Browsers

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A browser is a program used to connect to the Internet and view web pages. The default program on Windows XP, used for browsing, is "Internet Explorer". Even though there are other browsers available this browser is very popular around the world, because most people get comfortable using it, and it is pre-installed in Windows.



Other popular browsers are Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Safari, and the new Google Chrome. These browsers are considered better than Internet Explorer (IE), particularly Firefox and Opera, because they are trend setters and they have a huge community of supporters while IE has only the power of Microsoft behind it. If you have the newest versions of Internet Explorer, like IE7 or IE8, then you have the latest features and functionalities which Microsoft has copied from those other browsers!

The most important of these features is "tabbed browsing". Normally you see one window in your browser, the address bar at the top containing the website address, and the main page displaying the website contents. With tabbed browsing, you can open many different websites in different tabs. At any single time only one website will be displayed in the browser window; but when you click on one of the "tabs" below the address bar another site will be displayed.

Hence you can use one tab for your email, another for Google Search, a third for your My Space profile, etc. If you happen to have an older version of Internet Explorer, download and install Firefox or Opera and use them instead.

E-mail rules

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Everyone who has ever used a computer to surf the Internet has sent or received email. E-mail is an abbreviated form of "Electronic Mail" but has now become such a universal term that it is commonly written as a single word: email.

Email is basically a letter written on your computer, which you send via the Internet, without the trouble of using postage or envelopes. The address of the receiver, and you the sender, is a simple one liner like: abcd@mail.com. This translates as: "abcd" from the server "mail" has sent a letter. The beauty of email is that one can also send images and videos with the text message.

Windows XP comes with an in-built mail service like Outlook Express. In this case all the email that you send or receive is stored on your computer, and of course it's free! The disadvantage of this is when you're traveling or are not able to use your computer for some reason; then you cannot send email or access any received messages. Another limitation is that when you're exchanging lots of images or videos, it takes up a huge amount of space on your computer, which slows it down.

Most people use online email services like Gmail, Yahoo mail, Hotmail, etc. They are also free, for the time being, and provide huge amounts of free space. They can be accessed using a username and password from anywhere in the world. But if you're still obsessed with storing email messages on your computer you can configure Outlook Express to access your chosen online mail service.

Email rules and precautions

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Since email is used by everyone, and billions of email messages are sent and received worldwide every day, it has become the target of unwanted advertising. These ad-messages are called "spam" and they can contain advertising for all kinds of products and services. Since sending email is free, spammers send out their mails to billions of people hoping that at least one in a 100,000 will click on their message and maybe one in a million will be suckered into buying what they sell.

Spammers appeal to people's weakness, and target men for sexual advertising, women for diet and fitness ads, etc. None of these obviously works, because otherwise why would they need to use something so low as spam to sell that stuff?

Spammers obtain email addresses by scanning web pages where you may have written your email address, from online profiles, and buying them from sites. The solution to this is keeping two or more email addresses; use one for your regular email and the other for filling online forms, joining forums, listing on profiles, etc. Never reveal the first email to anyone EVER. Online mail services like Gmail have spam filters to sort out those messages that are obviously spam.

Apart from spam, email is used to send viruses and worms to attack a computer, and the best way to avoid being attacked is to never open email from unknown sources. And if you do so out of curiousity, NEVER click on any link inside that email message!

Reasons a computer hangs

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If your computer hangs, which means stops working, or just slows down after some time the reasons are:

 

Too many programs running together. Let's says you are working on an MS-Word document, plus you are istening to music on the media player, and you are surfing the Internet, reading a pdf file, editing images on Photoshop, all at the same time. First the response time of all these programs will slow down, ultimately one or more of them will stop responding, and finally the computer will hang. (As a rule do not use more than two programs at the same time. If you desperately need to use another program for a bit, don't forget to exit from it once you're done. How many programs your computer can handle depends on its configuration.)

 

Too much data on the hard drive. Say you have saved lots of images, songs, video games, and movies on your hard drive, instead of backing them up on DVDs, then as your hard drive has less free space, programs will not be able to load their drivers and access their system files with speed. The computer will slow down and eventually hang. (As a rule there should be 20% free space on your hard drive. For example of the size of your hard drive is 100 GB then only 80 GB should be used at a given time. Transfer any extra data to DVDs)

 

A fragmented hard drive, which has been used and used for months, without being scanned or defragmented can slow down the computer. (Scan your drive for errors and defragment once a month, using the programs in Windows XP: Scandisk and Disk Defragmenter. Even if the latter gives a message that "you do not need to defragment this drive" just go ahead and defragment to be on the safe side)

 

At any time if the computer hangs, hit the keys: CTRL+ALT+DELETE using the thumb and ringfinger of the left hand for the first two keys and middle finger of the right for the last. You will get a dialogue box showing you which programs are not responding, or are slowing down, which you can then shut from this box. Else hit CTRL+ALT+DELETE twice rapidly and this will restart your computer.

 

 

Eye strain

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One of them most common drawbacks of using a computer is that it can affect your health. If you sit and stare at the screen for long periods, you can do serious damage to your eyes.

The reason is that a computer screen is two-dimensional. Even if you play a video-game or watch a movie, the distance of the moving images is constant from your eyes. And these images can become hypnotic, making you hunch forward until you're only a few inches from the computer. Such strain on the eyes can cause blurred vision and headaches. Even if the computer screen has built-in anti glare, staring constantly at a 2-D screen with the same focus, can cause eye strain.



For good health eyes need to be exposed to the 3-D environment which we live in, with different objects requiring constant changes in focus, which prevents strain on the eyes. One of the best remedies for eye strain is being in the open outdoors, with plenty of trees, plants, and other greenery full of birds and squirrels. Gazing into such greenery is good for the eyes because they look at all these different objects, by repeatedly adjusting their focus. The color green, and the interplay of light and shade on the greenery, is also soothing for the eyes.

Your computer should be near a window, which allows you to look away and out into the greenery, every 20-30 minutes without getting up. Or if you live in the city surrounded by high-rise buildings, keep some potted plants in your window. However to avoid strain on the back, neck and shoulders you should also get up and walk around every hour that you're using a computer.

Using a mouse

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Using the mouse is one of the basic computer skills. The debate over which is easier/better to use: mouse or keyboard, applies to using programs on your desktop PC. For browsing the Internet it is certainly more practical to use the mouse.

On the desktop screen the mouse cursor is represented by an arrow icon; when a program like Microsoft Word is open the arrow changes to a cursor. The same happens when you edit a blog post online. When the arrow is placed on a link in a webpage, it changes into a pointing hand.

The traditional mouse had two buttons, but most devices now have a third rolling button between those two. It is use to scroll down a document or web page. Or if you prefer to use the keyboard then hit the "Page Down" "Page Up" keys or the arrow keys. Before using the scroll button on the mouse you should click anywhere inside the web page or document page.

The left-button is used like the "enter" key on a keyboard. Clicking twice on a program icon will open that program; this clicking is done rapidly and is hence called "double-clicking". Clicking the right-button on the mouse gives you the properties. For example right-click on the desktop screen and you will get a menu that gives you options for your desktop, like arranging icons, display, and editing the properties.

In the same way right-clicking on a webpage or image gives their properties. Remember that mouse properties like double-clicking, cursor speed, etc can be changed by editing them in the "Control Panel", although this is neither necessary nor advisable for beginners.

Mouse or keyboard?

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Using a computer is possible through input devices like the mouse and keyboard, but often the two devices replicate each others functions. People who start using a computer rely more on the mouse, because it seems simpler, and the actions of the mouse cursor are visible on the screen.

But as beginners get more comfortable typing on a keyboard they will begin using keyboard shortcuts (combination of keys) in place of the mouse. The most common being copying and pasting text. The 'Ctrl' key used with 'C' lets you copy a selected piece of text; similarly using Ctrl+V you can paste that copied text.

Using the keyboard you can also start programs from 'Start' in Windows XP. If there are not other programs press the 'Tab' key until you see a rectangular outline on 'Start'. Press 'enter' on the keyboard and the Start Menu will open up. Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to navigate to the program you wish to start, and again press 'enter'.

When the program is open you may think that without the mouse you can't open or create a file in that program. WRONG!

Every program has a 'file', 'edit', 'view' etc. menu on top of the window. Normally people use the left-button on the mouse to select file; but you can also use the 'Alt' key with 'F'. Alt+E will open 'edit', Alt+V will open 'view' etc. You can also simply press 'Alt' and then use the arrow keys to move around the program menu.

Now if you have 2 or 3 different programs open, normally a mouse is used to move from one program to the other, by clicking the window icon on the Taskbar at the bottom of the screen. But you can also use Alt+Tab, pressing 'Tab' to move between the program windows while keeping the 'Alt' key pressed down.

Some people find it tiresome to remember the many key combinations and prefer to use the mouse. Others find that relying on the mouse gets very tiring. Ultimately it is best to use a combination of the mouse and keyboard in using a computer.

Typing on a keyboard

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Typing on a keyboard is simple to learn. To the beginner it may seem complicated with all the different letters jumbled around like that. But the reason they are not placed alphabetically is because in the English language we use certain words and letters more than we use others.

Every typing lesson for the absolute beginner starts with placing the left hand fingers on the following keys:

a (little finger), s (ring finger), d (middle finger), f (forefinger)

The right hand fingers are placed on the following keys:

; (little finger), l (ring finger), k (middle finger), j (forefinger)

The thumb of either hand can be used to press the long space-bar at the bottom of the keyboard, to give space between the words. Type the following words WITHOUT peering down at the keyboard and just remembering which letter is under which finger:

asdf jkl; asdf jkl; asdf jkl; asdf jkl; asdf jkl; asdf jkl; asdf jkl; asdf jkl; asdf jkl; asdf jkl;

now rest for 5-10 minutes before continuing:

asdf jkl; asjk dfl; asjk dfl; asjk dfl; asdf jkl; asdf jkl; asdf jkl; asjk dfl; asjk dfl; asjk dfl; asdf jkl; asdf jkl;

stretch out your fingers and move around the room, or go outside to give your eyes a break.

This typing exercise gives your fingers familiarity with the keyboard, so that after repeated practice your fingers automatically hit the right keys without your needing to look down. There are free typing programs available that give you the same practice, eventually moving along to different combination of keys. However just typing this beginners lesson on a keyboard, and using a keyboard in general, will make you a fast typist.

Beginners

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For absolute beginners to using a computer, the BBC site has a good guide called:

Absolute Beginners.

Click on this link with the LEFT mouse button and start learning.