Computer Literacy & Basic Computer Skills for Productivity

Welcome to the course. You are taking a great step by enrolling in this course. Better skills create a better life. You are on your way to a better life. As you learn new skills, you are building a better life. I commend you for your efforts to improve your life. As you improve your life, you are improving the world --- one person at a time. You are making the world better, and you are making your life better. This is a win-win for everybody. Great work!

You can find everything I use in the course and all of the courses resources here:

THE COURSE OUTLINE IS ATTACHED TO THIS VIDEO AS A PDF

We’re going to learn some great things in this section. By the time you are done with this section, you will know more about computers than the vast majority of people in the world. A lot of the material in this section is nice to know not need to know. If you grasp some of the material, great. If you grasp all of the material, even better!

You do not need to have any fear when working with computers. Computers are made up of hardware and software. 99% of the time, if there is a problem with a computer, it is a software problem. Unless you hit your computer with a hammer, it is really hard to break a computer’s hardware. If something goes wrong with the software, it can all be reinstalled.

This is a review of not needing to have fear when working with computers. Computers are made of hardware and software. You can reinstall software if it gets messed up.

This is how computers work. This is nice to know. This is not need to know. Grasp what you can of this concept, and it’s okay if it doesn’t make a lot of sense. You are being exposed to the concept. This is preparing your mind to understand it more fully later. To know how computers work, you need to know three things:

1. Computers run on electricity

2. Electricity has two discrete states: ON or OFF

3. We can create coding schemes

   1. ON can mean one thing

   2. OFF can mean something else

Remember the Halloween porch light analogy given in the video. You can grasp this. If the porch light is on, come trick-or-treat. If the porch light is off, go away. That is how computers work.

This is part 2 of how computers work. To know how computers work, you need to know three things:

1. Computers run on electricity

2. Electricity has two discrete states: ON or OFF

3. We can create coding schemes

   1. ON can mean one thing

   2. OFF can mean something else

Remember the Halloween porch light analogy given in the video. You can grasp this. If the porch light is on, come trick-or-treat. If the porch light is off, go away. That is how computers work.

The purpose of computers is to take data and turn it into information. They do that by four basic functions: INPUT, PROCESS, OUTPUT, STORAGE ( I. P. O. S.). The way they do that is by this system:

1. Computers run on electricity

2. Electricity has two discrete states: ON or OFF

3. We can create coding schemes

   1. ON can mean one thing

   2. OFF can mean something else

Remember the Halloween porch light analogy given in the video. You can grasp this. If the porch light is on, come trick-or-treat. If the porch light is off, go away. That is how computers work.

The power symbol is made up of a “1” and a “0.” The “1” represents ON and the “0” represents OFF. In this video we also learn the cool trick of looking words up online by googling for “the-word define” where “the-word” is the word we want to look up. You can also press a speaker icon to hear how to pronounce the word.

Electrical surges can occasionally pulse through the electrical system. These surges can be caused by in a variety of ways, but a common culprit is lightning. If there is lightning, you want to unplug your computer. It is also a good idea to have a surge protector. This will help protect your computer.

Some hazards to computers: water, too much heat, direct sunlight, magnets, shock. Avoid those things with your computer.

You can physically harm yourself if you do not use your computer well. If you use your computer well, you can stay safe and healthy. Computers can cause repetitive stress injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome. Having an ergonomic workstation can help keep you safe. It is your responsibility to be vigilant for your safety and well-being.

When you “right click” with your mouse you get a context sensitive menu. This menu will give you choices related to the thing you right clicked. This is a powerful tool.

You can personalize your desktop by right-clicking your desktop. Use this technique to change the image of your desktop.

The taskbar is at the bottom of the screen usually. This is how you customize it.

Click the start button to start things in Windows.

The search box is right next to the start button. You can use the search box to find things on your computer.

When you’re done using your computer, it’s a good idea to power it off. You can find the power off button by clicking the start button. If your computer is not responding to commands, you can hold down the physical power button for 10 or 20 seconds and this will shut the computer down. Restarting a computer can sometimes fix problems with the computer, eg, a computer was not responding but then, after restarting, it works again.

control + click

This is how you change your desktop background on your mac.

This is how you customize the dock on a mac.

command + space bar OR the search icon in the top right corner

This is how you power off a mac.

You are learning great material. I am very happy for you!

We use Windows file explorer for organizing files.

Minimize, maximize, close, resize

When organizing folders, go from larger categories to smaller categories. For example,

• SCHOOL

  • SPRING 2020

    • CSI 101

      • HOMEWORK

      • PAPERS

We’ve learned a lot of great stuff. More is to come!

Here are some great short-cut keys:

• COPY: control + c

• CUT: control + x

• PASTE: control + v

Undoing, and redoing actions, is very important and helpful:

• UNDO: control + z

REDO: control + shift + Z or control + y

To organize your files, you can drag-and-drop them, or you can use copy, cut, and paste.

There are two ways to do multiple selections:

• Hold down shift

  • contiguous

• Hold down control

  • non-contiguous

This is a great keyboard shortcut - select all:

• control + a

You can adjust what you are selecting by using

• shift + “your arrow keys”

Another great keyboard shortcut - create something new:

• control + n

Another great keyboard shortcut - make something bold:

• control + b

Organizing windows:

• window symbol + arrow keys

Switch between running applications

An introduction to hands-on exercises. Hands-on exercises help you reinforce your skills. Complete these hands-on exercises to learn the material more effectively.

COPY and paste a document from one location to another in windows file explorer.

CUT and paste a document from one location to another in windows file explorer.

Open multiple windows: put one window on the left side of the screen; put the other window on the right side of the screen.

Do an action. Undo the action. Redo the action. Personal anecdote: IF I COULD UNDO MY LIFE, AND REDO … silicon valley, google, the air force, a career in the military ….

Resize a window.

Create a folder structure.

Auto hide your taskbar and lock it. Personal anecdote: southern accent and my southern roots ….

Change your desktop picture.

Quiz questions will further help you use and learn the material more quickly. Take this quiz to learn more effectively!

This is how you change how you view items in windows file explorer.

In addition to changing how you view files, you can also group files.

You can search through your computer for files.

File extensions tell your computer what kind of a file a file is. For example, image files might have a “.jpg” or a “.png” file extension. A music file might have a “.mp3” file extension.

You can change which software opens which files with “open with”

The trashcan is good to know about. You can recover files from the trashcan. You can also empty the trashcan.

Also known as zipping files, this allows you to decrease the size of a file or groups of files so that you can more easily store or send the file(s).

An introduction to mastering the web.

Google chrome, IMHO (in my humble opinion), is the best.

Google, IMHO, is the best. Google search tools include:

• “More …”

Better information = better choices

• Choosing a restaurant; a product

  • yelp; google reviews

  • Google shopping

  • Consumer reports

• Choosing a life partner

  • Harvard Adult Development Study

  • Research it: kind, competent, patient

  • John Gottmann - The Seven Principles

• Choosing a career

  • Research it; youtube

lastpass

Also known as: Two-step verification; two factor authentication

You can use “incognito mode” in Chrome for anonymous browsing. A virtual private network (VPN) can also help protect your privacy. I recommend Proton VPN

Extensions extend the capabilities of chrome.

Bookmarks allow you to save locations on the web.

Let’s make some beats.

• https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/

You can play the dinosaur game when you have no internet connection.

You can change the news by editing the code sent to your browser. This does not change the code on the server. :)

You can tell the computer what software to use to open different files types. To do this, use “open with.”

You can recover files from the recycle bin.

You can reduce the size of files for storage or for when you are sending them to someone.

Search for “california earthquakes” in the last 24 hours

Use this criteria:

• One or two $ signs

• Open now

• 4.5+ rating

Do a price comparison on “all clad set”

Create a folder to store bookmarks in. Bookmark a webpage and store it in that folder. Use that bookmark to go to that webpage.

There are two keys on the keyboard you should know about. These keys can cause frustration if you don’t understand what they do:

• Numlock: lets you use your number pad

• Insert: causes overtyping sometimes if activated

Don’t have janky email: aol, hotmail, others. Go with something that is mainstream, large, and savvy. Use gmail or protonmail.

Personal anecdote: blessed and dressed

Here are some rules for good email etiquette

• Avoid caps

• Less is more

• Error on the side of formal

• Avoid “Hey”

• Error on the side of formality

• Never send emails when you’re emotional

• Always enter the email address last

• Avoid emojis

• Avoid texting acronyms

• Have a professional email address

• Sign off, eg, “Sincerely,”

When you hit reply all you are replying to everyone who received the email. Be careful using reply all - only send an email to someone when they need to see the information you are sharing.

• TO

  • The recipient

  • Can see those cc’d

  • Can’t see those bcc’d

• CC

  • Carbon copy

  • The person cc’d knows that this email is FYI for them

  • Can see those cc’d

  • Can’t see those bcc’d

• BCC

  • Blind carbon copy

  • Can see those cc’d

  • Can’t see any others bcc’d except for themself

Hirō "Hiroo" Onoda (小野田 寛郎 Onoda Hirō, 19 March 1922 – 16 January 2014) was an Imperial Japanese Army intelligence officer who fought in World War II and was a Japanese holdout who did not surrender at war's end in August 1945. After the war ended Onoda spent 29 years holding out in the Philippines until his former commander traveled from Japan to formally relieve him from duty by order of the Emperor in 1974.[1][2] He held the rank of second lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army. He was the penultimate Japanese soldier to surrender, with Teruo Nakamura surrendering later in 1974.

The snipping tool is what you use to take screenshots in Windows. To take screenshots on other devices, simple google the device name along with “screenshot”.

Remove software that you no longer use by searching for “uninstall software”

Use the task manager to force a piece of software to quit.

This is a handy tool for finding things. Most software has this feature:

• control + f

Intro and review: remember

• RSI and ergonomics

• Two step authentication

• Password managers

To learn

• Antivirus software like Windows Defender

• Windows updates

Be a skeptic. Trust no strangers. Trust has to be earned. Be your own best advocate.

• Don’t click links in emails

• Don’t give info out over the phone

Protect your sensitive information.

• Social security numbers

• Date of birth

• Mother’s last name

• Bank account numbers

• Drivers license and State ID information

• Passport information

• Address

Still important but less so

• Phone number

• Healthcare related information

• Medical insurance information

• Student information

• Credit card numbers

  • FCBA - fair credit billing act

• Email

Shred documents

• Personal info

• Credit card applications