Return to Building Computer Skills

SAVE!

Saving your work is crucial! For example, let’s say you have been working on your resume in a word processing program for about 40 minutes when the computer auto restarts because of an update. If you didn’t save your work, your efforts in those 40 minutes could be permanently lost. A good practice is to save your documents as soon as they are created’.and every 10 or 15 minutes after that. Once you establish the name and location of the file, all you have to do is click on the save button to keep your work safe and sound.

Internet

Advertising on the internet is as aggressive as any other media outlet. Regardless of what ads or spam email tells you, no-one is giving money away, nor can you make money simply by clicking on a button. Don’t waste your time! They are all scams. Remember, the computer and the internet are tools for you to control.

If you are shopping online, be specific in your search for what you are looking for. When you have made your purchase, leave the website. Marketing and ‘consumer behavior’ professionals are paid well to devise ways to get more money out of your wallet. They will offer special deals, appeal to your shopping tastes and make One-Time-Offers. Resist their ploys. Put your credit/debit card away. Remember: you are in control.

Downloading

Like shopping on the internet, only download what you are looking for! Read or listen to reviews to find out if the programs, music, movies etc. that you’d like are safe to download.

Uploading

Be careful where you upload data. Sometimes servers make it difficult to remove or transfer your data, and some websites, like Facebook, have the right to use the images you upload.

Updating

You probably won’t even notice updates on a public computer. If you are on a family or friend’s computer, be sure you do not to make updating decisions for them. If a window pops up to tell you updates are available, just choose no.

There are a few reasons for saying no:

When it finishes updating it can interrupt your work and demand the computer be restarted.

The owner of the computer may like the way that the program is running, the update may change that and the owner may think twice about letting you use the computer again.

Updating slows the computer down while you are working on it.

Saying no to updating will prevent any changes to the computer. The next time the owner turns the computer on it will ask the same updating question, so don’t worry that you are making decisions for the computer owner.

If the computer is yours you may wish to keep the software fully updated. While you are working on it, you can say no or simply not answer. The update prompt will either come up again when you computer is turned on or the updates will happen automatically when you turn the computer off.