I am often drawn into a perfectionist mindset – I expect myself to immediately fix things that have gone wrong (or were wrong in the first place. For example: programs – particularly those that I have written – but also other stuff). In my mind I have decided that they should have been done perfectly …
Continue reading “There are many different types of work – all have worth & value”
I recommend that you keep installing updates until there are no more updates to install – and here’s why: Imagine you are going to update your antivirus software. You click on the [update] button (or do something similar) and the software updates – perhaps the computer is restarted as part of the process. It would …
Continue reading “Updating is not complete until there are no more updates”
Computer people will often talk about a ‘server computer’ and it can sound like they are talking about a computer that is somehow different from a desktop computer (or a laptop or a tablet or a phone). But a server is any computer (or device) that provides services to other computers (or devices). So if …
Everything on a computer is stored in a file and there are only two basic types of files. The first is a file that you can Open and View – a ‘Document’ like a Spreadsheet or a Letter. They don’t do anything. They are just something that can be looked at, altered and printed. The …
It is currently very fashionable for reporters to write about Artificial Intelligence and they make it sound like it is magic. My contention is that it is not. I think the first thing to look at when reading anything that mentions Artificial Intelligence is to check whether the writer has defined what Artificial Intelligence is. …
One thing about scam emails is that they are sent to thousands of people but appear to be personal. This is because the email doesn’t say how many people it has been sent to. If you received a letter that appeared to address your current circumstances (e.g. if it offered to sell you socks just …
Continue reading “Why do scam emails seem to be targeted directly at me?”
I hope this post will help you to spot some email messages that are not what they say they are. I received a very convincing looking email message on one day this week. Here’s the subject line.. .. and here’s the body of the message .. How do I know that it’s not genuine? When …
Continue reading “How to spot (some) unwanted email messages”
I often want to copy a link into a social media update or an email or something similar. It is tempting to right click on a link, select ‘copy link’ (or similar) and then paste it into some text. However.. I strongly recommend taking a bit of extra time and [1] copying the link into …
Continue reading “Pasting links into social media updates etc.”
The reason that computers can do things quickly and (mostly) reliably is not because they are complicated but because they are simple: It’s always easier to do simple things than complicated things. Computer people tell you that things are complicated in order to justify how much they charge but they’re using terminology and jargon to …
I’m hosting a Zoom social about computers every two weeks on Mondays for 2 hours from 7pm. The easiest way to see the details is on the Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/computersnotmagic) but please send me an email if you can’t access that or have any other questions. Here are the details … Let’s have a chat …
