This question was asked by Paul Prior. Paul wrote saying, “Out of curiosity, after updates I get a message saying to restart my computer, which I always do. What’s the reason for this?”

Transcription begins:

This is a pretty simple thing to understand when you think about it the right way.

First off, the updates he’s talking about are Windows updates, or software updates as they’re called on the Mac. These are fixes and improvements that have been issued by Microsoft, in the case of Windows, or, in the case of Mac OS X, by Apple.

Generally, on the Windows side, they’re almost exclusively fixes for problems. On the Mac side, they are maybe 50% to 75% fixes for problems, and 25% to 50% are actually improvements and enhancements they’ve added in.

You want to do these updates pretty much any time they come out, especially on the Windows side. It’s not just on the Windows side. I should be fair. Any time there’s a security update on the Mac or Windows side, you always want to do that as soon as you can. Most updates are security updates on the Windows side, generally speaking.

It’s never a bad idea to do a backup first just in case. Occasionally, some people will have problems with these updates. It’s a minority, but some people have run into problems. As a precaution, it’s a good idea to do a backup first.

Doing the updates is a really important thing to do because it fixes problems and security issues. If they’re not fixed, they can cause your computer to get invaded by a hacker, malicious program or what have you. You don’t want to have that happen.
By doing the updates, in many cases, the computer has to restart. Paul was wondering why this is.

Think of it this way. The files on your computer are like a rug. If you’re standing on a rug, can you take that rug, pick it up and clean it? Probably not because you’re standing on it. It’s in use. Files are much the same. If a file is in use, it can’t be picked up and replaced with a new version of the file just as you could not replace the rug with a new rug until you get everything off of it.

Essentially, what happens when you restart the computer after the update is it’s getting all the stuff off the rugs, picking the rugs up and replacing them with new rugs, so to speak. That’s why you have to restart the computer after you do an update.
Basically, it’s just a matter of getting out of the way of the files so they’re not in use and they can be replaced.

Hopefully that makes sense and answers your question.

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

In this audio lesson & transcript, I’m going to take a question from Mark. He writes and asks, “What’s a flash drive?”

Transcript of computer lesson begins:
A flash drive is a type of storage device for a computer. A storage device is the broad or general term for anything that is used to store data or files.

A hard drive in your computer is a storage device. An old floppy disk is a storage device. A CD-ROM or DVD is a storage device, and so is a flash drive.

A lot of people call flash drives by specific brand names. They think that is the correct name for them. Sometimes they’ll refer to them as a thumb drive, jump drive, go drive, key drive or any number of things. These are actually all brand names or partial brand names that people have mistakenly thought was the correct general term for that type of device.

A flash drive is a little piece of solid state storage. That means there are no moving parts. From the outside, it looks basically like a uniform block.

If you dig inside of it, there’s what’s referred to as a disk, but it’s not a disk shape, unlike a hard drive. Inside of a hard drive, there is a physical disk that looks like a disk. Even with floppy disks, I’ve heard people over the years say they aren’t disks. Technically they are. It’s square on the outside, but if you rip open an old floppy disk, you’ll find a disk inside. It would actually flop. It’s not rigid.

Basically, a flash drive uses something called flash memory. That’s solid state, so there are no physical moving parts unlike with a hard drive. That has a physical disk, like I mentioned, which spins much like an old record or a CD does when it’s playing.

That has a little thing called a read/write head that moves around and reads information from the disk and writes information to the disk. There are a lot of physical moving parts.
That uses more electricity than something that’s solid state. It also usually takes up more space than something that’s solid state. The big advantage of flash memory is that it’s very small and lightweight, and it doesn’t use much power.

You get these little devices that can store an increasing amount of information, or data, on them. They only take up a very small amount of room.

Any mobile device like an iPhone or any smartphone typically has some kind of flash memory in it. It wouldn’t make any sense to try to put a miniature hard drive in them. While there are hard drives that could fit in there, it would use way more battery power and run the battery down really fast.

There’s also an increased chance of damage to the disk and loss of files by impact. One of the liabilities of the hard drive is that because it has spinning and moving parts, if something hits it or it gets dropped, it can damage the drive, and you can lose files.

There are safeguards in modern hard drives that make it so they very rapidly will stop the disk spinning to minimize the risk of that damage, but it’s still one of the downsides of them and one of the reasons they’re not used in mobile devices.

The big advantage with flash drives is that they’re very small, light and portable.

In terms of dollar per megabyte or dollar per gigabyte, they are significantly more expensive than hard drives. The difference in price is getting less and less as time goes by, and you’re getting more and more storage space on these little flash drives.

I remember probably in 2002, I spent something close to $400 on a 1 gigabyte flash drive. These days in 2011, not a decade on from them but getting close, I don’t think you can even get a 1 gigabyte flash drive because it’s such a small amount.

The smallest amount you can get is at least 8 gigabytes. I’m not sure. I haven’t looked at this recently. It may be 16 gigabytes by this point. You can get that for a few dollars. That’s just how it is. It’s pretty crazy, but that’s a pretty typical thing with computers.

I hope that makes sense. It’s basically another method of storing files. Typically, you can just plug flash drives into a USB port on your computer and drag and drop files. You’ll be able to then unplug it, plug it into another computer, and it’s a way of transferring files back and forth. It also is a way you can back up your files to make a spare copy of them to protect them.

That’s pretty much what a flash drive is.

You might have heard of them as jump drives, thumb drives, go drives or what have you, but those are all examples of flash drives. It’s not, in other words, the generic term for a flash drive.

Basically, that’s what a flash drive is. It’s a small storage device that’s easily carried around. You can put it in your pocket, plug it in, move files on and off a computer, unplug it, and put it back in your pocket. I hope that makes sense.

You can learn more about USB flash drives and how to use them on these easy video lesson courses:

• How to Back Up Your Mac
• How to Back Up Your Windows Computer
• Apple Mac Basics Course
• Microsoft Windows Basics Course

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

This time I’m going to take a question from someone who asks, “What is grounding? I’ve heard it phrased in so many places but don’t know what it is.”

This refers to draining off excess electricity. That’s basically what it’s about.

I’ve talked about how it’s important for someone working on the inside of a computer or any kind of electronic device that they be grounded.

If I work on a computer, take it apart and am upgrading or repairing it, any time I have the case open and am working in the inside of it, I’m always making sure that I’m grounded. The way I do this is that I have a special mat. It has a wrist strap attached to it. Then the entire mat and wrist strapped are attached through a conductive cable to an outlet where I plug in.

You may have noticed that with many, but not all, electrical devices, the power plug has three prongs. The third prong is the ground. The other two are the positive and negative poles that allow the current to flow and create a circuit. It goes in a circle. Then there’s the third prong, and that’s the ground.

On any modern building that’s been wired properly, that third prong is a separate wire. They all essentially go together and eventually have some connection that goes down into the ground, hence the term “grounding.” That drains off excess current. That’s basically what’s going on. For electronics to operate properly, they need to have that excess current bled off.

In terms of static electricity as opposed to the electricity you get from your power outlet, static electricity is generated by moving your arms around, for example. As I’m recording this, I’m gesturing with my hands. That makes no real sense since no one is seeing me when I’m doing this, but I’m still talking with my hands. As I’m doing this, it’s generating static electricity in my body.

If I went and touched a piece of electronics that wasn’t shielded properly, like exposed electronics on the inside of a computer, there would be a static discharge. Whatever the difference is between the charge in myself and the charge in the electronics, when I touch it it’s going to go through. If I’m not grounded, it’s going to go through the electronics and could damage it.

One way to think about this is almost like water pressure. Electricity and water are kind of similar. I like to think of them as being very similar, at least in a metaphorical or analogy way.

Water always flows downwards. It goes down to the lowest point. That’s essentially what electricity does. It always goes down the path of least resistance. It tries to go to ground.

By grounding myself and having this wrist strap on me, the wrist strap is conductive. It conducts electricity, and it’s attached to my skin directly. Everybody’s skin is conductive, so as my body generates that static electricity, it drains right on out of there like water flowing down to the lowest point.

The more static electricity in me, it’s almost like the water pressure building up. Too much pressure in a pipe could potentially burst the pipe. If there’s enough water pressure going through there and nowhere for it to be released, it could burst and damage the pipe.

In our analogy, that’s a circuit. It could be a circuit in a computer or a circuit board that contains many circuits. Those circuits can be burst open by that surge of electricity that comes through from static electricity.

The third prong, the outlet my grounding mat is attached to, is attached to ground or earth. The excess current drains out. Essentially, that’s what grounding is.

How does this relate to the average person? Most people don’t really need to worry about it too much. The typical person is not going to open up their computer and work on the inside of it, I would hope. It’s not usually a good idea.

If you do ever have to do it, particularly if you’ve got a computer tech coming to you or you’re taking it to a shop to have it repaired or upgraded, you want to make sure they follow proper grounding procedures.

Some places will say that it’s good enough that they touch the case occasionally. This particular example really annoyed me when I saw it, but there was a particular place I went one time. The one person was working there picked up a circuit board. It was a motherboard, also known as a main logic board. Before she did, she made a not really valid attempt to ground herself by touching the plastic case.

Plastic, of course, is not conductive. Therefore, it doesn’t work to ground you. They touched the plastic case on a laptop that was sitting on a wooden bench. Wood is not conductive. Plastic is not conductive. The laptop wasn’t even plugged in, which might have provided some pathway for that static electricity to go to ground.

Because the laptop plastic case was nonconductive on a wooden nonconductive surface, when she touched that thing, it didn’t do anything. She did not ground herself. Then she handled the electronic, and that damages it. It may not break it instantly, but it will weaken it and shorten the lifespan of the electronic, so it’s really important.

How does this apply to you? You want to make sure people actually use grounding mats. At the very least, instead of a wrist strap that attaches to a mat, some places will use an ankle strap. That’s essentially the same thing, but it attaches to the ankle instead of the wrist. That’s just as good.

You want to make sure they’re doing something like that. If they’re not, your electronics are not going to be taken care of properly. When you take it in for a repair, they might be doing damage.

The other bit of advice I can give the typical user of a computer is whenever possible, try to use a power adapter with a third prong for ground. This is never really going to be an issue for a desktop computer. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one, and if I have it’s certainly been many years, that did not have that third prong on it to ground.

Laptops, on the other hand, a lot of times come with a power adapter that only has two prongs on it. I’m thinking of some of the Mac laptops. A lot of times the MacBooks have a power adapter that you can pull off the end. It comes with a little square adapter that a two-prong plug flips out of.

That whole little flip out part you can actually pull off, and they provide you with an alternative cable that’s longer and gives you more length to get to the wall. It also gives you a third prong.

I would strongly recommend that if you have a laptop, whether it’s made by Apple or anybody else, if you have the option of choosing a two-prong or three-prong adapter, always use the third prong. It will also protect your laptop better than the two-prong.

Essentially, that’s what grounding is. It’s a way of draining off too much water pressure, so to speak. It’s a matter of having some conductive path that leads between you and the device to earth, or other words, to ground. It drains off the excess.

This protects electronics. Potentially in some cases, it can even protect the person if they’re working with electronics and happen to touch it. If it’s not grounded properly, it could give them a shock. In terms of repairing and working on the inside of it, it’s the static electricity you’re trying to drain. You’re trying to protect the computer and electronics rather than yourself.

Hopefully that makes sense. We gave you a few tips that can help you avoid potential problems and help you choose a good place to repair your computer.
– Audio computer lesson transcription ends –

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

Today I want to answer another computer question, this one coming from Leslie G. who writes:

If you need more step-by-step help with working with photos on your Mac or Windows computer, take use one of the following links to learn more about these easy video lesson courses that cover easy programs for working with pictures:

How to Use Picasa – Course for Microsoft Windows
or
How to Use iPhoto – Course for Apple Mac

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

The following audio & transcript are from a live computer Q&A event I recorded back in 2008, discussing a topic which is just as important today as it was then. This segment is a lesson giving a few tips on choosing a safe password, and also explaining a why it’s important to use strong passwords (and why assuming no one would target you is missing the point).

Due to the nature of the live recording the audio will sound a little “thinner” than usual, and I may talk a little bit faster than I normally do on my “studio recordings”. Use the player below to listen and you can find a transcript of the audio below the player.

AUDIO LESSON TRANSCRIPT BEGINS HERE:

I want to give you a couple of guidelines when you’re setting passwords. There are a lot of mistakes I see people making with passwords.

 

You want to follow some guidelines. One, for example, would be to not use the same password for everything. I know it’s easier to remember, but it’s also an easy way to get into your stuff.

 

You have to think of passwords like keys. I would hope you would not use the same key for your house, car, post office box and safety deposit box. If someone gets one of the keys, they can unlock your life.

 

In addition to not using the same password over and over again, which I see people do all the time, you need to use a hard password. A “strong” password is the term. This is a more complicated one.

 

I want to go back to my analogy of a password being like a key. The type of passwords I see most people using tend to be simple, regular words that you find in the dictionary or a person’s name.

 

In a recent email, I told a story about how 10 or 12 years ago, I was working at a computer shop in upstate New York where I used to live. Someone brought in their laptop. When I flipped the thing open and turned it on, I was somewhat dismayed to find that it had a password lock on it, which was pretty uncommon at the time.

 

She hadn’t bothered to tell anybody that there was a password. I couldn’t get in without it, but it also happened to have “If lost, return to Lisa,” or whatever her first name was, and the address. When I saw that, the very first thing I typed in was her first name, and that was the password. Not only did she use her own name as the password, but she also had it printed right on the screen.

 

I guessed on literally the first try. If I had been a criminal, or if someone had stolen the laptop and made the same guess, they would have had full access to everything on the computer.

 

It’s really important to use a strong password. The general guideline suggested for this is to make it long, and the longer it is, the better. You want a mix of letters and numbers. Get it as far away from a regular word that you might find in the dictionary as you possibly can. Mix uppercase and lowercase letters in a random way and even put in symbols like an exclamation point.

 

This will create a much stronger password. You might be thinking, “Why do I need to worry about my password? Who is going to target my information? Who’s going to target my computer?”

 

You can’t think of it that way because criminals these days use the internet. They use the internet and programs on the computers to commit crimes just the way that they used a lock pick in the past.

 

If you think of a computer as like a house, these programs are like a burglar. They can basically clone themselves a thousand times over and go to every single house in a dozen neighborhoods all at the same time.

 

They try every single door to see if there is no lock on the door. In other words, there is no password. They look to see if it has a bad, weak lock or an old-fashioned type of lock, both of which, of course, are easy to pick.

 

To use my key analogy, if you have a weak password, it’s like having a really old-fashioned key in an old-fashioned lock, like something they had 150 years ago. The reason they make different keys now, smaller and more complicated, is to make them harder to pick.

 

It’s the same idea with your password. They use these things called “brute-force password cracks.” They are little programs that basically try all the words in the dictionary starting with common ones. They run through them a thousand times in a minute on each computer, on a thousand computers at once.

 

It doesn’t have to be targeted, but you can still have your privacy violated or identity theft done on your computer if you’re not protecting it properly. There’s a whole series of things you can do to protect it, including adding a firewall and doing a lot of other things, which I deliberately included in my computer training courses, and I talk about them in my newsletter and so forth.

 

That’s passwords.

You can find more in-depth audio and video lessons expanding on computer security topics in my online courses, especially in the Safe & Easy Internet course for Apple Mac and the Safe & Easy Internet course for Microsoft Windows.

More related lessons can be found in the Safe & Easy Email course for Apple Mac and the Safe & Easy email course for Microsoft Windows.

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

In this audio computer training lesson I answer a question from Vasilis who writes wanting to know just what the computer term “default” means.  Click the triangle play button below to listen to this computer question and my Plain English answer:

As I explain in the audio lesson, the computer term “default” is one that confuses a lot of people.  Basically, it means “what the computer is set to do until you tell it to do otherwise”.

So for example, you might get a brand new computer and have a certain picture set as the wallpaper (background image on the desktop) when you first turn it on. This is the default background image.

If you change that default image to a new one, it’s no longer using the default picture.

Another example would be the “default browser” on your computer.  Windows PCs come with Internet Explorer (the blue “E” icon) as the default browser, just as Apple includes their own Safari browser as the default on their Mac computers.

You can always install a different browser (highly recommended for Windows users) such as Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.  When you install a new browser, it typically asks you if you’d like to make it the default.  If you do, any time you do something which should take you to a web page (like clicking a link in an email for example) it will then open whatever browser you have “set as the default” to display that web page.

But that doesn’t prevent you from opening that same web page in a different browser if you prefer — you’re just not opening it with the default.

So it’s kind of like what the computer “assumes” (so to speak) unless you tell it otherwise.

Hope that makes sense.

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

The following is a computer question I was sent by ‘AlainAiso’ who wrote with a question about why a new hard drive they bought was so cheap and whether this was because there was a problem with the drive.  Click the player below to listen to this computer question and my Plain English answer:

“Question about my external Hard drivers

I just Bought an external hard drive in Wal-Mart now I am worry about why the price was that low also I worry about companies  who did the hard drive…

The hard drive is 1500GB and cost me only 98$ Canadian. To copy a file from to this  it takes about 35 seconds. It seems quite fast right? If so why was the price that low?

I guess it should be something due to the material this mean the material won’t work after an period of 6 months?

Please tell me if it is possible that an hard drive only ‘live’ few months before expire en then lose all files”.

Listen to my answer to this computer question below, where I not only explain why a pretty big hard drive is so inexpensive, why it won’t seem like a big drive for long, and help you understand this in context, as well as give you some advice on not making a common mistake when buying an external hard drive:

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

This computer question comes from a student named Edward, who writes:

“Dear sir,
I have followed your comments on here with great interest and find them very helpful.  I have a problem I am trying to sort out first with an Apple iBook. My problem is I cannot download applications, and when I do they will not mount or the image is corrupt?
Yours respectfully.
Edward O’Toole”

Hi Edward,
I’m glad you’re finding my newsletter helpful, and thanks for writing!

I suspect the problem is that you have very out of date software on your iBook. OS X (the “operating system” software for Macs) is currently on version 10.6 — that’s three major versions (and several years) newer than what you have.

New versions add new features, and sometimes things on the Internet rely on those new features to work, which means computers running older software sometimes run into problems like this.

What you might do is ask around and see if you know anybody who could help you put OS X 10.4 (a.k.a. “Tiger”) on your computer. This isn’t the newest version, but your Mac may not be able to run the more recent versions of OS X released after Tiger, but Tiger should be enough to get things working for you.

Whenever possible, you should keep your computer’s software up to date to avoid a variety of problems.

I hope that answer makes sense and helps!

If you found this lesson helpful, you might want to look into the Apple Mac Basics Course or the Microsoft Windows Basics Course — quick, easy step-by-step computer training in Plain English.

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

A lot of people are unwittingly publishing information about themselves online when they share photos and videos online. This information is revealed in something called “metadata” which you can think about as “data about the data”, or info about the information (data) in the file.

This information about the file can be something as simple and visible as the file name, but the information most people are talking about when they mention metadata tends to be more “hidden” inside the file.

One example is “ID3 tags” in MP3 files which hold the musician’s name and other information, another example is the data in a photo which can reveal mundane information such as the camera settings when taking the photo and the date, but also GPS location information revealing exactly where the photo was taken.

This information is visible in typical photo viewing and editing programs such as Picasa for Windows or iPhoto for Mac OS X. It also often is revealed automatically on photo sharing websites.

A file name could be thought of as the simplest example of metadata since it can be used to describe the contents.

However, many types of files contain more information stored inside a special part of the file. Common examples of files with metadata include music, photos, & video files.

In photographs and videos the camera or smartphone typically records GPS information about your location and this can end up visible to the world when you share those files online.

This may not be a problem with all photos or videos, depending on where you shoot them, but ones taken of your home reveal where you live and what kinds of things you own. In effect, you’re casing your own home for potential burglars.

Most cameras and phones that can record this information will have a setting to prevent saving location information to the image. Consider sharing your photos privately with family and friends instead of in public galleries. When uploading to any site, look around (under privacy on the settings screen for example) for a setting that lets you turn off displaying GPS location data.

I show you how to disable location services in one of the video lessons in my How to Use the iPhone App.

Listen to the audio above for the full Plain English explanation and understanding of metadata and how it can affect your privacy.

You can also take a look at my easy online computer training courses for more in-depth and step-by-step computer help.

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

This latest computer question comes from someone named Morgan who writes:

I have a question for you. My internet seems to be very slow. I am not sure if it is because of the ISP that our family uses or if it could be a problem with the modem or router. Our basement flooded and water got on the router. The router still works but it just feels like it is lacking power and performance. I was wondering if the reason our internet is slow is because of our ISP or because our router has water damage. I also believe our router is getting to be quite old as well. It is really impacting my ability to stream videos and play online on my xbox 360. Any advice you can give on this matter would be very helpful. Thank you for your time.

Morgan

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

Just wanted to post a quick update to let readers know that some of my computer training audios are now available for purchase on iTunes!

So far, there’s only two available, but there are five others that have been submitted and should be available soon. This is something I’ve been planning for some time now, and I’m very happy that it’s finally going live.

At this point, I’m not aware of any way to get my video lessons available through iTunes, but audio training is a great way to learn on the go or wherever you are. You can, of course, not only listen to the audio lessons on your computer but will be able to put them on your iPhone, iPod, or iPad as well.

I’ll be adding more audios in the future, but for now, here’s a link if you want to take a look:

Worth Godwin’s Computer Training on iTunes (link will open in new window and will launch iTunes if you have it installed on your Windows or Mac computer.

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

A reader named David Friedberg writes in with a computer question, asking:

“how do i download emails that have been sent to my Mac using Adobe etc…?

Dave”

Dave,

thanks for the question — you can use the audio player above to listen to my full response, but the basic gist of the answer is this:  any Mac made in the last few years has a built-in program called Preview which should open Adobe PDF (Adobe Reader files) just fine.  You can still go to Adobe.com and download the free Adobe Reader, but Preview should do the trick.

As memory serves, Preview’s PDF capability was included in Mac OS X “Tiger” (version 10.4 in other words) — if your computer is using an older version of OS X, I really recommend upgrading as the older software will leave you “out in the cold” in a lot of ways.

On a Windows PC you also could use Adobe Reader, but honestly I’m not a big fan as Adobe’s software has a lot of security flaws and has some annoying spyware-like tendencies these days.

What I suggest using is Foxit, which you can find by googling “download foxit” — it’s free and lets you read PDF files without some of the problems of Adobe Reader.

I hope that helps.

If you need more help with the basics of using email safely and easily, take a look at my Safe & Easy Email Course which is available for either Windows or Mac computers by using the links below:

Safe & Easy How to Use Email Course for Windows

Safe & Easy How to Use Email Course for Apple Mac

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

In this computer question and answer audio lesson, I answer a question from Joy Rosales, who writes wondering about getting her website found by people on the search engines. She said:

“Hi, good day,

Thank you for sharing your knowledge through sending me more information regarding basic and technical issues about computer, I’ve learned something about it. This time i want to share with you my technical problem where i believe that you can help me solve this very simple problem.

I am creating a blog and social networking site and i want it to be searched by people in Yahoo or Google search. I hope you can give me procedures on how to do it. I hope you understand my question…
Thank you very much for giving attention.

jOy”

Joy, thanks for the question.

You can use the audio player above to get my full answer, but the basic fundamentals to helping your site be found by people on search engines is:

1) have a site with good quality content on it (preferably updated more regularly than I’ve been having the time to update this blog which is on-topic to whatever the “theme” of  your site is

and

2) get links to your site from other sites.  This is the tricky one, or can be, and is a very big topic.  My personal favorite method is to simply put good quality material out there on various sites in exchange for links.

A few examples: an article on an article site such as EzineArticles.com which provides you with a “bio box” where you’re allowed to place links back to your website.  Your articles may not only appear on the article site but might be picked up by other sites through the main article site.

Another option is YouTube — you can post a video and in the description put a link to a relevant post on your blog.

There are a lot of options here, but the formula in my mind is put good things out there and get links in return.

If you’re someone who needs to understand more of the basics of how to use the Internet and search engines, I include video and audio lessons explaining a lot of the basic concepts in Plain English — once you watch, listen & learn, you can feel more confident and give yourself the basis you need to move forward with your computer goals.

Find out more about my easy Internet course by using one of the links below:

Windows PCs: How to use the Internet basic skills course

Apple Mac: How to use the Internet basic skills course

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

In this audio lesson I’ll be answering a computer question from Gold Club member Peter Proud, who asks:

“Good morning,
Having subscribed to your tutorials I now am having a problem of my own.
I am using windows xp on my laptop and when go to use Internet Explorer get “navigation to webpage was cancelled”.
I can still use Google for the net but would appreciate any advice you can offer to solve this problem. Regards,

Peter”

Well Peter,

It sounds to me as if your Internet connection is working just fine since you’re able to use Google, so my guess is that whatever webpage you are using as your homepage (the first page that opens when you open up your web browser window) is having a problem.  This may resolve itself, or you may need to change your homepage.

On a different but important & related note, I strongly suggest you do not use Internet Explorer for your web browser as it is not the most secure program in the world; you’re much better off using Mozilla Firefox which you can download and install for free from Mozilla.com.

As a side benefit, installing this may fix the problem you’re having too.  One thing to nearly guarantee it will fix it: when you install Firefox, during the setup it will ask you if you want to import your home page from Internet Explorer or use the one provided by Mozilla — if you choose the option to NOT import the one from IE (it’s OK to have the program import/bring over the other stuff such as your bookmarks) it will move you to a new homepage which has the Google search built right in and should avoid the problem you’re writing about.

I hope that makes sense.  Listen to the audio lesson to get the more detailed answer to this computer question.

For easy, step-by-step lessons on using the Web take a look at my

Basics of How to Use the Internet CDs for Apple Mac

or

Basics of How to use the Internet CDs for Windows

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

In this computer question & answer audio lesson, I’m answering a question sent in by subscriber Patt Davis who writes:

“Hello Worth,
I have been enjoying your advice for some time now and I appreciate the help.

My computer just recently has been hijacked by a so called Windows Security Alert that wants me to purchase their anti-virus software and it will not let me access any other program other than the internet.

No exe programs will run. Not even my magicjack phone. Keep getting a warning pop-up. Has a green sheild with a check in the middle. Keeps looping back to their site for me to purchase it.

Is there anything I can do on my own to stop this? Or will I have to take my hard drive in to have a professional clean it? I do have AVG but of course this virus will not let me run it… any suggestions?

Thank you,
Patt Davis”

This kind of problem is very common these days, and is caused by something called “hijackware”. Listen to this audio computer lesson to hear my suggestions about what to do if your computer is infected, plus tips on how to avoid getting infected in the first place.

Computer security is a complex topic and is an issue not just for Windows computers but also Apple’s Macs, despite what many people think. If you need more help, you’re not alone.

I suggest taking a look at my Safe and Easy Internet course CDs, which are available for either Apple Mac or Windows PC. Both versions include lessons on recognizing and avoiding problems like these, including one lesson which safely lets you see a common example of the tactics used by malicious sites which try to trick you into infecting your computer.

You get to see step-by-step exactly what to look for, and what to do if you encounter a site like that, including the BIG mistake most people make and how to avoid making it yourself. And that’s just one of the dozens of quick, easy lessons you get.

Take a look at one of the two links below, depending on which type of computer you use:

Basics of Using the Internet Safely & Easily for Microsoft Windows PCs

or

Basics of Using the Internet Safely & Easily for Apple Mac OS X

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

I heard from a reader named Phyllis who wrote with the question:

“Could you please tell me why I can’t print from Microsoft Office?”

In this audio computer lesson I answer the question based on what information I’m given. Chances are, this is caused by using a “trail version” of MS Office (which includes the programs Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.). A trial version of Microsoft Office is often included with new computers, but some critical features have been disabled until you pay for it.

Listen to the entire audio computer question and answer lesson to hear what I have to say about this, including a tip on getting a 100% free alternative to Microsoft Office and save hundreds of dollars when you do.

For more help with Microsoft Word, use the links below (one for Windows PCs, the other for Apple Mac)

Learn how to use Microsoft Word course for Windows

or

Learn how to use Microsoft Word course for Apple Mac

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

I’ve recorded a new audio lesson to help warn you about a pretty common email scam which is going around these days. It’s not brand new, but not everybody knows about it so I wanted to post this new computer lesson to help you protect yourself.

I received an email which appeared to be from a newsletter subscriber named John, but I spotted it as a scam as I’ve seen this type of thing before.  It was clearly sent from an email address which had been broken into, and the criminal who did so used the address to try to fool me and everyone else they sent it to into thinking they were the actual owner of the email account.

I’ll post the audio lesson below and then quote the email below that so you can take a look to help you recognize and avoid similar scams in the future:

Here’s the email I received (full name and details removed for privacy) :

“Hello

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

This audio computer lesson departs from the usual computer question & answer format – I recorded this lesson to help you stop wasting time and clogging up inboxes with those virus warnings everyone likes to forward around.

In my experience, these virus warnings are usually either mostly or completely false, and don’t help protect anyone, because they’re hoaxes.  There’s a saying that a good lie is based at least partially on truth, and I guess that applies to virus hoaxes too.  Listen in as I separate the lies from the truth in one common email hoax, using it as an example to help you recognize the patterns of these fake emails so you can avoid being taken in by them.

You can read the full text of the email hoax below and read along as I pick it apart and explain why much of it doesn’t make sense, and show you some of the telltale signs it’s yet another hoax:

> **HUGE VIRUS COMING ! PLEASE READ & FORWARD !
>
>
> This has been checked with Norton Anti-Virus, and they are gearing up
> for this virus! and also checked Snopes, and it is for real. Get
> this E-mail message sent around to all your contacts ASAP.
>
> PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS!
>
>
> You should be alert during the next few days. Do not open any message
> with an attachment entitled ‘POSTCARD FROM HALLMARK,’regardless of
> who sent it to you. It is a virus which opens A POSTCARD IMAGE, which
> ‘burns’ the whole hard disc C drive of your computer.
>
> This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address
> on his/her contact list. That is the reason why you need to send this
> e-mail to all your contacts. It is better to receive this message 25
> times than to receive the virus and open it!
>
> If you receive a mail called’ POSTCARD,’ even if it is sent to you by
> a friend, do not open it! Shut down your computer immediately. This
> is the worst virus announced by CNN.
>
> It has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus
> ever. This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no
> repair yet for this kind of virus. This virus simply destroys the
> Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept.
>
> COPY THIS E-MAIL, AND SEND IT TO YOUR FRIENDS. REMEMBER: IF YOU SEND
> IT TO THEM, YOU WILL BENEFIT ALL OF US**

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

This latest computer question comes from Taj Abed who writes:

“Hello, thanks for information. I want to know about PC safety, please describe it to me. I really need to find out about it.”

This is a kind of general question and there’s just a ton of information I could cover that could help you keep your computer running more securely. What I did was give you four basic steps you can take to help increase your computer’s security.

This is by no means a comprehensive list, but I’ve taken the time to explain everything in Plain English with some comparisons to real-world things which should help it all make more sense to you.

For step-by-step video lessons covering Internet basics as well as safety and security, you might consider my easy video lesson CDs:

Apple Mac How to Internet Skills CDs

or

Windows PC How to Internet Skills CDs

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

In my answer I, as usual, don’t just quickly answer Edy’s specific question but give you a complete audio lesson that helps you understand some of the basic differences between a few of the broadband options, and how they contrast in speed to dialup (which may be the only option in many rural areas).

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

In this computer question & answer audio lesson, I answer a question from “Nitromesupporter”, who asks:

“does having lots of things in your hard drive slow computers too?
my computer is really old, still Intel pentium 4 with 512mb of ram.
the bright side is that its 2.80ghz well its fast for the stuff i do ”

Use the audio player to listen to my answer to this computer question — in it I’ll help you understand in plain English how and why low drive space can slow your computer, and a few tips about how to deal with it if this is true for your computer.

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

In this latest audio lesson I answer a computer question from a subscriber named Frazer Ames who writes:

“Hi Worth,
I just read the article on your website regarding modems and video chat. One of the things I have never understood about computers is this; what exactly is a modem and what does it do? I thought they were an essential part of all computers and had something to do with the speed, but I’ve never really understood.

Thanks in advance

Fraser Ames”

To hear the complete Plain English answer to this computer question, just listen to the lesson using the player below. As usual, I’ll not just give a rushed answer to the question but make sure I explain the computer terms and concepts in a way that will just make sense, regardless of your computer skill level.

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

In this audio computer lesson I teach you two ways you can save a lot of money when buying a Mac, free of the risks of buying used and second-hand equipment that’s not covered by warranty.

Click the player below to listen:

Both of the two options I talk about in the audio lesson above will get you a new computer with full warranty coverage, and eligible for Apple’s extended warranty coverage known as “Applecare”. Applecare extends the length of your computer’s warranty by an additional two years (for a total of 3 years of warranty).

Unlike a third-party warranty a lot of electronics stores try to sell you on, Applecare is direct from the manufacturer and is well worth the money. Any repairs aside from the most minor ones will at least equal the cost of the Applecare, so if one thing goes wrong in the space of three years you’ve at least broken even on your money.

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

This latest Plain English computer question and answer (audio lesson below) comes from subscriber Brenda Carr who writes asking:

“Worth, I am considering purchasing my own computer, I am now using a computer at the public library. Best Buy is recommending the Asus, but I have never heard of that brand.  What do you think?”

Well Brenda, this is a good question, and I have a few thoughts. I’ve recorded this audio computer lesson which will share my advice on what type of computer to buy whether you’re thinking of buying your first computer as Brenda is, or planning on your next computer purchase.

I personally think there are two main options for most people; in this lesson I explain what those two options are, why I think they’re the best choice, and how to decide between them. I also throw in a few other simple tips and explanations of computer concepts along the way.

Click the player below to listen:

Apple Mac Basic Computer Skills CDs
or
Windows PC Basic Computer Skills CDs

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

About a day ago, former actor in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Roots, Levar Burton accidentally sent out his personal cell phone number to over 1.6 MILLION people who “follow” him on Twitter.  Having well over a million and a half people who directly are following and reading what he says via Twitter was only the tip of the iceberg, since everything said publicly on any social networking site such as Twitter or Facebook is “indexed” by the search engine and can appear in the search results within moments.

And once it’s out there, it’s there forever.

You don’t have to be a big celebrity to have to be careful about what you post online; we all have to be careful about these things or you could face anything from the hassle of canceling and replacing your phone number (as happened with Burton) to something as serious as burglury of your home or identity theft.

In this new audio lesson I use Plain English to explain how what happened to Levar Burton relates to you, and give you some good advice that can help keep you safe and protect your privacy online.

Use the player below to listen to this audio computer lesson:

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.

In this latest of my computer question & answer audio lessons, I’m answering a question from an email subscriber named George.

George asks: “Can you take Internet Explorer off your laptop and still use Mozilla Firefox ? I was told that you needed IE to access the Internet.”

Well, George, the short answer is that removing IE is much more complicated than removing a normal program, and doing so might cause you some problems. Fortunately, it’s not necessary to do so.

To hear my complete, Plain English answer to this computer question, use the player below:

Audio and video lessons also available via computer training podcast.