Introduction to Computers

1. Introduction to Computers
   1. Synopsis
   2. Prerequisites
   3. Week 1: Pre-test and Hardware
   4. Week 2: Hardware Maintenance & Care
   5. Week 3: Operating Systems/Networking
      1. Operating Systems
      2. Networking
   6. Week 4: Web Browsing
   7. Week 5: Electronic Mail
   8. Week 6: Office Software
      1. Word Processing
      2. Spreadsheets
      3. Slideshows
      4. Presentations
   9. Week 7: Societal, Ethical & Safety Issues
   10. Week 8: Portable computing
   11. Miscellaneous Links
       1. Travel safely in bad weather

Synopsis

Get acquainted with the computer, Windows operating system and common functions. Create a Word document, capture a screen image, manage files, generate emails and navigate web sites. Computer safety and back-ups will be discussed.

Prerequisites

• basic typing: Online Typing Practice
• basic mousing: (taught in class)
• basic web use: (taught in class)

Week 1: Pre-test and Hardware

1. What is a computer?
   An electronic device, operating under the control of information, that can accept data, process the data, produce output and store the results for future use.

   

2. What is computer hardware?
   Any component of the computer you can see, touch, or kick.
3. What is a CPU?
   Located in the tower, the Central Processing Unit communicates with other devices to perform tasks. It's the "heart" or "traffic cop" that connects the computer's hardware.
4. What are peripherals?
   External hardware attached to the tower.
5. What are input devices?
   Devices that let you enter information and communicate with the computer.
6. What are output devices?
   Devices that let the computer communicate with you.
7. What are storage devices?
   Devices that store information, and allow the computer to use that information to perform tasks later. It's the "filing cabinet" of the computer.
8. What is RAM?
   Random Access Memory is where the computer stores currently running programs and data for those programs.  It's like a "school desk" for the computer.

The Senior's Guide to Computers is a Beginner's Tutorial for personal computers. To learn more about hardware at your own pace, see their articles on The Basics and Hardware.

Week 2: Hardware Maintenance & Care

1. Identify internal PC parts
   • Motherboard
   • CPU
   • RAM
   • Power Supply
   • Disk Drives
   • Expansion Cards
   • Case Fan
2. Describe the function of each part.
   • See the video at http://youtu.be/HB4I2CgkcCo
3. Care of computer, keyboard, mouse
   • No food or drinks near the computer.
4. Care for a monitor
   • Don't touch the screen.
   • Don't clean with glass cleaner (Windex).
5. Care for cables
   • 4" minimum bend radius on network cables.
   • Don't staple cables.
6. Care of disks & drives
   • Keep them away from heat, water, magnets & electrical shock.
7. What is a Byte?
   • The smallest unit of memory storage is called a bit. A bit can be either on or off, like a light switch.
   • Eight bits combine to make one Byte. That's enough storage for one letter of the alphabet or a number, etc.
     01101000 = 104 = "h"
8. What is a Gigabyte, anyway?
   • Hard Disk Drives and RAM capacity are both measured in multiples of bytes.
   • Thousands, Millions, Trillions, & Quadrillions become Kilo-, Mega-, Giga- & Tera-.
   • See: Multiples of bytes on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Read more at Computer Basics: Basic Parts of a Computer

Week 3: Operating Systems/Networking

Operating Systems

1. An operating system (OS) is software that:
   • Is the "traffic cop" for all other software.
   • Lets users launch computer programs.
   • Manages stored files and computer hardware.
2. The most popular Operating Systems are:
   • Windows
   • Macintosh
   • Linux
3. Windows
   • 77% of Desktop and laptop market share
   • Upgrade treadmill enforces planned obsolescence after ten years.
   • Contributes to frequently misused technical terms:
   • Only OS to use the "back(wards) slash"
   • Left-click should just be "Click"
4. Mac
   • 17% market share
   • Initially popular among media creators
   • Proprietary hardware is more expensive
   • Reliable
5. Linux
   • 2% market share
   • Can be installed on standard PC hardware
   • Open source and Free
   • Many flavors or "distributions"
6. Keyboard Basics
   • Modifier keys (Control, Shift, Alt) must be pressed with another key.
   • See: image at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ISO_keyboard_%28105%29_QWERTY_UK.svg
7. Popular OS keyboard shortcuts
   • Start with a printed Quick Reference a.k.a. "cheatsheet"
   • ❖+D Show Windows Desktop
   • ❖+E Launch Windows Explorer
   • ❖+Pause Launch System Control Panel
   • Ctrl+C Copy selected text onto the clipboard
   • Ctrl+V Paste text from the clipboard
8. Intermediate OS skills
   • Determine OS, RAM, and HD size.
   • Identify the Desktop, OS menu, task bar, system tray.
   • Launch software and identify which software is running.
     • Solve double-click-itis by clicking icon once, then press Enter
   • Create folders and name them
   • Organizing system for files and folders.
   • Save and rename files, and to different drives
   • Copy files and format drives
   • Determine size of files and programs
   • Locate software and files on the HDD

• Windows 8 Cheat Sheet (.pdf)
• Google image search for more keyboard cheat sheets

Networking

1. What is a computer network?
   • A system of linked computers.
   • Biggest benefit: Shared peripherals.
2. What is the Internet?
   • The network of computers that connects millions of people all over the world
3. What are popular types of internet connections?
   • Fiber Optic
   • Cable
   • DSL: Digital Subscriber Line
   • Cellular Hotspot
   • Residential Fixed Wireless
   • Satellite
4. What is an IP address?
   • Every device connected to a network must have a unique number, just like telephones.
   • Visit IP Chicken.com to find your public IP address.
5. What is DNS?
   • Domain Name Services allow us to use friendly names (like Google.com) to connect to IP addresses, much like a phone book.
6. What is a LAN?
   • A Local Area Network connects computers within a limited area such as a home, school, or office building.
7. How do I connect to a wireless network?
   1. Locate and click on the Wi-Fi icon.
   2. Choose a wireless Access Point from the list
   3. Click Connect
   4. Provide a password if needed.

IP Chicken - Learn about IP Addresses

ipchicken.com/learn.html

Local area network

wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_area_network

Wi-Fi

wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi

Week 4: Web Browsing

1. What is the World Wide Web?
   • The World Wide Web (WWW, or the Web) is an open source information place on the Internet where documents and other web resources are often connected by hyper-links.
2. What is the primary use of a web browser?
   • To view web pages on a computer display.
   • If the Internet is an "information super-highway", your browser acts like a vehicle.
   • Your "driveway" (PC) should have a spare vehicle (browser) for rainy days.
3. What are popular web browsers?
   • Firefox
   • Chrome
   • Opera
   • Edge
   • Safari
4. What is a web address (URL)?
   • A Uniform Resource Locator is used to specify resource addresses on the World Wide Web.
5. Where is the address bar usually found in a web browser?
   • The text entry bar that is near the top of the browser.
6. What common mistakes would make a web address invalid?

   https://	www.	example.com	:80	/news/	story.html
   protocol	hostname (optional)	domain	port (opt)	directory	file (opt)

   • Modern browsers assume the protocol is http, unless you type otherwise.
   • Valid domain names contain only letters, numbers, and hyphens.
   • Domain names are not case sensitive, but may be shown with UpperCase.
   • Directory and file names are case sensitive.
   • • http://www.Ex-ample.com/sports.html
     • http://www.ex_ample.com/headlines/
     • http://wxcam.example.com:81/
     • https://exAmple100.info/
7. How do I visit a web address?
   1. Place the cursor in the address bar.
   2. Type the URL.
   3. Press Enter.
8. How to teach yourself anything!
   1. Visit YouTube.com
   2. Search for any technical (or other) topic, followed by the word tutorial.
   3. Example: Windows 10 tutorial
9. How do I create a bookmark to save favorite web pages?
   • Click the star icon in the right end of the address bar.
10. How do I set a custom home page?
    • Drag and drop the icon left of the web address onto the Home button.
11. How do I go back to the default home page?
    1. Click on the ☰ Menu button
    2. Click Options
    3. Click the General tab (default)
    4. Click on "Restore Default"
12. What are cookies and why would I want to delete them?
    • A HTTP Cookie is a small file that allows websites to remember information about you. This can be handy when you check the box "remember me on this computer" or annoying when advertisers track your web browsing behavior. Read more about them on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie
    • Firefox allows you to "manage" (view/delete) any or all of these cookies.
13. Browser keyboard shortcuts
    • Ctrl++ Enlarge browser text
    • Ctrl+0 (Zero) Reset browser text size
    • Ctrl+L Move cursor to the address bar
    • Ctrl+D Create a new Bookmark
    • Ctrl+B Show Bookmarks
    • Ctrl+H Show History

• What's My Browser?
• GetFirefox.com
• World Wide Web - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• How to set the home page | Firefox Help
• How to get back my default home page | Firefox Support Forum | Mozilla Support
• Manage cookie settings | Firefox Help

Week 5: Electronic Mail

1. What is Electronic mail?
   • Electronic mail (or e-mail), is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients.
2. How is Electronic mail like Post Office mail?
   1. From: my outbox
   2. relayed to my Post Office (ISP)
   3. relayed to your Post Office
   4. To: your inbox
      

      

3. What are some good Password management guidelines?
   • Never use the same password for multiple accounts.
   • Never use words found in dictionaries or phone books for passwords.
   • Do not rely only on your brain to remember passwords.
   • Have an effective paper system (recipe cards) or...
   • Use Password management (like KeePass).
   • Try to use randomly generated passwords.
4. How do I create an online account?
   1. Visit the providers home page (google, yahoo, outlook/hotmail, mail)
   2. Click "Create account".
   3. Provide real name, desired username, password, birth date and sometimes mobile phone.
   4. Be prepared to provide answers to "security questions".
   5. Record account credentials for later use.
5. What is "spoofing"?

   When a sender has faked their information.

   • Postal mail
   • e-mail
   • Caller ID
6. E-mail safety Tips
   • Opening an e-mail message and reading the text is always safe.
   • Opening some unexpected attachments can infect your PC
   • Clicking hyper-links sent by unexpected sources are also dangerous
7. To open and respond to an e-mail message:
   • Click the Reply button
   • Optionally, update the subject line
8. To send an e-mail message.

   Click Compose, Write, or [pencil icon] button.

   To:	user@example.com
   Subject:	Hello World
   CC, BCC:
   From, Date:
   Body:	This is my message

   • To, Subject, and Body are required
   • CC, BCC (Blind Courtesy Copy) are optional
   • Date sent is automatically added
   • Proper netiquette discourages the use of ALL CAPS as it is considered shouting.
9. Send a message with an attachment by:
   • Easiest: drag and drop from your file manager
   • Otherwise, look for a paper clip icon
10. What is spam and what can I do about it?
    • Unsolicited Bulk E-mail are advertising messages from someone you don't know.
    • Video: Monty Python - Spam
    • Don't delete spam. Click the Spam button.

• Introduction to KeePass
• KeePass Free Download
• Etiquette in technology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Emotional Icons
• Email spam - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Week 6: Office Software

Word Processing

• Common Office Software Suites
  • LibreOffice
  • Google Office
  • Microsoft Office
  • OpenOffice
  • Microsoft Office Online
• What is a Word Processor?
• A computer application for creating, modifying, and printing documents.
• Common Word Processing Features
• Move words or blocks of text within a document
• Automatic page numbering
• Automatic spell checker
• Merge mailing list names into a form letter
• Basic WP Document Tasks
• Create
• Edit
• Save
• Print
• Open a document
• Easiest: Double-click on the file.
• Launch WP; Then click File > Open.
• Save a document
• Click File > Save.
• or, press Ctrl+S.
• Print a document
• Click File > Print.
• or, press Ctrl+P.
• Create a document
• Click File > New.
• Intermediate Tasks
• Save using different file formats, including TXT and PDF files.
• Edit and format a document using copy, paste, cut, spell check, change fonts, size, style menus.
• Create headers, footers, page numbers.

Spreadsheets

• What is a Spreadsheet?
• Computer software used for storing and analyzing data in columns and rows.
• Demo

Slideshows

• Was easiest using Google PicasaWeb... until they killed it.
• Demo

Presentations

• Think of these as word processing pages turned sideways and projected onto a screen.
• Demo

• Word processor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• SS101 - Spreadsheet Basics class notes
• PDF Creator - virtual printer allows you to save any document as a PDF for sending via e-mail
• Office Online
• Is Office Online Worth Using?

Week 7: Societal, Ethical & Safety Issues

1. What is a Hacker?
• A smoker with a chronic cough?
• An electronics tinkerer?
• The proper term for a black hat hacker is a "cracker", like a safe-cracker.
• People who use those same tech skills to fight cybercrime are called white hat hackers.
2. Personal Security
• Choose secure passwords
• Your mother's maiden name isn't secure!
• Don't click on untrusted e-mail links
• They frequently use Phishing tactics to bait or trick you into revealing your confidential information.
3. Avoid Scams
• If it seems to good to be true...
• Pay attention to news reports for common scams in our area.
• Always request postal verification from telephone debt collectors.
• Check out a charity before you donate.
4. What is a Computer Virus?
• One of several types of malicious software (malware) programs that can infect unprotected computers.
• They may corrupt files, steal private information, and/or display unwanted advertisements.
• Because virii are software, they can not damage hardware.
5. How to secure a PC running Windows
1. Obtain, install, and update a quality anti-virus programs.
2. Obtain, install, and update one or more anti-spyware programs.
3. Run Windows update
6. Browse With Care
• Use the Adblock add-on under Firefox or Chrome
• Uninstall Flash & Java plugins
• Beware of pop-ups offering free music, games, or antivirus software
• Just because it has been published on the Internet doesn't mean it is legal to download.
7. Digital Privacy
• Video: Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me"
• EPIC - Electronic Privacy Information Center
• Electronic Frontier Foundation | Defending your rights in the digital world
8. Backups
• There are two types of computer users:
1. Those who make backups
2. Those who wish they had made a backup
• If your data is not important, don't make backups
• If your data never changes, don't backup frequently
9. 3-2-1 Backup Rule
• 3 copies of anything you care about - Two isn't enough if it's important.
• 2 different formats - For example, CD/DVD + online backup service or external HDD + USB Drive
• 1 off-site backup - How will you get your memories back if there is a fire, flood, tornado, or thief? Backups must have geographic diversity.
10. Backup Power
• To mitigate power outages, buy a Smart Uninterruptible Power Supply
• Place a sticker on the UPS dated three years from the installation date reminding you to replace the battery.

• Internet Safety - GCFLearnFree
• Windows critical security tips
• What data should I back up?
• Why You Should Always Have More Than One Backup - Lifehacker
• How-To: Manage your 'digital afterlife' while you're still here to do it | 9to5Google
• Snopes.com - Fact check Internet rumors
• Scam Tracker- The BBB's map of common scams near us
• Kansas Charity Check
• Why my Mother's maiden name is nonsense and yours should be too
• Apple Fight Could Lead To "Virtually Limitless" Surveillance Powers, Judge Warns | Electronic Frontier Foundation
• President Obama Nominates New Librarian Of Congress Who Supports Open Access, Fights Against Surveillance
• Snapchat Employee Data Leaks Out Following Phishing Attack | TechCrunch
• Hackers did indeed cause Ukrainian power outage, US report concludes | Ars Technica
• 20th anniversary of the movie "Hackers"

Week 8: Portable computing

1. What are the differences in mobile devices?
   • Laptops run full versions of desktop grade software. They are expensive to maintain & difficult to upgrade.
   • Tablets run touch-centric software and connect via Wi-Fi. Best suited for web browsing, e-mail and social media.
   • Smart phones are tablets with added GPS & Cellular radios. Like Tablets, they are designed to wear out in 4 years.
   • Wearables include watches and smart sneakers. They usually partner with a smart phone.
2. What are popular mobile Operating Systems?
   • Android by Google
   • iOS by Apple
   • Windows Mobile by Microsoft
   • Blackberry
3. What is an App Store?
   • An online directory of commercial and free mobile software applications.
4. What is Social Media?
   • Web-based and mobile applications that allow users to create content, publish it, and interact with each other.
5. What are popular Social Media sites?
   • Facebook
   • Google+
   • LinkedIn
   • Pinterest
   • Not MyFace
6. Web cameras
   • Any camera attached or built-in to a computing device can make video calls
   • FaceTime
   • Skype
   • Google Hangouts
7. How do I move files from a digital camera to my PC?
   • Easiest: Buy a portable USB memory card reader; then drag and drop the photos
   • Harder: Install the proprietary software that came on the CD-ROM, then connect the USB cable.
8. Where do I go from here?
   • Stay inquisitive!
   • Review our class notes and your pre-test answers.
   • See the "Tutorials for Beginners" section of our Newbie resources page.
9. WPL Technology Classes
   1. Visit: https://Wichita.gov/evolve
   2. Click "Digital Media and Technology", then select a subtype of "Computers and Software".
   3. Click the Search button.
10. Tech Headlines
    • Inventor of email and savior of the @ sign, Ray Tomlinson, is dead at 74 | The Verge
    • The Accidental History of the @ Symbol | Science | Smithsonian
    • Ars Technica
    • TechCrunch - The latest technology news and information on startups
    • Digg Technology

Miscellaneous Links

Travel safely in bad weather

You can use free websites to find out when bad weather has made it unsafe to travel.