Saturday, 22 November 2008

How much (RAM) memory does my computer have?

How much memory does my computer have? I heard that question alot, and I wanted to give you some resources for it! Its not the only resource, but it will give you a starting point! If you need to know what RAM is please see, 'What is Ram?' First.

Some keyboards you should by able to see the WinKey and Break keys. Hold the Winkey down, and then push the break key. Below are pictures of the WinKey+Break! Keep in mind yours may look a bit different depending on your keyboard manufacturer!

WinKey+Break

WinKey+Break


Above is the Winkey. Does the logo look familiar?

If you can't find those keys you can try a different way. With the older operating systems to find how much memory your computer has you right click on your 'my computer' icon on your desktop.

my computer icon

For the newer versions of window to find how much memory your computer has you go to the start button, and then computer. In the picture below when you are over the MY computer you right click to properties!

start, my computer

You will get your system information, and your RAM amount for your computer.

computer properties, RAM



Alot of people just go the start button, control panel, and look for the system icon.

How much memory does your computer have? WELL there are a number of ways you can find out!

Check out: How do I know if I have enough RAM installed? and What is Ram? WHat is Memory?

If you have any questions, comments, or don't understand something please use the comment section at the top of the lesson. How do you do that?? Click HERE to see how to comment on a blog!

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Tuesday, 4 November 2008

How to Use a Search Engine

What is a search engine anyway?

search engine

Boy I could use that type what about you?

I guess we will have to wait for type of search engine!

Let me show you some logo's for some popular search engines for a minute!

search engine

You Recognize any of these logos? We have Google, Yahoo, MSN and AOL in this picture! Goodness knows there are TONS more! Those are the ones you hear about alot! I remember when I first read about a search engine called DOGPILE, and instead of your enter button it had FETCH!

As I was watching my daugther one night after she was allowed to use the computer, and she attempted to use a search engine for homework I realized...I need to clue her in on a few basics! She was doing a project for school called, "Do my plants need carbon dioxide to grow?" She of course typed in this question, but she got some pretty limited responses. Its the same principal as the humorous picture above, except it didn't show her where the keys were!

I'm NOT saying she didn't get any results just typing in her questions 'as is', because she did get results! She just wasn't thrilled with the results she got!

Google for example sends what they called spiders to crawl the web! If you don't like spiders that doesn't sound so nice, but if you have a website that is totally awesome! Websites are being created all the time, and those spiders go out to see what is available! Search engines are the biggest card catalog of information that you library wished they had! Card Catalog Pictures, Images and Photos



YES there are websites out there that have the title of my daugther's report, and YES you can just type in your questions and see what happens! People that compose those websites may not always use that phrase, AND you could be missing out on some awesome websites elsewhere!

With search engines at times you need to think of keywords or key phrases to use. I told my daughter to remember it was a machine! If she wanted MORE information about carbon dioxide, plants, and if they needed it to grow .... TRY some different ways of asking the computer! REMEMBER the search engines are GOOD, but they don't have the human common sense factor! I told her to try CARBON DIOXIDE or CO2 than hit the space bar and then type PLANTS and see what comes up! She looked at me .... CO2? I said YES that is a different way of saying carbon dioxide right?

Google is going to look for sites that use the words carbon dioxide and plants first off. Those are first few words she typed in. I told her to use CO2 and plants to see if she came up with even BETTER results! It would be nice if the search engines were as smart as the cartoon above to tell you where you can find your keys, but they aren't that good just YET!

Google does bring up the most POPULAR sites that use the keywords or phrases you type into your search box first! Don't get scared when you see it came up with 7,000,000,000,000,000 results! YOU don't have to search that far to get your answer! If the first 2 pages of results aren't anywhere NEAR what you are looking for - try new keywords or phrases!

What is nice about search engines is let's say you are looking for a hunting ground in Galena Illinois. Make sure you include the GALENA and the state to narrow your results! Goodness knows if you type in hunting in Illinois you will come up with a heck of alot MORE results, but it may not be near Galena! Try Pizza in Tampa Florida, or African Violets in Dallas Texas! Keep in mind you don't have to get technical with search engines. 'Pizza (space) Tampa, FL" is fine!

Remember those spiders?

Those spiders crawled into websites, and the search engine will bring you the most popular sites for those keywords! There are TONS of stores that sell Pizza, but not ALL of them are in Tampa! The spiders tell Google to show the ones they CRAWLED that had the words PIZZA and TAMPA in it!

Keep in mind the phrase: you say tomato and i say tomahto

In other words in my daugther's example Carbon Dioxide or CO2 to see if you get better answers! Can't think of anything search for a thesaurus!

OHHHH! Another really neat thing about search engines? They are a really cool calculator! Need to check your child's schoolwork? Type in 15% of 125! It will give you the answer....remember its a MACHINE! 15% of 125 = 18.75... WOO HOO! What about the weather? Type in temperature in Tempe AR and it will give you the answer! Remember MACHINE, and key thing to remember.....NO common sense! Play around with it! Chances are GOOD you will come up with all kinds of neat stuff!

How to use a search engine isn't that hard...now is IT?!?!

If you have any questions, comments, or don't understand something please use the comment section at the top of the lesson. How do you do that?? Click HERE to see how to comment on a blog!

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Wednesday, 13 August 2008

What is a Firewall?

I am going to go over the bare basics of firewalls, and if you need more than that there are TONS of firewall information sites out there! I know when I started to learn about firewalls years ago it was overwhelming at times!

A firewall's job is basically the same thing as a physical firewall! It keeps destructive sources AWAY from your property!

If you have been using the Internet for any length of time, and especially if you use one at work you may have heard the term FIREWALL before! You might have heard some coworkers mention they can't go to a certain site, because it won't let it pass the firewall!




The above picture may be a corporate setup, or a home network. You have the Internet with all its dangers, and the firewall basically helps to filter OUT some of the items you DON'T want near your company or home computer!

If firewall sees harm it won't allow you to view the material. Firewalls aren't perfect, and they can stop you from seeing or using perfectly fine websites. It doesn't have common sense like you and I, but there are ways to help override the firewall....NOT at work though!

The best way I can to describe it.......its like a traffic cop! It decides what will come in!

Nick At Work

Firewalls use filters to calculate what it feels safe at the time. Machines use what they call IP addresses. You can think of it like your house number if you will. Firewalls will block certain IP address, and we humans just see that we can't view a website! The domain name could be blocked. The Domain here for example is: http://computerbasicslearning.blogspot.com/.

Certain home computers will come with a firewall already installed, and other times you will need to purchase one. Its an extra layer of insurance that your computer will not come into harm. Your computer in this case would be considered the gateway. You are the access point for the computer to the Internet.

A hardware firewall would be your router if you have one at your home. You are connected to your router - that is connected to your modem...which you connect to the Internet thru! Routers can be configured to your needs, and you can set the filters to what you DON'T want in and what you do!

The firewall protects you from all kinds of crooks, nuts, and just plain NASTY people that are just looking for an unprotected computer to take advantage of!

They can take control of your computer, and run programs on it. At times they get into your personal files that you might have on the computer.

Certain programs may have they call 'backdoor' entrance. Its basically a hidden access to the program so they can control it.

They could use your email program to send out all kinds of ugly spam!

They could place an application on your computer, and basically make it crash!

It would infect your system with viruses.

Always be careful of the pop up ads, because they could place a backdoor program on your computer to use later!

There are more things that could happen, but these are just to name a few!

Firewalls have levels of protection, and I'm sure you are thinking the fullest protection possible! If you block everything it does defeat the purpose of the Internet to begin with! You can choose one of the upper levels, and as you surf the Internet tell the computer WHICH sites you know are safe!

Firewall programs do take come getting used to at times! The Vista firewall I have on my computer was a pain when I first got it! EVERY site I love to visit was blocked, and I to slowly tell the computer..........ITS OKAY ALREADY!

Monday, 7 July 2008

How-to System Restore - Data Recovery

Within Windows ME, Windows XP and Windows Vista you have utility called 'system restore' that can help you return your computer almost back in time when everything was working properly! Its the magic time machine for data recovery!

time machine

Depending on how your computer system is setup will depend on how many restore points your system will offer you. You computer will only store so many of them - the points of restoring that is!

Its kind of like a assembly line! A new restore point is made, and an old one falls in the HUGE computer DELETE pile! One in and ONE out!

Assembly Line


Some people will increase or decrease the amount of storage space that their computer will allow for this process! In Windows XP

Start -> Right Click my Computer properties
Click System Restore Tab
Under Disk space usage,Slide it according to how much disk space you need for your system restore.

Here is a quick video showing you the above directions for the storage space used for System Resource!



In Vista of course its MORE work! Vista for Beginners has a good explanation to do this!

A good hint if you plan on changing anything within your operation system like install a program, a device like a printer, or even change system settings like size of fonts - always 'create a restore' point before doing that. That way if anything goes wrong you can go back to previous condition of your computer!

Your computer MUST have enough storage space in order to use system restore, so if you know your computer is SHORT on storage space (space on your C drive) it not even be able to handle the system restore operation! You will know this by an error you get, or you don't have any restore points on your computer. You can try to free up some space on your hard drive by removing documents, programs, etc that are taking up precious space to see if you can get it working! There are other causes as well such as registry damage as well.

System Restore creates restore points during the day in case something goes wrong with your computer during the day. This is basically a data recovery program, and it will restore you computer to an earlier time! Lets say you decided to install a program, change a setting, or introduce your new webcam to the computer, and then all of a sudden your computer is really having problems! YEP computers can be moody!

Click your start button, and then programs or all programs, then accessories, then system tools. Under your system tools there should be a program called 'system restore'.

system restore

You can either 'create a restore point'

System Restore 1

Or as you can see from this screen 'restore my computer to an earlier time'

System Restore

Vista also shows backup, but you want SYSTEM restore. I wanted to show you this so you don't get confused!

vista system backup and restore


Depending on your operating system the options for calendar maybe different! This is one example of what you will see. All of them are pretty similiar calendars, and your screen should be pretty straight forward as far as what dates and times are available for you to use!

System Restore




If you are ON your computer during the afternoon, and all a sudden the computer decided to throw a temper tantrum you want to pick a time prior to the computer being MOODY!

You would then push next, and system restore will display a message basically asking you if you are SURE you want to do this!

System Restore ME

Your data files (like if you wrote a letter or report earlier that day) should be okay. Make sure you save them before contining! The program will tell you that this operation is reversible. Click NEXT again!

This data recovery program will take a little while to collect the information it needs to complete the process, and will restart the system as well. Once you log into your system again, and you may get messages that the restoration is complete or asks you if you want to undo the system restore operation.


Here is a video basically going over the items we just spoke about with system restore.



Final HINT - some people actually keep an log of changes you make to your system. It takes a little time, but it will HELP retrace your steps LATER!

We all have used system restore from time to time! ITS OKAY... we happens! That is what is there for! Remember if you have questions, comments or corrections.......USE the comment section! Don't know how? Check out the post of the post it shows you HOW!






Friday, 20 June 2008

Set Clock on Computer

clock-computer-set Today’s How-To Guide for the Computer Beginning is setting the computer Clock.

When learning computer basics you will notice on the right hand corner of the bottom of your screen is a clock.   Most of the time when you setup your computer the operating system will prompt you to set the clock.  The computer clock has come a long way, because most of the time you can set it and forget it!

 

Vista-System-Tray

 

I realize those of you that have landed here need to change the clock for some reason, and we will be going over that.

 

As I mentioned the computer clock will be located in your computer’s system tray.

 

 

Below are two screen shots of clocks on the computer.

system-tray-clock system-tray-clock
 

 

Since all computers have a small battery inside to keep the clock running on your computer, even when unplugged, the time should not be off much unless the battery is getting old in most cases.

It is important that the date and time be correct so that your files will have an accurate time stamp. You can also insert the date or time into a document. If the computer doesn't have the right date or time, neither will your document.

Clock on Computer


Double-click the time on the Task bar located in the system tray where you see your clock.

clock-on-system-tray 
The Date and Time Properties dialog box appears. This dialog box contains a calendar and a clock. This is where you set the time on the computer!

date-and-time-properties Most of the newer operating systems have similar date and time properties.  I have included two examples here. 

I will show you the older operating systems as well towards the bottom of this article.

 

The red rectangles are spots in which you can pull down the menu to change your month from March (as pictured) to the month of your choice.  The same goes for the year.  The date itself you can click on the number you wish.  You would use the up and down arrows to set the time, or in some systems you can literally click on one of the hands of the clock to drag to the new time.

 

 

 

 

set-computer-clock-vista

Our secondchange-date-time example of setting the clock is similar, but you have to go to one additional menu.  The top red arrows prompts the date and time menu to appear.  At times you must have administrative privileges to do this. 

 

 

 

 

 

set-month-on-computer

Setting the month is pretty straight forward.  If you wish to pick a month prior to July then click the arrow  I pointed to on your left.  You will notice JUNE shows up.  If you wish to go forward in the months you would push the section I pointed to with the right arrow.  You would move to August. 

 

Please note:  If you go forward to August in order to get to January faster?  You will see that the year for January will change as well.  Remember this is a machine.  If you want to go back to January, 2011?  You must go left (backwards) to January.  If you go forwards?  You will land on January, 2012.  As you might have guessed this section controls the month and the year.

 

set-date-on-computer

The picture I supplied for the ‘date’ is set on July 10, 2011.  You may click on a different number for your date.

change-time

 

For the Clock you will use the up and down arrows under the clock to change the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

date-time-settings

 

Once you have completed all your changes? You will click the OKAY button towards the bottom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

time-zone-tab

If you look again at the main menu’s for the time change properties?  One option has you switching tabs, and the second one has a button for the time zone.

time-zone-change

 

time-zone-settings

You will have a pull down menu to pick your time zone, but also notice the option for ‘daylight savings time’.  If your time zone adjusts for daylight savings time you need to make sure this option is marked.  If not, make sure it is NOT marked.  (clicked in other words)pick-your-timezone

 

When you click the down right for the time zone you will be able to scroll up and down in order to find the time zone that applies to you, and your computer’s clock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once again if you made changes?  Click OKAY to apply them.

 


On internet tab you can reset your computer clock to match a standard clock at Microsoft or at NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). Of course, you must be connected to the Internet to do this. If your computer is connected nearly all the time, the clock will update weekly. There is a button that updates the clock right now.   We will go into that more later.

Date-Time-Properties

The older operating systems also have pretty much the same features! How to set time on computer for this screen is also pretty straight forward! You can MOVE the hands on the clock with your cursor. Bring down the dialog box for your time zone, and CLICK your correct day and month! You can also bring down the dialog boxes for those as well!

 

Yes, its basically the same thing as with newer operating systems.  The screens to me just got more ‘pretty’ if you will.

 

Speaking of clocks I have a neat website for you! Its a online alarm clock! YEP you will need your speakers for this! There are times in which I know I have to get off the computer at a certain time, or other times I will be doing housework and don't want to get all wrapped up and forget a appointment!

 

This Online Alarm Clock is really NEAT! Nothing to download! You just set the time, and keep the window open! I normally minimize the window.  Believe me you will HEAR it when it rings! Make sure you have your speakers ON!

 

 

This is VERY funny! How would you like this type of alarm clock?

 





Well I hope today’s How-To Guide for Computer Beginner’s help you understand how to set your computer clock.

 

If you have any question please feel free to leave a comment.

 

Make sure you leave your email in the subscription box so future lessons will be sent to you automatically.







Thursday, 19 June 2008

Set home page Firefox, Change home page in Internet Explorer

One of the first basic computer training lessons I received was change home page in Internet Explorer. Set the home page in Firefox will also be covered today!



What is a home page? Generally the first page retrieved when accessing a Web site. When you turn on your computer, and you access the internet that first image you see is the home page.



When I first brought home my computer, and set it up and FIRED up the internet I noticed it went to page that I really didn't have much use for! I can understand the marketing efforts of the maker of the computer brand WANTING me to see their homepage, but the first thing I wanted to do was change the homepage in internet explorer. If you use Firefox it was: Change homepage in Firefox!



The reason I wanted to change the homepage was for easy access to my email account! You may have different reasons, but I wanted to check my email first thing so change home page was needed when I first got the computer!



In beginner computer training you will learn that your home page or startup page within your web browser is the same page everytime you load it. Below is a short video lesson that shows how to change your homepage:











Lets go over this computer basic just one more time!



Set Homepage in IE



Open the web browser.

Go to the webpage that you want to set as your homepage.

Look to the top of our screen to find the tools.

Then you click the tools you will see an option called internet options

Click the internet options, and then look for the General Tab

There will be a Use Current option in that window. Click that to set your homepage for the future.

Click APPLY, and the OK!



You changed home page internet explorer! Wasn't that easy?



Change homepage in Firefox



Open the web brower

Go to the webpage that you want to set as your homepage.

Look to the top of your web browser to find the tools.

Click the tools, and you will see an menu item named options.

Click the options, and find the 'use the current page' button

Click that current page, and click apply and then click OK



Your home page for Firefox is now set! Pretty neat HUH?



Change homepage in Safari



Changing the home page in Safari can be quite easy as well! Go to the page you will to change to your homepage!



Click on the Safari icon in the dock.



Click on Safari in your Safari menu, located at the top of your screen. When the drop-down menu appears, choose Preferences.



Select General from the Preferences menu, which is now overlaying your browser window. Once General is selected, you will notice a section labeled Home Page in the main window of the Preferences dialog.



Directly to the right of the "Home Page" label is an edit field containing your current home page URL or webpage.



To change this address, simply erase the contents of the edit field and replace it with the desired web address or URL to your new homepage.



Directly below this edit field you will see a button labeled Set to Current Page. Clicking this button will change your home page setting to whatever page you are currently viewing within the Safari browser.



Once you have completed your changes, close the Safari Preferences dialog by clicking the red circle/x located in the top left hand corner of the box.



Set Home page for Safari Video













Let is our Learning Computer Basics online lesson for today! I hope you now feel comfortable enough to change your homepage in Firefox, Change your Homepage in Internet Explorer (ie), or Change your homepage in Safari! As always please use the comment section if you have any questions or comments!













Wednesday, 18 June 2008

Getting to know your web browser!

Part of basic computer training is learning to use the internet. Today we are going to learn about the web browser! What is a web browser? What are the parts of the web browser?

Display Window

The web browser has a 'display window' you are viewing this lesson in! Its basically the work space you are reading this computer basic lesson in! Web browsers pulls documents up on your screen!


There are a couple of different kinds of web browsers that seem to be the most popular!

 

IE or Internet Explorer was my first one! At one time that was pretty much all that was available as well!

Later came Mozilla FireFox as well - also very popular! There are number of different ones now of course - not just these two!

No matter what web browser you use it will have tools to navigate the web (or internet)! In addition to finding web pages (like the one you are on now), web browsers can MARK pages that interest you as well called favorites.

 

Most web browsers use the same basic functions, and similar navigation tools! I will use Internet Explorer in this lesson, because it seems MOST beginners start with that one! Don't worry if you use a different web browser - they all have the functions we will learn about!

Web Browsers are more similar than they are different, and all share the concept of a "start" or "home" page. This is the first Web page or website displayed after launching the program.

A default page is built into the software when you first use it, but the user may choose a different place to start. Alot of people call this their HOME page as well! I will show you how to change that home page in a different lesson.


How to Launch Web Browser

To start your web browser you may have done one of two things!

1) Double click on the icon on the desktop

Internet Explorer Icon has a big lower case 'e'.Internet Explorer

Firefox icon looks like this: cursor


OR

2) From the Start Menu - going to programs. Then select your web browser under the program list.

Starting Page or Home Page

When your web browser starts it will immediately open a page that is set up as the starting page. Again - some people call it their home page! For example, Internet Explorer opens Microsoft's or MSN's homepage on the web (or internet).

 

web_browser_tool_bar

At the VERY top of your screen is the

Title bar: Again the title bar is at the very top of your browser window; in both Firefox and Internet Explorer. You'll see the title of the Web page there; for example, you should see "Learning Computer Basics - Getting to know your web browser!" at the top of your browser window right now.

 

Most of the time it also tells you what web browser you are using.  Our Web Browser below is Internet Explorer.

 

title_bar

 

If you move all the way to the right of the title bar you will see something that should be familiar to you.

 

mininize_full_page_close_buttons

The first is the minimize button.  The next is the Maximize button.  Then lastly, you have the close button.

IAddress Bar:  Starting from Left

Back Button and Forward Button on your web browser 

 

back button forward button

The first arrow is called the 'back button'. What do you do with the back button? YOU go BACK to where you were before - each click of the back button brings you back ONE page!

 

The opposite arrow WELL it goes the opposite direction! That is called the forward button. It goes forward one page. MOST of the time you will use the back button on your web browser.


Also, when the button is greyed like forward button pictured? It means you can’t go forward anymore.

 

Below is the address for my home page for this blog.  If you look at the address bar on your browser you will see this address, plus addition information.  The reason for that is each separate page on the internet has its own address.

 

address bar

 

You will hear people talk about website addresses all the time!

For example, www.yahoo.com

is pronounced, "doubleyou, doubleyou, doubleyou" or WWW then 'DOT' for the period then 'yahoo' and again 'DOT' KOM!

doubleyou - doubleyou - doubleyou - dot - yahoo - dot - KOM!

Tip: You do not have to type "http://". Your browser software assumes you want to use the http protocol since you are using a Web browser. You don't have to mention it to most people either due to that reason! Your computer ALREADY knows that part!

Web address are also called URL's which stands for Uniform Resource Locators. You don't have to know the formal name - URL is fine! You enter that web address in that long window that has either 'address' or 'GO TO' mentioned in the web browser! You hit your enter button on your keyboard or the symbol right next to the address bar and OFF you go!


Keep in mind some addresses have numbers, Dots (.), dashes (-), or underscores (_) and you will need to type those as well. Underscores reminds me of that line you use to UNDERLINE things you want to point out more strongly!

Lets move to the rest of the address bar on your web browser.


refresh stop button

 

The first symbol in the next set is the capability button. We aren’t going to cover that today, and not all web browsers have this button.

You see the double arrow button that almost looks like it is going in a circular motion? That is called the 'refresh button' or alot of people call it RELOAD button. There are a couple of different instances in which you may use the refresh button within the web browser.

You want the MOST up to date screen - hit the refresh button or reload button page in the browser bar!

Stop Button on your web browser

Do you see the (X) button next? That is the STOP button! Click this stop button if you want to stop loading the current page. Some sites have pages that are very large and take a long time to load. The Stop button will help stop the loading of the page, and allow you to move backwards.

 

home page button

Home Button on your web browser

The HOUSE button takes you back to your home page! The home button returns you to your designated "home page" or 'start page'. The place you started when you clicked the web browser to open at the beginning!

 

You may notice with some web browser they have more than one location for the HOME button.

 

Menu_Bar_on_web_browser

Menu Bar

In Internet Explorer, the different menus available are File, Edit, View, Favorites, Tools and Help.

    Slide your mouse over one of the menu options (File, Edit, View, etc.).
    The menu you've selected should be highlighted in blue.
    Click the left mouse button once. A menu will slide down.
    Slide your mouse over the item in the menu that you would like to select.
    Click once with the left mouse button to select the item.

 

Today you have options to add on to this bar to meet your needs.  That would be covered in the helps section depending on which web browser you use.

 

navigation bar in web browser

 

Lastly, This is the navigation bar within your web browser.  You notice the HOME button again?

 

The Orange symbol is the RSS feed button.  We will learn about that later.

 

The next button is your email, and depending on what browser you use?  You can sent this up to email someone – even yourself – directly from the browser.


Printer Button on the browser tool bar

If you want to print a page you click that!

 

The rest of the buttons normally are things came with your web browser when it was downloaded.  The question mark is for Help section on this bar.

 

Some of the symbols towards the end are tools I added myself to my web browser.

At the bottom of your web browser window, and generally on your left hand side you will have your

Status bar: Again this is the box or area at the bottom of your browser window. The status bar displays all sorts of information, depending on what you're doing at the time, but mostly it's for showing load speed and the URL of whatever address your mouse is hovering over.

For example in mine currently it says 'done' because the page is done loading. If I move to a different web page it will tell me the loading speed, or display the website. Next time you move to a different page LOOK there, and view what I'm talking about!

 

Keep in mind some of the newer web browsers do not have this.

Lastly, in a web browser you have the scroll bar!

Scroll Bars: If you've ever been to a website that you had to "scroll down" to read something, then you've used the scroll bars. They're just navigational/directional aids.

Scroll_bar

That is all I have for today for Learning computer basics, and Getting to KNOW your Web Browser! As always please use the comment section if you don't understand something, or if you think I missed an area! We will go into more detail in further computer online lessons!