Comp-U-News from Comp-U-Talk
March 2011

One of you sent me a virus. It is a very severe virus. Look what it did to my mouse.

A customer sent me this months quote and picture. It created a laugh when I desperately needed one. Hopefully, you enjoy it too.

With the exception of the never ending viruses, the computer world is mostly quiet right now. Windows 7 has proven to be as reliable as Windows XP. People are adjusting to the new menu interface of Office 2007 and 2010. Social Networking (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) remains popular. IBM's Watson computer beat the two jeopardy champs during a three day tournament in February.

What can we learn from this? If you just answered: "Nothing" then you lose! Well, maybe you don't lose, but you don't win either. Here are my random thoughts about these subjects.

If you are still struggling with the new ribbon bar replacement of the menu bar in office then check out the interactive learning guide available at: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/support/office-ribbon-find-commands-F101851541.aspx. Once there, click the appropriate link under Interactive Guides on the right. This guide is a life saver for those of us that are well trained in the original way of doing things and are slightly slower at learning new ways.

If you are struggling with Windows 7 then check out: http://www.gcflearnfree.org/windows7 . This is a nicely designed site that will walk you through the basics of Windows 7.

If you are a social network fiend, be careful what you post. Once your information hits cyberland, you have no control. Potentially, it could live forever. And as Watson demonstrated in February, the computers ability to gather information is phenomenal. While the medical community is extremely excited about Watson's possibilities to help diagnose disease, as individuals, we should be wary about how much information we post to cyberspace. There's a saying: "Everything you say and do can and will be used against you". This can be especially true at social networking sites. If you post it-someone (some bot) will try to gather it. Keep your sites secure. Read the sites privacy policy. Use all site security measures. If you don't know someone, don't accept them as friends. Sometimes it is ok to be a snob!

To safer computing,

~Janet