Learn Computer Basics in Plain English

A Non-Technical Explanation of How Computers Work — This...

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:43:00 -1000

A Non-Technical Explanation of How Computers Work —

This is a computer lesson I just recorded which ties together a number of different specific explanations of computer terms which I’ve used over the years.

I wanted to have a single lesson which ran people through a kind of overview of how computers operate — explained in a way that even extremely “tech challenged” computer users would be able to relate to.

In the lesson I cover the following:

- what memory and drives are

- what a CPU is

- what programs or applications are

- what documents are

- why your computer can be slow doing some things more than others

- why the computer needs memory (what it’s for)

- why adding RAM often “speeds it up”

I may go into more detail than might be needed by some people, but I do this because I don’t want to leave anyone out, especially the real basic computer users who need my help the most.

Take a listen and tell me what you think. — posted from my computer training SoundCloud account

Video: just about every Apple product from the beginning in 30...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:26:41 -1000

Video: just about every Apple product from the beginning in 30 seconds.

Speaking of computer programming, I only learned relatively...

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:17:04 -1000

Speaking of computer programming, I only learned relatively recently that more women than men tended to be computer programmers back in the 1960s. In fact, the linked article argues it’s more natural for women to do than men. Kind of interesting how the perception (stereotype) of that has reversed.

Also worth mentioning is that the person credited as the very first computer programmer was a woman named Ada Lovelace who designed a “program” for the earliest example of a computing machine — the original analytical engine of the 1800s.

fuckyeahcomputerscience:

Female Computer Programmers in the ’60s

“It’s just like planning a dinner,” explains Dr. Grace Hopper, now a staff scientist in systems programming for Univac. (She helped develop the first electronic digital computer, the Eniac, in 1946.) “You have to plan ahead and schedule everything so it’s ready when you need it. Programming requires patience and the ability to handle detail. Women are ‘naturals’ at computer programming.”

I had to post this comic because it’s so familiar —...

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:02:00 -1000

I had to post this comic because it’s so familiar — not because I’m a programmer who gets asked tech support questions (in fact, I started out as a computer tech whose job it was to help with those kinds of problems.

It’s familiar because I see people generally failing to understand the computer term “program” (and thus by extension the term programmer) most of the time.

Many computer users often seem to use “program” when they should be saying “install” — for example they’ll say “I programmed Word on my computer” when they meant they installed it on their computer.

In equivalent terms, that’s kind of like saying you designed and built a TV set from scratch when in fact all you did was put it on a shelf and plug it in. :)

Heh. Maybe a Xerox copier for CTRL-C to copy? The CTRL (control)...

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 01:55:12 -1000

Heh. Maybe a Xerox copier for CTRL-C to copy?

The CTRL (control) keyboard shortcuts are common on Microsoft Windows, but Mac users can use the same keyboard shortcuts except holding down Command instead.

Command-Z for undo
Command-V for paste
Command-C for copy
Command-X for cut

kemner:

Some things need to be explained in visually simple terms..

What is a "computer desktop"?

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 01:47:28 -1000

computershy:

A computer “desktop” is so named because it’s very similar (at least conceptually) to the top of a real desk:

An actual factual desktop

a “Windows 7” desktop

What is a Bookmark?

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 03:27:00 -1000

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.

A bookmark is a way of getting back to a page on the internet that is located on some site on the internet. You just want to get back to it, so you bookmark it.

You do this typically by going to the Bookmark menu. Sometimes there may be a button on the toolbar toward the top of the window that has a little plus symbol on the button. Whatever way you do it, you hit the button or go to the menu that says “Bookmarks” and hit the option that says “Add bookmark” or “Add favorite,” in the case of Internet Explorer.

Excerpt from transcription of audio lesson - What is A Bookmark - see source for full audio & transcript.

Mac OS X Lion tip: How to Use Automator to Turn a Webpage into a Special Floating App

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 02:00:00 -1000

Automator is a very handy program that never gets much attention from the general public even though Mac owners will find the program preinstalled in their Applications folder.

Automator’s pretty easy to use and this example shows you how to use it to quickly and easily make your own Mac OS app out of any webpage you like:

Here’s the procedure for building an app that keeps a webpage open in a floating window:

1) Launch Automator.

2) Create a new App. (Or a Workflow. But an App will be cooler because you can have it in the Launchpad and start it up with a single click.)

3) Find and drag the “Get Specified URLs” action into your workflow. Just type the name into the search box until Automator finds it for you.

4) Paste in the URL of the site you want to view.

5) Find and drag the “Website Popup” action into the workflow. Choose a size for the window.

6) Save. Done.

Your workflow will look like this:

And when you run the app, it’ll put up a popup window that looks like this:

It’s a real app. It’ll stick around and float above your other windows until you dismiss it. You can move it into other Spaces and do pretty much whatever you want with it.

Source: Making Desktop Webapps in Lion – Andy Ihnatko’s Celestial Waste of Bandwidth (BETA)

GIFs are correctly pronounced “Jiff” (with a...

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 01:16:00 -1000

GIFs are correctly pronounced “Jiff” (with a “J” sound, not a hard “G”)

You don’t base the pronunciation of acronyms on the way each letter is pronounced in the original word — if you did, scuba diving would be pronounced “skuhbah” diving instead of “skoo-ba”, for example.

But as the linked Wired document says, the people who invented the file type pronounced it “jiff”…

/Former English and writing major; 16-year computer tech, consultant and teacher, and thus unavoidably opinionated about such things :)

hithah:

elevatortonowhere:

aproperroman:

Red. ALWAYS red!

^

Hard G. GIF is an acronym: Graphic Interchange Format. Since the G in graphic is hard, so is the G in GIF.

Until someone invents the Giraffe Interchange Format for sending zoo animals via the web, that is. THEN it’s pronounced JIF. And is awesome.

Computer Question: Why is This Hard Drive So Cheap?

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 01:46:07 -1000

Computer Question: Why is This Hard Drive So Cheap?:

Source: Computer Question: Why is This Hard Drive So Cheap? from Worth Godwin’s Computer Training

The following is a computer question I was sent by ‘AlainAiso’ who wrote with a question about…

Teacher Fired Over Innocent Facebook Photo

Sun, 06 Feb 2011 15:44:00 -1000

While the principal’s response to the Facebook photos is an absurd overreaction, this is just the kind of risk I talk about in chapter 7 of my recent book on computer mistakes.

24-year-old Ashley Payne, a public high school English teacher in Georgia, was not prepared for what happened when her principal asked to see her in August 2009.

“He just asked me, ‘Do you have a Facebook page?’” Payne said. “And you know, I’m confused as to why I am being asked this, but I said, ‘Yes.’ And he said, ‘Do you have any pictures of yourself up there with alcohol?’”

In fact, the picture that concerned the principal - showing Payne holding a glass of wine and a mug of beer - was on her Facebook page. There was also a reference to a local trivia contest with a profanity in its title.

Payne was told a parent of one of her students called to complain. And then, Payne says, she was given a choice: resign or be suspended.

“He told me that I needed to make a decision before I left, or he was going to go ahead and suspend me,” she said.

She resigned. Attorney Richard Storrs is fighting to get Payne’s job back.

Full story: Did the Internet Kill Privacy? - CBS Sunday Morning - CBS News

Computer Question What Is a Torrent Site and Are They Dangerous?

Sat, 05 Feb 2011 01:55:19 -1000

Computer Question What Is a Torrent Site and Are They Dangerous?:

In this article I’ll answer a question sent in by a student named Daniel McClutchy who writes: “Hi Worth: Your CDs have helped a great deal to understand the internet and computer basics. Thanks. I…

Computer Terms on Squidoo

Sat, 05 Feb 2011 00:27:47 -1000

Computer Terms on Squidoo:

I’d forgotten I set up a Squidoo lens a few years ago. Just updated it a bit, adding the RSS feed from here, plus a player for some of my computer training MP3s on Amazon

New post: What is a Torrent Site & Are They Dangerous?

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 22:45:49 -1000

I just posted a new blog post on my blog where I answer a computer question from a student who asks:

“Can you explain what a torrent site is? I followed a recommendation of a co-worker and logged on to one.

My Kasperksy went crazy, not allowing me to access it. Is this because they contain viruses?

Thanks, Daniel”

So, let’s start off by explaining what a torrent site is, and then I’ll answer your question about whether they’re dangerous.

Read full article: Computer Question What Is a Torrent Site and Are They Dangerous?

A New Reason to Avoid Using Internet Explorer

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 18:51:00 -1000

I’ve been telling people for years to avoid Internet Explorer. No web browser is perfect and immune to all potential threats, but IE isn’t even that good a browser in my opinion (so why use it even ignoring the potential security issues?). Anyway, here’s the latest reason to switch to ANY browser other than Microsoft’s:

Microsoft has issued a ‘critical’ security alert that affects 900million people using its Internet Explorer web browser.

The computer giant warned of a newly-discovered flaw in Windows that could be exploited by hackers to steal personal details or take over computers.

The glitch is so severe it potentially affects every user of Internet Explorer.

Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari browsers are all unaffected by the threat

Source: Microsoft security flaw ‘affects 900m people using Internet Explorer’ | Mail Online

What is a Hard Drive & What is Ram Video Lesson

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 10:24:37 -1000

What is a Hard Drive & What is Ram Video Lesson:

Here is one of my early video lessons (please excuse the video ...

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:09:41 -1000

Here is one of my early video lessons (please excuse the video quality) where I use one of my Plain English explanations of computer terms — explaining what a hard drive is and what RAM is, and what they do in your computer. Many people confuse those two terms with each other, and many people don’t understand either at all.

If this is true for you, it’s not your fault — it’s just never been explained to you in a way that you could relate to. Watch this video and both computer terms will finally make sense, even if you feel like the most basic computer user in the world.

What is a driver? Watch this video for an easy, Plain English...

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 01:01:29 -1000

What is a driver? Watch this video for an easy, Plain English explanation of this computer term that will just make sense.

How to Back Up Your Computer - in this video lesson I explain...

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 00:56:20 -1000

How to Back Up Your Computer - in this video lesson I explain the basics of the two general methods for backing up your computer, as well as give specific suggestions about how to back up your computer with details for both Microsoft Windows computers as well as Apple’s Macs.