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.