Computer Question – Why Do You Have to Restart Your Computer?

Posted by Worth Godwin Computer Training on Jan 7, 2012

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. ...


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 Computer Question – Why Do You Have to Restart Your Computer?
(482 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

Four Basic Computer Training Kindle Books Available on Amazon

Posted by Worth Godwin Computer Training on Jan 5, 2012

I’m happy to announce that the first four of a series of books covering computer basics and online privacy & security advice are now available to order from Amazon.com (and on the overseas “local branches” of Amazon) for Kindle.

You can see cover images and titles for the books – clicking them will take you to Amazon where you can order them and have them instantly delivered to you.

Simple Computer Tips That Will Make Your Life Easier

Posted by Worth Godwin Computer Training on Dec 29, 2011

Computer users have a wide range of experience and levels of understanding of their computers. The great majority of users have just learned the most basic features of a few of the thousands of programs out there. It really can be a help for you to learn computer basics that you may have been taught. ...


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 Simple Computer Tips That Will Make Your Life Easier
(788 words, estimated 3:09 mins reading time)

Video Tour of Computer Training App for iPhone & iPad

Posted by Worth Godwin Computer Training on Dec 23, 2011

Yesterday I announced the release of my new app
for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad – learn computers with the Basic Computer Training & Tips app

Computer Basics App

This iOS app, along with 2 others I’ll be announcing as soon as Apple approves them, is the first version of what may become the main “delivery system” for my computer training video and audio lessons. ...


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 Video Tour of Computer Training App for iPhone & iPad
(160 words, 4 images, estimated 38 secs reading time)

Tips on How to Use a Search Engine the Right Way

Posted by Worth Godwin Computer Training on Dec 2, 2011

I thought I’d share the following infrographic (Image courtesy of HackCollege) which gives you tips on how to use Google and other search engines more effectively.

The guide has a bunch of good tips, many of which I share in my related video lessons in my Easy Internet course (see links below image). 

I do have to mention that I disagree with one part of the information below: they say never to google questions, but that CAN be useful sometimes.

The times you want to type questions into a search engine is when you’re looking for a forum or discussion where someone has asked the same question that you have — you will often find your question has been answered in the discussion!

So while they’re right that you don’t need to phrase your searches as questions, it can be helpful sometimes.

The guide is written with students in mind — it turns out about 75% of students have no idea how to use Google properly — but has tips most computer users will find useful.

Something else to keep in mind: if 3/4ths of college students, all of whom grew up using computers, don’t know how to use a search engine correctly, it kind of puts to rest the stereotype that “all young people know how to use computers”.

I mention this because many of my older students who grew up before home computers were widespread (or before they even existed) often think they’ll never learn to use the computer as well as their kids or grandkids because of this.

The fact is, from what I’ve seen, the majority of people do not really know how to use their computer that well, regardless of age.

This isn’t a criticism, just a simple fact. People who grew up with computers have the benefit of feeling more comfortable using them, but that doesn’t make them any better automatically.

It can help because they have fewer limiting beliefs about their ability to learn, which can make a big difference, but it can actually make things worse because it’s very common for those people to assume they know far more than they do.

Take a look at the infographic (instructional image) below and see what tips you can learn about how to use Google to search more effectively: ...


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 Tips on How to Use a Search Engine the Right Way
(481 words, 1 image, estimated 1:55 mins reading time)

Computer Question: What is a Bookmark – Basic Computer Term Explained

Posted by Worth Godwin Computer Training on Nov 23, 2011

This computer question comes from Mahakali Ramesh Kumar, who writes:

“Dear Worth Godwin,

I want to know what is Bookmark in internet or in computers.

Thanking you,
Yours faithfully Mahakali”

TRANSCRIPT BEGINS:
That’s a pretty simple thing to answer. A bookmark is sometimes also known as a favorite, although originally it was known as a bookmark in most web browsers. Those are the programs you use to navigate around on the internet.

It’s really Internet Explorer that refers to them as favorites. I think they did this originally because they were concerned about avoiding copyright infringement. I’m not positive about that. At any rate, a favorite or bookmark is the same thing.

When the web was created in the early to mid ‘90s, the way we thought about it is like pages like pages in a book. If you have a book you’re reading and you want to get back to a page in that book, what do you do? You bookmark it. It’s the same basic idea. ...


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 Computer Question: What is a Bookmark – Basic Computer Term Explained
(496 words, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)