U3A Computing Beginners Class

Leader – Brian MooreWeek 10 of 10 weeks.

Mondays 2:30 – 4:30pm

**** Last Class Today***

Buying a Computer or Laptop• A desktop computer is more powerful and has more

facilities than an equivalent Laptop for the same price. But of course they are not portable and not compact.

Chrome Book• A recent alternative to a conventional laptop is a

“Chrome Book”. They use the “Google Chrome OS” instead of Windows 8. They are much cheaper, give a long battery life, start quickly but are mainly for On Line based activities. You may eventually have to pay for more than a small amount of on line Storage. https://support.google.com/chromebook.

• They have only a tiny <32Gb amount of local storage. Only enough for a few photos or Docs.

• It runs “Apps” which again are cut down versions of traditional programs.

Purchasing a PC or Laptop

• A good idea is to look in a shop such as Curries/PCWorld or John Lewis and then check for a similar model On Line. I stress “similar” here.

• You will always pay a premium £90+ for buying in a store.

• Local shops will explain things well- Busy.IT 6 High Street, Nantwich.Freelance Technology 74 Nantwich Road, Crewe.

• Local shops might push you to buying their old outdated stock.

• A good read-

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/buying-advice/laptop/3413248/best-place-buy-laptop/

• On Line I favour purchasing from http://www.ebuyer.com/ , http://www.dinopc.com/ or http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk

• Join “Which” for a month for free. I have and shows Best buys for Chromebooks = Acer C720 £200, Toshiba CB30-102 £217, HP 14-q014sa £250

• Windows 8.1 Laptops =HP Pavilion x2 11-h000sa £400, Apple MacBook Air 11” £635.All these use SSD’s so fast & long battery life but seem expensive.

What you need in a Laptop

• Laptops: How to buy the best laptop = http://www.which.co.uk/technology/computing/guides/how-to-buy-the-best-laptop/

Makes the distinction between a Laptop for=Family use – robust, mid specification.Ultraportable – light, long battery life. Very cheap - < £300. Multimedia – higher spec., large Hi Resolution screen, Separate graphics card.

Conventional Laptops / PCs• Look for the following specifications =• Hardware Minimum requirements =• Family use- 4Gb Memory or RAM, 500Gb Hard

Drive or HDD, I3 or I5 processor.• Screen size, now all wide screen. Built in Camera –

your choice. Blue tooth – to move files from your smart phone.

• Laptops should have Wireless built in. A touch screen with Windows 8.1 gives the full experience but is another £100.

• HDMI connector. Some don't have VGA- still need.

Windows Operating system• New computers are now supplied with Windows

8.1 It is aimed at Tablet use, but can be put back to a traditional Desktop view. Look at http://www.classicshell.net/

• Windows XP is now obsolete.• http://www.software4students.co.uk/products/win

dows-8-dot-1-oem-full-version Sell Windows 8.1 full for £80. But note that changing hardware-motherboard will result in a loss of license. Ie non-transferrable. That's very bad. So buying Windows on its own is very expensive.

• Windows 10 will be around next year.

• http://windowssecrets.com/ Create an account, its free & easy. Good free manuals. Good on Windows 8.1

Software, what to get

• LibreOffice. Free from http://www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-still/

• Because of LibreOffice buying Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013 now seems unnecessary. But is obtainable for £100 from http://www.software4students.co.uk/products/microsoft-office-home-and-student-2013

• Office 2013 has the ability to be able to easily use files from your Onedrive account.

Buying Software from Software for Students

• If you want to buy Office 2013 You will need to create an account at https://software4students.co.uk/signup and prove you are a student.At the school Postcode put in - KT23 3QG and select “The University of the Third Age”. Call me if any further problem.

• Uninstall any trial version of Microsoft Office supplied on a new computer first.

Virus Checker - Which• Virus checker. ** Don't buy one **. MS Security

Essentials- is excellent and free. But not for Windows 8.1. Use for Windows 7, Vista XP.

• New computers will come with a limited time trial virus checker. Then you have to pay.

• First uninstall any other trial or out of date Virus checker. Its VERY important to have only ONE virus checker installed.

• Download from http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=5201 Select ENUS\x86\MSEInstall.exe on a Windows PC. Then Run it.

Virus Checker for Windows 8• Windows 8 & 8.1 comes with a built in Anti Virus

program – Windows Defender. Its very simple. • Run from Programs, Windows System, Windows

Defender.• Somewhat scathing Comments -

http://www.tomsitpro.com/articles/windows-8.1-antivirus-solutions,2-686.html I still think its OK.

AVG Virus Checker

• In the past I have always advocated the free AVG Anti-Virus Free. But it has now become increasingly annoying to use. It now tries to direct you to the paid for version.

• If you want download AVG Anti-Virus Free 2014 and install from=

• http://free.avg.com/gb-en/free-antivirus-download

Firewall

• These days a computer needs a Firewall to keep anything that's bad from the Internet – Hacking or Malware out.

• All modern routers include a Hardware Firewall, which is setup by default.

• All Windows versions include a firewall as well. You can have both enabled.

• Some AntiVirus programs include a Firewall as well. Its not needed so disable.

Updates • Windows updates or better Microsoft updates

enabled as by default. They come in about every second Tuesday of each month. If it asks, allow them to be installed. Then it may well ask you to restart the computer to complete the installation. This can be postponed.

• Flash & Java updates. Will be automatic, allow them both but watch for them trying to install other unnecessary software.

• Never install these by a by a link in an email.

• In addition to AntiVirus programs you may want to consider.

• Two free programs to run if any problem or strange behaviour and about once a month.

• Malwarebytes probably the best bet. Fromhttp://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free click on the Free Download Now and install.

. Or Adaware from http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php Click on the Green Download. Next screen Download, I just want free.., At the top select “Download File & Run.

Some web sites to look at• http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Computer • Laptops are £200 upwards. A Black Friday deal. For

HP 255 G3 Quad Core Laptop• Lenovo Essential B50-70 Laptop for £300 is a better

machine.• A Desktop can be as little as £170 See

http://www.ebuyer.com/643322-zoostorm-desktop-pc-bing-7260-8003But you need a Monitor £80, Keyboard & Mouse.

Other Suppliers

• http://www.ebay.co.uk• http://www.amazon.co.uk• http://www.sendmediscounts.co.uk/• http://www.ehow.com/computers/• http://www.dinopc.com/

Chromebook• As explained earlier, obtain from

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dcomputers&field-keywords=chromebooks&rh=n%3A340831031%2Ck%3Achromebooks

• Or from Ebuyerhttp://www.ebuyer.com/store/Computer/cat/Laptops?263=Chromebook

Practical. Creating an ebay account• Everybody needs one. If only to find prices. New

items are sold as well as 2nd hand.• First you need to “Register” see a link in the middle

of the first screen.• Fill in the form and make a note of all the details

entered. • For email use your secondary account such as a

Hotmail account that you could change if it gets full of spam emails. Ebay will send some themselves.

Passwords. Registering on web sites• All sites have a backdoor method to allow a

password reset by asking you to supply a secret question and answer, typically your mother’s maiden name. Make sure this is also hard to guess. Add some numbers to it.

• Often you are asked to type in the characters from a small image in which the characters are made hard to read by a computer. Sometimes they can be VERY hard to read, try asking for another.

• Look for and untick any box which says they can send or email marketing literature.

Remembering Passwords• This leaves a problem on how to recall passwords.

The problem is they must all be different, long and contain a jumble of characters. Where allowed use numbers, capital letters and punctuation marks. There is NO WAY you can remember them.

• A simple solution is to create and password protect a document called password.docx to store them. Copy & Paste to where required. Or a notebook in a secret place.

• More advanced way is to use a password manager, I favour http://keepass.com/

Practical. Password Protect a Word Document.

• Create a new LibreOffice Writer document. File, Save as, give a name.

• On the Save as Pop-up window, click ‘Save with password' then in Set password enter one and confirm. OK. This then is the only password you need to remember.

• Check it works and needs a password to open.

Revision. Onwards• As this is the last week please give me some ideas

on parts of this course you would like reviewing.• All the course material is on

http://www.creweandnantwich-u3a.org.uk/ Course/Groups, Computing & IT, CMP, at the bottom – Computing (CMP) Downloads.

• I do keep on updating it, even previous weeks info.• To run this class again starting Autumn 2015 I need

at least 15.Book on courses with the Membership Secretary - Neil Crossley 01270 567289.