Putting Sugar On A Stick

Time flies during summer. July is half over. And I realized I haven't blogged since June. I read an article about Sugar. Sugar was originally developed for the One Laptop Per Child XO-1 Netbook. Sugar is free, open-source software and runs on most computers. Its purpose is to provide every child an equal opportunity for a quality education. Sugar can be run completely from a CD or a flash drive (hence "Sugar on a Stick"). Instructions are given for preparing a flash drive for Windows, Mac, or Linux. Sugar on a stick will work in computers that have no hard drive. It can be used with older computers that we think are no longer useful. It looks like more icing on the cake of educating children.

Summer Vacation Has Begun

Most schools finished up last week.Summer is here and retirement started at 4 p.m. last Friday.The last six weeks have been a mad rush. Now that the rush is over, I can get back to blogging a little more frequently.

We keep hearing that when summer comes our children loose out academically. None of us want that to happen. We also do not need 12 month schools in order to continue summer learning. Let's give the kids a nudge in the right direction. Don't let them spend all of their time in front of the video game or TV set.
My wife and I are babysitting our grandsons this summer. We have decided that their schedule will include an hour of reading daily, outdoor play when it is not raining and computer time with educational games. They are already using Audacity to make up and record their own stories.

Simon Hensby has written over 200 software titles. A lifetime membership allows access to software for your child to practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, keyboarding and many more. For less than $20, you can have download privileges for these and any new programs in the future.

Let's have fun this summer while our children continue to expand their horizans.

Nomenclature of the Web

Nomenclature is defined as: a system or set of terms or symbols especially in a particular science, discipline, or art. In the realm of Geekdom, many terms are used on a daily basis that are not understood by many people. Someone might have misconceptions regarding the nature of the internet. Is it really a bunch of pipes that connect to each other and get overloaded and clogged? If it gets clogged, is there an Internet Draino?

In a quest to simplify Geekdom, lets define "a few terms" we might hear but not totally understand. Internet is the connection of computers and networks so they can (with permission) communicate with one another. The World Wide Web is a system of hyper text documents that have been linked together. These linked documents can be accessed by using the Internet. Pages on the World Wide Web are written in Hyper Text Markup Language (html). Browsers are software that is used to view web pages. Web 2.0 is the second generation of things web. It appears to me that most of this development has been geared toward socialization. There is even a social web browser named Flock.

Let's define a few of the terms used to describe software written for sharing, and collaboration.
A blog is a noun or a verb. When used as a noun, it refers to a special type of website. In a blog, the writer posts articles or thoughts on a regular basis. This article is written in a blog. The act of writing it is refered to as blogging. Blog is also used as a verb. (i.e. I will blog later.) A wiki is a group of websites that are used for a community or group of people to colloborate on a project or subject of interest. Authorized participants can change, edit, delete, update, etc. A Podcast is created by a podcaster. The podcast is usually in audio and is made available to podcatchers by web syndication. A regular podcast is much like a radio broadcast. The I-pod or computer replaces the radio. Flickr is an example of a photo sharing site.

Some Web 2.0 sites you might want to try out are:

WIX - Wix is a flash website builder. Basic use is free.

RockYou - Takes photo sharing to a new level with the creation of flash slideshows. (free)

Wetpaint - Create your own wiki free. Invite friends and family to participate (colloborate).

Photobucket - A free site to share and store images and videos.

Flickr - A free site to share and store your photos. (free)

Twitter - A free social messaging utility.

We learn by doing. We improve by practice. Do not be afraid to set up an account at one or more of these sites and try them out. You may find something new that you enjoy. Don't let fear hold you back.

My Desktop Customized

If it is your desktop, why not make yourself at home. Start by taking a photo of a pet, friend, child, or your family. Save the photo to the C drive with a name you will remember. Right click on the desktop.

When the box opens select Properties. When the next box opens, select the Desktop tab.

Select a position for your photo. I have selected center. Then browse for your photo. You named it and saved it on the C drive. Select the photo. Click OK and your picture will appear on the desktop. Your desktop has been customized.

Maybe you need a couple of new desktop shortcuts. If you crunch a lot of numbers, maybe you need a calculator. Right click on the desktop like you did before.

This time select New. When the box expands, choose shortcut.

Type in calc in the box. Then select next. Then in the spot for name type calculator. Then click finish. A shortcut that looks like a calculator will appear on the desktop.

You can create a desktop shortcut for anything that you know the location to on a computer, a network, or the internet. Once you supply the location, give it a name and you are finished.

Teacher Tube the Tube for Education

Many schools block all content from YouTube even though there are educational resources at YouTube. A good alternative is TeacherTube. The site is about 2 years old and contains more than 26,000 educational videos.

It does not take long to sign up for a free account. Then you can watch the existing videos on various educational topics. Or you can create content of your own. This would be the time to encourage our children to become educational content producers. Again, this is another resource a parent could use with their child to supplement what is being done at school. Or a homeschooling parent could use these resources to supplement the homeschool curriculum.

Email (free mail) Faster Than Snail Mail

How many email accounts do you have? Sometimes I talk to people who give the impression that they believe they can have only one email account. I have an email account at work, I have a Gmail account, a Yahoo Mail account, an email account for my ministry, and recently I opend a Stargate SG1 email account. How many email accounts can you have? (answer)How many email accounts can you keep up with? Allow email to become another tool to help you get things done. Use it to organize your life and save money on postage. My favorite email provider is Google. They allow 2 gigabytes free for storage of your old emails. Their storage plan is called infinity +1. Creating a Gmail account is very simple. It takes less than 5 minutes. In Gmail, you can set up labels, and folders, and then create a filter that automatically labels your expected emails. The filter can keep the mail in inbox or file it immediately. Gmail controls spam very nicely but you can also create a filter to discard email that may not qualify as spam.

Email is a valuable tool. It can also be a dangerous too. It can carry viruses or worms that may damage or destroy valuable data. These worms and viruses can also affect the operation of your computer and even the network that you may be attached to. Do not open emails from people or businesses you do not know. (This is an open at your own risk kind of thing.) Do not open email attachments from people you do not know.

The more you use email, the better you will become in its use.

What's Up With The Keyboard

Did you ever accidentally bump a couple of extra keys on your keyboard, resulting in things you didn't want opening up. Those keys all have a purpose even though most of us are not acquainted with the purpose. The keys with the letter F and a number (1-12) are called function keys. A few examples are listed here.

F1 = Help
F2 = Rename selected file
F3 = Opens the file search
F11 =Full Screen Mode

There are other keyboard combinations that make things happen for you.

CTRL +Shift H =History
CTRL +Shift I =Favorites
CTRL +N =Start new browser with same web address
CTRL +P =Open print dialog box
CTRL +R =Update current web page
CTRL +W =close current window
Delete =Delete
CTRL +A =Select All
Alt +F4 = Close Active Program
Alt +TAB =Switch between the open items
CTRL +ESC =Display Start Menu
CTRL +SHIFT +ESC = Open Task Manager
Windows Logo Key = Display or hide Start Menu
Windows Key +E =Opens Windows explorer

These are a few of the keyboard shortcuts that can be useful to all of us. If you can't remember them, make a short list of the ones you would use the most. If this is something you like to use, run a search for longer lists. There are lists of shortcuts in general and there are lists of keyboard shortcuts for use in specific software (i.e. Word, Firefox, Explorer).

Let's Take A Shortcut

As computer users, the vast majority of us are newbies. We sit in awe as we watch the hands of experience move effortlessly upon the keyboard. We are amazed when shortcuts are taken in order to accomplish a task. Wouldn't it be nice to know just a few shortcuts. There are run commands that can assist in management of our time on the computer. Some of these commands can open things that we are better off leaving alone. The ability to open the registry is one excellent example of things to leave alone. There are other less harmless but helpful run commands that it wouldn't hurt you to try out. Keep what you like and forget about the rest.

To get to the run command box, click on start. When the program list opens like the one below, select run.

After you select run, a box will open like the one below. When you type a short command into the box and click OK, good things will happen.

Start with something simple. Type in calc and click OK. You will have an instant calculator. When you type in pbrush and click OK, Paint will open for you. The letters wmplayer will give you immediate access to Windows Media Player.

I have supplied a list of 14 commands below. After you are comfortable with these, you may choose to search for more. Just be cautious to not try to run complicated things that may have an effect on the operating system.

Calculator

calc

Clipboard Viewer

clipbrd

Firefox

firefox

Notepad

notepad

Volume Control

sndvol32

Internet Explorer

iexplore

Excel

excel

Powerpoint

powerpnt

Word

winword

Paint

pbrush

Windows Explorer

explorer

Windows Media Player

wmplayer

Hearts Card Game

mshearts

Spider Solitare Card Game

spider

If a program is not installed on the computer, naturally it will not open. Knowledge is power. A little more knowledge gives you a little more power over your computer.

No Floppy Drive

The floppy disk has had a shorter lifespan than LP records .(What's that?) New computers are being sold with no 3.5 floppy disk drive. What do you do? There are a couple of inexpensive options. You can purchase an external floppy drive that plugs into a USB port. That is a good way to be able to access the few floppies you have left. But we can probably expect 3.5 floppies to cease to be available someday.

The best option for dealing with this change is to purchase a USB flash drive. These drives will fit in your pocket, purse, or briefcase. I bought bracelet flash drives for my grandsons. You can get key chain, and necklace flash drives. I even saw a picture of a hamburger flash drive. You can purchase a card reader for your camera card or video card that looks like and functions like a flash drive.

Four gigabyte flash drives are selling for $10 each right now. The flash drive is a portable place to store music, videos, pictures, and even homework. A 4 gig flash drive will hold as much data as 5892 floppy disks(3.5). Imagine putting that many floppies on a necklace. The flash drive is a plug in item. It plugs into a USB (universal serial bus) port.


While plugged in it acts like any othe drive on the computer. If you open the My Computer folder, it will show up with its own drive letter. After you remove it, the drive letter disappears. When saving, click file, then select save as. Then select the correct drive letter and save. Or drag the file you want to save and drop it into the flash drive. Some computers require a special "eject" procedure for safe removal of your flash drive. If you do not follow it, you could loose data. Be sure to read and follow any instructions that come with your drive.

Once you begin to save your files on a flash drive, be very careful to not misplace it. You can loose a lot of work, photos, or other important data very easily. Backup on a permanent drive is advisable.

Free Online Media (To Educate and Entertain)

Radio, TV, and Movies have have become an integrated part of our lives. The means of delivery for all forms of media has changed dramatically over the years. We can carry music and movies in our pocket when we travel and view or listen to when we want. TV or radio were once available only from an antenna, then a cable, now can come to us on the internet via broadband, or wifi. Many of the things we view or listen to in a time schedule are available on demand from the internet. Some sites provide their own media player. Other sites allow you to use the media player of your choice. Not all media players will open all media. Make sure your players are updated.

Videolan offers VLC as an open source free for download. I have had success with VLC opening most media files even when the other players won't. You will also want to have Real Player and Window's Media Player up to date and on hand.

You can find many different genres of music on the Internet Radio stations. After you start a search your options will be great. A few that I found are listed below.

Free Internet Radio Stations:

National Public Radio

REAL Radio

Windows Media

Last FM

Weather Radio

Live 365

If you want a movie or a favorite TV show, you will also want to run a search. Some of my results are below.

Free TV and Movies Online:

PBS

HULU

TV Duck

Fancast

VEOH

TV Land

ABC

NBC

CBS

FOX

Nick

Who pays for all of this entertainment. Well the sponsors of course. Some things never change. If you don't want commercials, expect to pay.

One more very entertaining place online, full of media for our viewing is You Tube. A lot of the media is home grown. (You can produce some of your own media and post it.)But there are a lot of clips from TV and Radio of days gone by. There are also plenty of music videos. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. We will need to be careful to not play all the time. When you get on your computer, find a happy balance between work and play. Set a good example for the children.

Have I Got News For You

News and current events seem to be on everyones mind. Some newspapers find they can no longer survive financially. They are shutting down and/or going strictly online. Reading the newspaper is traditional for many. What has this to do with simplifying geekdom? If you are new to computer use or lack confidence in your skills to "surf" around, don't worry. You can become "tech savy" in this too. The search engine is your friend.

Go to your favorite search engine. (i.e Google, Yahoo, Dogpile, MSN, etc.). Run a search on news. You will come up with links for CNN, Fox News, Google News, ABC News, and Yahoo News, etc.

Next run a search for online newspapers. You will find links to newspapers worldwide. You will find pages with links to US newspapers. (LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Kalamazoo Gazette, Detroit Free Press, NY Times, Greenville Daily News, and many more)

It is possible to get RSS feeds from your favorite news sources and have those feeds brought together in an aggregator. ( for exampleGoogle Reader, and Feedreader). Once you set up a feed aggregator, you will discover there are many things more than newspapers on the web that have RSS feed. You will save a lot of time being able to go to one place to catch up with the things you want to know.

Imagine the possibilities of using this with your student (child or grandchild). Current events couldn't get any easier to find. Search for your sources, look for their RSS feeds, then begin aggregating (collecting your news).

Write A Letter or Report

Everybody likes to get a letter, but most people don't like to write a letter. The computer has made that part of life easier. We can write a letter (or a report) with the computer using a word processor. Your word processor may be Microsoft Word. If you do not have that program, don't go out and buy it. You can download open source software from the Internet. Two good open source word processors are Open Office, and Abiword. Or you can use Google Docs online.

In your word processor, you can format the text (bold, italic, underline, change color, change font, change size). You can add (Insert) pictures.

Take the time to become familiar with the toolbars located at the top and bottom of the screen. Do not be afraid to explore. If you click on the word help in the top row on your page, you will have access to information that explains how the program works. When you point the cursor arrow at different symbols on the toolbars, the highlight will tell you what tool the symbol is a shortcut for.


When you work on a project you should save routinely to protect what you have done so far.
Click file, save as, then a box will open. At that time you can select where the file will be saved and click save.

Letters or papers can be saved and attached to an email. Many believe attachments of this type should be avoided. Saving word documents as .txt or .rtf files makes it easier for more people to open the file. Not everyone has Microsoft Word. Documents saved as .doc files cannot be opened by those people.

When Google Docs is used, your documents can be saved and shared online with others. This is excellent for a student working on reports or school papers. It makes it harder for the dog to eat the homework. Practice makes perfect. Do not be afraid to explore and use some form of word processing.

Let's Go To the Zoo

Children enjoy the excitement and novelty found in the zoo. A trip to the zoo can contribute much to the learning process of a child. In this age of expensive travel, the virtual zoo may not be as much fun as the real thing, but can certainly provide education and entertainment. In my search for virtual zoos, I discovered the Switch Zoo aka Switcheroo Zoo. In this unique zoo you can make your own animal. It may resemble more than one kind of animal when you finish.
Cyber Zoo  displays animals as part of a biome. And exZooberance is a celebration of the animal kingdom. The National Zoological Park is a part of the Smithsonian.  The Giant Zoo is a virtual zoo with animal videos. And the African Rainforest Conservancy takes you to a virtual zoo devoted to animals unique to the African Rainforest.  You can expand the search easily. There are established, real zoos, that have animal information and photos at their website. Don't be afraid to explore. The animals won't bite (this time).

Virtual Zoos

Switcheroo Zoo

Cyber Zoo

Ex Zoo Berance

Washington National Zoo

Giant Zoo

African Rainforest Conservancy

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Visit The Virtual Museums

There are many exciting and overlooked places on the Internet. We can introduce our children (or grandchildren) and ourselves to the many virtual museums that are found online. Probably one of the better known is the Smithsonian Museum (actually 19 museums known as the Smithsonian Institute). The virtual museums can easily be found by going to your favorite search engine (mine is Google) and typing "online museums" or "virtual museums" into the search box. You can be specific in your search by merely changing the wording of the search (i.e. "virtual art museums" or "online art museums").
More and more collections are being added every year. The exposure to history, culture, and science is great. Schools have cut back on field trips because of the high cost of transportation.  Students in public school, private school, or home school should all take advantage of the  opportunities they have to visit  world famous museums online. Below is a list of Museum Links. This list is not exhaustive. Explore, then search and find some more.

Art Museums:

American Art Museum

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Louvre

Freer Gallery of Art

American Museum of Photography


Science Museums:

National Air and Space Museum

Exploratorium

Smithsonian Kid's Museum

History Museums:

American History Museum

Steamboat Museum

Beatles Museum Online

3D Ancient Wonders

European Virtual Museum

Virtual Car Museum

Vatican Museums

American Red Cross Museum

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Searching In All The Right Places

We live in the information age and the Internet is the information place. You can search to find a friend, a phone number, a web address, a street address, or a new dress. You can find a new car, an old car, or tire for your car. There are many different search engines online. Some are household words and others are not very well known. A few of the most commonly used are Google, Yahoo, Ask.com, Dogpile, AltaVista, Lycos, Live Search and WebCrawler.



My preference is Google. You should try out more than one and go with the one you like. My sons call me to look up show times for movies, addresses of customers, phone numbers of business, and their bank statements.

I recently heard about a student who ran his searches at YouTube when he wanted information.

There are online encyclopedias (Wikipedia, Encarta, Britannica etc.)

You can search for something you need to know or you can search out of curiosity. Most things can be found and accessed through the use of a search engine. Don't be afraid to fill in the search box and seek to be enlightened.

Treasures at Google

Most people cannot understand how things can be free in their Internet experience. They are always asking, "What is the catch?" Most freebies have no catch. A few do.(Advertisers at their site are paying the bill. This is similar to TV sponsors.) Always read the fine print (all user agreements, Eula).
Google is one of my favorite companies. They offer an abundance of resources useful for parents, teachers, and students. The list would include but not be limited to the following:

Gmail (free personal e-mail)
iGoogle (Your personalized startpage)
Blogger (free personal blog sites)
Google Documents (documents, presentation, spreadsheets, forms)
Google Sites
Google Book Search
Google Notebook
Google Talk
You Tube
Picasa Web Albums

Once you establish a free account with Google, Your user name and password will access all of the free services provided by Google. The login is represented in the photo below.


When you go to www.google.com, you arrive at a page that provides a search bar, offers a link to Gmail, a link to login to Google accounts, and a link to more.



Google Labs shows the new projects that Google is working on.

A while back Google purchased Grand Central. This service has been under redevelopment and will be available soon as Google Voice. Google Voice will also be accessed with your Google username and password.

Take time to explore the the above resources. The benefit will be well worth the time spent in exploration.

The Day After

It's April 2nd, the day after world domination by the Conficker Worm. I guess we are all still here and our computers are still under our control. Just for future reference, keep your computer updated with Microsoft updates (unless you use Linux or Mac of course). Keep your antivirus software updated. And do not open suspicious looking emails (Also don't talk to strangers ---don't open emails from sources or people you do not know).

Now let's talk about shortcuts. We all like shortcuts. How do I make a shortcut?

Your mouse probably has two buttons and a scroll. Most of the time we click the left mouse. To create a shortcut, we will be clicking the right side mouse button (known a right clicking).

Select the program you want to make a shortcut for (I have chosen Word). Right click on the program icon. When the box drops down, click copy as in the picture below.

Then go to the place where you want your shortcut (usually on the desktop), and click paste shortcut as shown in the picture below.

The shortcut will appear as shown below. A shortcut will have a small arrow on the lower left corner.

If a shortcut stops working, delete it and make a new one. (To delete a shortcut, right click on the shortcut, when the drop down box appears, click delete. Or left click on the shortcut and while holding down the button, drag the shortcut to the recycle bin.)

The more you do this the easier it becomes. So go ahead and practice.

Remember to Lock the Door

When my grandparents were young, people really did leave home and leave the door unlocked. But that was then and this is now. The world has changed a lot since the days of my grandparents. We wouldn't dream of leaving the door unlocked today. When you leave your computer unprotected, it is like leaving the door unlocked.
On April 1st, computer users are being threatened by a super worm that can do a lot of damage and steal a lot of information. You do not have to be fluent in tech terms to protect yourself, your computer, and your personal information. I have provided the following links to give you information and some simple resources.

1. About Conficker Worm
CNN Article

2. Free Scan (If you can get to this scan, you probably do not have conficker on your machine.)
Symantec.com

3. Keep your Updates up to date.
Microsoft Updates

4. If your machine is infected, you need this tool from Microsoft:
Malicious Software Removal Tool

5. Free Anti-Virus Software (keep it updated)
Avast

6. Free Anti - Spyware Software (keep it updated)
Super Anti-Spyware (for personal use)

7. Firewall for Windows XP

8. Zone Alarm Free Firewall (for personal use)

Do not wait until there is a problem. Plan ahead. Be prepared. Our computers are important to us. Don't forget to lock the door.

Places To Go, Books To Read, Problems To Solve

It is fun to play a game on a computer. But don't let you computer become an expensive game system. The computer along with the Internet has a wealth of educational material that is useful to strengthen your child's reading and math skills. There are sites to use to encourage summer learning or to use in your Home School Program. Sometimes finding these sites from the ever growing web may seem difficult for the new computer user. I have several links below for reading and math. Most of these I have used before. The children perceive them as fun. They are fun but the final result is learning.

Reading Sites:

Bing and Bong Tiny Planets

Americas Library

Bab Books

Boy's Own: Stories forYouth

Children’s Story Books Online

Internet Public Library

Peep and the Big Wide World

Star Fall

Stories from the Web

Tumble Books for Children

Children’s Books Online

Children’s Library

Story Place

Book Hive

Clifford Stories



Math Sites:

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives

A Plus Math

Interactive Multiplication

Math Facts

My Display Is Upside Down !!

Have you ever had one of those days when your display on the monitor got turned upside down? You could always turn the monitor upside down. Or you could press three keys (ctrl, alt, up arrow key) all at the same time. This is also useful information to pull an April fools day joke.

Sometimes we open the browser to go on the internet and things (like toolbars) are missing that we are accustomed to seeing. If you click the F11 key on the keyboard you end up with full screen.



This is good for watching video. It is not so good when you want to search or go to favorites. If your browser is on full screen, and you want it back to normal, move your cursor to the upper right hand corner of the screen. (The cursor is the little arrow controlled by the mouse.). The controls will show and you click on the restore box. Or just press the F11 Key again.


If you want to change the number of toolbars, click view, select toolbars, then put a check mark next to the toolbars you want to keep. Remove the check mark from the toolbars you do not want.

Let's Play Chess (more free software)

Learning to play Chess has been shown to encourage thinking and problem solving. Chess is a good game for adults. It is also an excellent game to teach our children. A beautiful computer version of chess is available free. You can play a 1 player game (against the computer) or a 2 player game (against another person).




The graphics are beautiful and the screen looks a lot like the real thing.



My grandsons have become better chess players using this free software.

Pouet Chess - download here

about Pouet Chess

A Little Computer Cleanup

Somtimes our computers need a little basic attention. If we neglect the cleanup, they slow down.

You can start by doing "disk cleanup". Double-click and open up My Computer. Right click on the C drive, then select properties from the dropdown box.

A box will open like the one below. Click on the button that says "Disk Cleanup". Then follow the prompts.

The next box that opens will look like this:

Check the boxes for "Download Program Files", Temporary Internet Files", "Recycle Bin", and "Temporary Files". Then click OK. That will finish this job.





Next, open Internet Explorer. Click on Tools. You will see a dropdown box like the one below. Select Internet options.

After you select Internet Options, a new box will open like the one below.

Under Browsing History click the Delete button. This will delete Temporary Files, History, Cookies, Saved Paswords, and Web Form Information. Next to the Delete button click Settings. Then put a dot next to the line that says, "Every Time I Visit The Web Page"


These actions will take less than a half hour but will help keep your computer running smoothly.

After doing this clean up, it might also be a good time to run Your anti-spyware program

Computer and Internet Safety

I suppose a discussion of computer and Internet safety could go more than one direction. We could discuss protection for the computer. To protect the machine, you need anti-virus and anti-spyware software. You could take the money you saved on your car insurance and spend it on software (anti-virus and anti-spyware). Or you could use some high quality freeware. Avast has an excellent product for home use that is free. I have used it for more than a year and it has provided good protection for my computer. I have been using "Super AntiSpyware Free Edition" for the removal of spyware from my computer. Both are important for keeping your computer healthy and running smoothly. Whatever you ultimately use, choose wisely.

Free Home Edition Anti-Virus Software
About AVAST -Anti-virus Software

SUPERAntiSpyware Free Edition
About Super AntiSpyware Free Edition

I will write more in another post regarding internet safety for our children. One of the expressions I use in the computer lab is this: "When children play on the internet without supervision, It can be as dangerous as playing in the street." We definitely want to keep our children supervised and safe. The Internet is full of wonder and full of technological treasure. But it also has danger and monsters waiting to take advantage of the young, the naive, and the unsuspecting.

More Free Enhancements For Your Computer

By now you may have installed games from the last post for the kids to enjoy. Do not feel guilty if you enjoy them too. In this post, I am providing links to some very useful (but free) software. Open Office is a complete office suit that contains a word processor, spreadsheet, an editor for slideshow and meeting presentations and much more. Gimp has the photo editing qualities of some very expensive photo editors. Picasa will be a place to organize and store your pictures (and movies). You can use Picasa with Gmail to send large numbers of photos with just a few clicks of the mouse.

When you buy a Windows PC, it comes with Internet Explorer. Browsers are like ice cream. You have a choice. And some are better than others. You might even want "more than one". I have provided links to download three different browsers. Chrome (a new browser by Google), Mozilla Firefox (a very popular open source browser), and Flock (a social network browser based on the code for Mozilla).

Paint.Net

About Paint.Net

Gimp

About Gimp

Open Office

About Open Office

Abiword

About Abiword

Notepad++

About Notepad++

Mozilla Firefox

About Mozilla Firefox

Flock Web Browser

About Flock

Google Chrome

About Chrome

Google Sketch-Up

About SketchUp

Picasa

About Picasa

Google Earth

About Google Earth

Free or Nearly Free Software

Every parent would like to provide games that are quality, educational, and fun for their family to use on the computer. Cost is normally important. There are many games available at no cost or very little cost. Some games are predominantly fun and that is O.K. Other games are not only fun but also written to teach an academic skill.

Tux Typing
Tux Paint
Tux Math
Tux Racer
Neverball
GCompris
Childsplay
Motion Planning
Bitefusion
Pengupop

Grey Olltwit Software
Over 200 Educational Software Titles, Fun Games and Useful Utilities. These software packages were written by a parent to use with his son in home school.

I have personally used the above titles with my grandchildren. They have learned much and had hours of fun. The downloads and installation are fairly simple. Most of the above titles are free. The Grey Olltwit Software sells for $17.95 for over 200 titles and lifetime membership to download any new software posted at their site.

I will share more software sources in my next post.

Keep It Simple Make It Fun

For the last eight years, I have operated a computer lab in an elementary school. One thing I have learned is that students (even the very young) are comfortable using a computer. The second thing I have learned is that adults are usually not very comfortable using a computer. It has occurred to me that Geekdom needs to be simplified for those who only want to know what is going on. That includes most of the parents of school age children. We need to keep it simple and make it fun. Not everyone seeks to be a super geek. Not everyone wants to write html code or java script. Not everyone wants to help write Linux. And not everyone wants to take pictures apart and put them back together.

Most parents would be interested to know where to get free or very inexpensive software (educational and fun). Most parents would want free, yet effective virus software and anti-spyware and information on how to use it. Most parents would enjoy learning about the basics of blogs, podcasts, wikis, and social software sites.

This blog will be all about going to the basics, making important things simple, and helping the unknown to be known.This blog will become a resource for those who need Geekdom to be simplified. I am not an expert. I am seeking and learning. And what I learn, I will gladly share.