How Computers Work 101

Pictured above is the pamphlet that accompanied a tutorial about computers designed to accompany  Senior Surf Day.  This program has since been retired but some parts of it remain here as a general structure to spread out basic computer instruction.

What do you need to surf the Internet?      

You need a computer, a modem , and an Internet Service Provider.(AOL, dial-up,  DSL, broadband, internet cable, dish antenna)

You need Software.

Operating Systems  Apple, Windows 10Windows 8, 7, XP, Vista, 2000, 95, 3.1, UNIX, Ubuntu…

Page 6  ———>     On/Off

On with a button, Off with a mouse.  If in doubt, Walk Away.

Mouse   …has two buttons, “always” use the left button (only)  

Cursor [pointer]  A bright, usually blinking, movable indicator on a display, marking the position at which a character can be entered, corrected, or deleted. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cursor                 

Roll   Move the mouse around without touching the button.

Click   Touch the button quickly, gently one time.

Double Click   Two Quick Clicks

Grab   (hold)

 Jigzone Mouse Practice      Difficult Mouse Practice

Icon    A picture that activates an action with a mouse click or a double click.

Desktop  An empty space on the screen where no programs are showing.

Link     www.something.something

Link to Medicare –>  www.medicare.gov

www.minnesotahelp.info  <– Information for Seniors.

This is a LINK to a local paper:  http://www.thedrummer.com

http:      Hyper Text Transfer Protocol     

httpS     <– Almost looks like a dollar sign.       money transactions         S  = security

Directory  A listing of folders, documents and programs in a computer.

Page      The area that shows up on the computer screen at a given time.

Home Page    First thing you see when you open a browser. This can be any site; selected locally.

Browsers and Search Engines    Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Yahoo, Chrome  

5 steps to open a browser and go Anywhere on the Internet  <–free

URL        Universal Resource Locator  “address box near the top”

www     “World Wide Web”

Search Engines  www.google.com and do practice exercises

http://www.gcflearnfree.org/  <– free tutorials on “everything” computer-wise.

12 steps to get your own e-mail   <– click here for instructions for an e-mail account

http://softwarehank.com/?p=1467   <– how to copy and paste

http://getgreenshot.org/downloads/  <– A really cool image saver application ( free )

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