Computing with Hampsthwaite Online

 Introduction:

A series of relaxed drop-in sessions for anyone who wants to refine their internet skills – or for complete beginners. Bring your own laptops (preferred) or use one of ours. Just come and have a go amongst friends – you could save a fortune! Topics to be covered can include (click on red titles to see more):

• Getting your laptops into shape – cleaning up and protecting with FREE computer security (e.g. using Windows Defender, MalwareBytes, SpyBot Search & Destroy, Adbloc Plus) – why pay more!
• Keeping safe online – avoiding scams, recognising rogue websites and managing passwords.
• Sending and receiving emails - setting up Google Mail or Thunderbird and adding attachments.
• Using FREE online tools (such as Google Calendar and Translator)
• Working with images - organising and making use of your family album or holiday snaps (e.g. using, Photo Gallery or Picasa, plus Jessops’ products and services or similar) – family gifts and presents problems solved for ever!
• Using ‘Office’ type software (including the FREE Open Office or Office Libre)
• Using Mail Merge- setting up a contacts list and printing out address labels for example.
• Online shopping - searching for the best deals  – e.g. Car Insurance, Utilities, claiming Asda vouchers - *according to a recent study, people who do not use the internet pay an average of £440 p.a. more for goods and services!

. . . and for those who wish to go further . . .we could set up in a corner a bit of drawing of house plans etc. using the FREE Google SketchUp or even write your own web site pages (time and previous experience permitting).

All this for just £5 per session to cover the costs of the Broadband provision and resource maintenance (room hire and tutor* costs are completely FREE)

. . . and . . . please, please, PLEASE remember to bring with you a note of any email addresses, passwords and usernames that you might use – plus your mobile phone if that is how you are reminded of them

*Tutored by Geoff Howard and Keiron McGeever – both with (too many!) years of experience of organising and teaching computing in schools

Archive of materials from previous sessions

• Computing Tuesdays 2014

Free Software and Applications - why pay more?

• SourceForge - http://sourceforge.net

SourceForge has been innovating online Open Source Software creation and distribution since 1999 and now comprises a large repository of free-to-use software which has been created, reviewed, improved and updated by a world-wide community of developers.

• Office Libre - http://www.libreoffice.org/

Open Office, the open-source office software suite, has now evolved into Office Libre. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It can read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose.

• WikiPedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Since its creation in 2001, Wikipedia has rapidly grown into the largest reference Web site on the Internet. The content of Wikipedia is free, and is written collaboratively by people from all around the world.

• GIMP - a freely distributed program for all photo editing tasks.

• Google - http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/about/products/

In addition to being an excellent Search Engine Google provides many other free-to-use products all financed by their advertisers. For example:

1. Picasa - an image organiser and image viewer for organising, re-sizing and editing digital photos. In July 2004, Google acquired Picasa from its original author and began offering it as freeware.
2. GMail - Fast, searchable email with less spam.
3. Translate - Instantly translate text, web pages and files between over 50 languages.
4. Calendar - Organise your schedule and share events with friends (you will need to sign up but there is no charge).
5. Maps - View maps and get directions.
6. Earth - Explore the world from your computer.
7. SketchUp - Draw and design quickly and easily in 3D (SketchUp is now owned by Trimble but still free as SketchUp Make 2015).

•  MicroSoft Windows - http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/downloads

MicroSoft supply a number of free downloads to customise, protect, and enhance your computer providing, quite reasonably,  you are running a genuine version of Windows.

1. Security Essentials - Microsoft Security Essentials is now integrated into Windows 8 as part of Defender but can still be downloaded for Windows 7
2. Photo Gallery - Edit, organise, and share your photos and videos.
3. Movie Maker - Edit and compile collections of home videos and photos to create a professional looking movie, complete with sound track or commentary with transitions and titles.

YouTube includes a wealth of free-to-access videos covering just about any subject you could imagine - try typing Hampsthwaite into the search box for example!

• YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/?hl=en-GB&gl=GB