.

Note, if your disk is highly fragmented, you may need to run the defragment utility a couple times to straighten your data out. And remember to run this utility every so often (I run it a couple times a month) as standard maintenance.

There you go. You are now an expert on ‘defragging’ and can go help your friends. Now if only I could find a similar utility to help clean up my office.