Report on Weekly Computer Classes

Tuesday's Meeting and the Planned Lesson

It was cold outside, but the library stayed open. Hence, I showed up for the computer class. I did not expect anyone else to show up. However, one new attendee, Jim, did show. We spent time exploring email info, download info, and the idea of free programs available for download.

This week's lesson was on downloading free programs and practicing what

If only the clouds on Tuesday had been this light.
Instead the day was overcast dark grey clouds.

had been learned. There were some additional discussions of viruses, spyware and malware planned. Hence, there are a few pages of associated info to be read by class members. These will be available in a print-out next week. I will also email the pages to each of those attendees who have left an email address with me.

Next Week's Plan

Next week we will be concentrating on the tools in Word for writing letters and addressing envelopes.

I hope you all can make it. Meanwhile, practice.

What to do if you Crash the Program: 

Task Manager and Auto-recover/Auto-save

If you crash the program--that is everything freezes up and nothing happens--no problem. Hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete and on the menu list choose Task Manager. Choose the Applications tab and in that window, choose the program you are working on. Look at its Status. If it says running, then everything is probably OK and you just need to wait a bit. IF the CPU Usage data on the bottom bar of this pop-up window give a flickering percentage that is lower than 95%, then x out of the window (or cancel) and wait for the program to do its thing and get back to working. If the flickering seems stalled at a high % or if the word running is not present, then Select your program and click End Task. This will close your program.

You will have lost any data past your last save, but you can remember what it was and do it over. Just open the program again, bring up your file and repeat what you lost--and shield innocent ears from your frustrated laments!! And try not to throw anything that will break, or pound too heavily on the fragile table surface. You might hurt yourself.

You can save yourself some of this frustration by using Autorecover. In Word, this is part of the File-->Options-->Save tool. Set your Autorecover minutes to a short time span--mine is set to 5 min.--and Word will save the document every 5 minutes in a recovered file. Be sure to click on OK to save your new setting. If something happens to the computer or if you forget to save your final version, then the Recovered file will open the next time you open Word. Its name will appear in the Autorecover panel until you take care of it. IF you have worked on the file from a thumbdrive, especially in the meantime, then Save As using an alternate name like itsfilename2 or some such.