Right and Left Click

There is much confusion amongst my students about whether to right or left click.

In case you are one of those people. Let me make it simple for you.

Left click to tell the computer where you want to type, what you want to look at and to make menus go away when you don't want them.

Double left click- usually a tap tap, quite close together if you want to open a document or folder, or navigate to a website from a website address

If you make a mistake about which button to click- there is no need to panic or worry- you won't do any damage, all that will happen is that a menu will open. You can just left click anywhere to make it go away. If you do want to use the menu that you get if you right click, you can then usually cut, copy, paste, save and delete from the menu on the list.

Try it now! Don't be afraid! That's just the way children learn- press all the buttons and see what they do!

Back to school

September is the start of a new school year. Not just for children either! I have had lots of enquiries about computer lessons in the last couple of weeks from people eager to learn new skills after the summer break. Many of them have to pluck up courage to call me and reveal their fear of computers and most are relieved at how they can overcome this very quickly after the first lesson! Mrs PC is well rested after her summer break and ready to help!

Back ups

Backing up is so often overlooked until it is too late...

If your computer or laptop were stolen or lost... what would you lose?
For most people, it is a disaster, especially if they are keen photographers. To lose all your photos is a tragedy.
It is therefore vital to keep a backup somewhere that can't be lost or stolen.

There are many ways to back up- onto CD rom or DVD, onto an external hard drive- many of these back up automatically- but could be stolen if your computer goes walkabout, or online.
I favour all 3- a belt and braces approach!

I have recently backed up my whole hard drive to an online backup service called Carbonite.
This saves all my data in cyberspace and can never be lost or stolen. It costs £50 a year and backs up my computer continuously. There is no limit to how much can be uploaded, unlike many other online backup services. It took a very long time, but I can now relax!

What to dust with!

This is a good kind of duster for computers and keyboards. It is a synthetic type of feather duster.

Dust

Common household dust is the enemy of computers. Have you noticed that your computer or laptop seems to attract dust?
It is a good idea to keep the place you use your computer dusted, and to open up the case of your computer and dust with an air duster and hoover every so often (do this carefully).
When your computer or laptop is turned off you can give your screen a wipe- you can buy special screen wipes- but a damp cloth works fine- and also wipe the keyboard clean and dust between the keys.

Facebook

Facebook gets such a bad press, but can be a really nice way to keep in touch with family and friends.
Once you have a profile you can find others and find out what they are up to and see their photos very easily.
You can share your news and photos with them too - just a few clicks of a button is all it takes and you can communicate with all your friends at the same time.
The key to using Facebook safely is to ensure your privacy settings are secure and that only your friends can see the information.
You're never too old to learn something new!

Mouse clicks, copy and paste

Don't be afraid to try out the difference between left click and right click on your mouse.
Most of the time you will be using a left click or double left click to select or highlight or show the computer where you want to go or what you want to do.
Experiment with right clicking- this brings up a menu- try it now!

On the menu you will see
undo
cut
copy
paste
delete
select all
all these things can be very useful to you!
Copy and paste is the most useful and can be done with a right click.

Highlight the text or photo or internet address you want to copy
Right click and choose copy
Go to the place you want to copy to
Right click and choose paste
The text will then appear.

There are other ways of doing the same thing- by using the icons at the top of your screen or by using keyboard shortcuts- Control+C = copy and Control+V=paste.

Surge Protection

Information from the website www.wikipedia.com- the online encyclopedia.


A surge protector (or surge suppressor) is an appliance designed to protect electrical devices from voltage spikes. A surge protector attempts to regulate the voltage supplied to an electric device by either blocking or by shorting to ground voltages above a safe threshold. The following text discusses specifications and components relevant only to the type of protector that diverts (shorts) a voltage spike to ground.

Mrs PC says...

Every computer and all related accessories like speakers, printers etc should be plugged into a surge protector as a surge or increase in voltage can potentially damage your computer beyond repair. The definition of a surge is 3 nanoseconds or billionths of a second, and a spike is 2 nanoseconds! So you would barely notice that a surge had happened and the damage would be done!

You should definitely use a surge protector with your computer. It is filled with voltage-sensitive components that a power surge could damage very easily. At the least, this damage will shorten the life of your computer, and it could very easily wipe out all of your saved data or destroy your system. Computers are very expensive items, and the data they hold is often irreplaceable, so it's only good economic sense to invest in a quality surge protector.

You can buy surge protectors anywhere and they are not expensive. You can pick them up from around £10. It is a cheap insurance policy!

Left handed mouse

Logitech MX 610 Left-Hand Laser Cordless Mouse

This is a great mouse for anyone but is specially recommended for left handers.£29.83 from Amazon.

It is comfortable to hold and use, has performance laser tracking, side to side scrolling and a zoom, email and instant messaging notification button, auto turn off, forward and back button, volume control and great range.

It needs to be set up for left handers but this is easily done from the control panel. Each version of windows has a different way of doing it, but if you need help with this or any other feature of your mouse, don't hesitate to get in touch!

You can make your mouse less or more responsive- this can often help those who find getting fine control of the mouse tricky, and it can be speeded up again once you have mastered mouse control!

You can change your cursor to a different shape or size... anything is possible to help you get along better with your computer!

Stickies- a handy free download to help you remember things or write lists

Are you the kind of person who writes lists to remind themselves to do things?

I certainly am, and quite often the list I am working on gets lost in the muddle of papers on my desk, or I forget to check it!

Do you use post-its?

If you do either or both of these things, you will love this free download...
www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/stickies

It is a wonderful programme that allows you to jot down your reminders and stick them to your desktop, just like a post it, but one that won't get lost or fall off!

It is a chance to save a few trees by cutting down the amount of paper you use! Give it a try. It is easy to download and gives you a little icon on the bottom right of your taskbar. Double click on it to create a new stickie!

Each stickie is customisable - the colour can be changed so you can highlight the important ones, you can change the font or you can get them to set reminders for you- never forget another birthday!

Sure you will find this programme invaluable.

Give me a call if you need any help with this or any other aspect of home computing you need help with.
Mrs PC is only a phone call away! 0117 230 3035
Check out my website www.mrspc.co.uk

Spring Cleaning. Time to clean up your computer!

It is traditional once the sun starts shining to want to dust and tidy your house. The same should apply to your computer. Think of it as a massive storage cupboard. Every once in a while it could do with a bit of a tidy up.

Your computer will benefit and run faster as a result and it will also help you to find things faster if you keep it all tidy.

I can teach you how to create an efficient filing system for documents and photographs etc and would be delighted to help you to spring clean the workings of your computer to make it run faster and more efficiently.