WHAT I HAVE LEARNED IN THE LAST YEAR

Hello again my friends,
This is an article about some of the things I have been doing in the year plus that I had not made any posts. Yesterday I made my first post in a long time. I mentioned that I had gotten my Credit Ratings returned to what they were. That I had been spending a lot of time on the Job as a Merchant Seaman. That I was at one time one of the better Bowlers in the world. That I am planing to make a come back as one of the worlds greatest Bowlers, maybe in time I will. One of the most important thing for me that I have done in the last year or so was a great personal challenge.

I mentioned that I had bought a computer and that I was learning to use one at the ripe old age of 52; prior to the purchase of the first computer I had learned something about sending email at an Internet Cafe. The world of Computers was very strange to me and I had very little use for one. Times have changed, I really do not know what I would do now if I didn't have a computer. My ability to learn to do new things has increased by 70%  as at the click of that mouse and typing a word or two I have access to a world of knowledge. Most of it free some times it is hard to get the computer to download a page, due to high traffic volume of the Internet but by and large accessing different websites is easy.

The big search engines have made it easier to find things in the last year and that is a benefit to all of us.

For myself I spent hours if not days reading in Window Help on what it takes to make a computer work. This information is free with every computer we buy that has a Windows Operating System, and of course there are thousands of website that are geared to assist us in learning more about using computers; I will not go into the details. During my quest for knowledge I found myself wanting to learn more about what makes a computer work. So when off a ship on vacation I decided I would learn what in formation was on the Internet on repairing computer myself.

This is where the story really begins. Understand that I am not a COMPUTER GEEK I do not know what Java is except that is was created as I understand by someone call "Sun" and that they, "Sun" also created An Open Office which is a word processor program. That Open Office is free and we can use it instead of Windows Office. I can make PFD's with it and I am suppose to be able to create documents that I can read in a Windows format. Ahh does  mean that someone is Asaia by the name of Sun is serving coffee, (Java) in a large Open Office area somewhere and has  Windows that this used for a place to lie down? Ahhh, what is a PFD??? Sometimes when I tried to figure out what these thing are in Computer Land I could not and Still don't know just what the heck they are or what it is.

Yes I know I am rambling a bit but we have all been there an many of us are still there learning to use a computer and learning what goes into making a computer work or not work is a very complex process of the adaption of the human mind. How many of the people that read  this post really know what it takes to make the computer write what you are now reading. What binary codes are, widgets, a mouse, web cam why we have a keyboard, what a CPU is, what is Memory and how it is used in relation to the CPU, that there are programs that you can use to talk to your computer and what you say the computer types; what you say in written form by talking into a microphone. That the computer can read text for you to hear; the words that you read.

That the best way not to get Virus's is to not use the Administrator Account, but to create a separate User Account for your everyday computing needs,and that your computer can get infected by Virus's even with Antivirus Programs running in if you use the Administrator account; on a computer that is running a Windows Operating System.

A Must read for all users of Windows OS Products:

This quoted below is directly from;  Microsoft Windows Help and Support XP Edition.

Why you should not run your computer as an Administrator Running Windows 2000 or Windows
XP as an administrator makes the system vulnerable to Trojan horses and other security risks.
The simple act of visiting an Internet site can be extremely damaging to the system.
An unfamiliar Internet site may have Trojan horse code that can be downloaded to the
system and executed.

If you are logged on with administrator privileges,
a Trojan horse could do things like reformat your hard drive, delete all your files,
create a new user account with administrative access, and so on.

You should add yourself to the Users or Power Users group. When you log on as a member
of the Users group, you can perform routine tasks, including running programs and visiting Internet sites,
without exposing your computer to unnecessary risk. As a member of the Power Users group,
you can perform routine tasks and you can also install programs, add printers, and use most Control Panel items. If you need to perform administrative tasks, such as upgrading the operating system or configuring system parameters, then log off and log back on as an administrator.

If you frequently need to log on as an administrator, you can use the runas command to
start programs as an administrator. For more information, see To start programs as an administrator.
End of Quote.

 Have had many a conversation with my friends, relatives and people that I have met in restaurants, stores or even people who I have met on the street about computers and they still seem to get Virus's in their computers even with Antivirus programs on their computers. When I ask if they use their computer in a separate user account they say no only the first account that came with the computer which is the Administrator Account. many do not even have a password for their administrator account.

What strikes me as funny is many of these people that I have spoken with  are educated, business persons who have been using computers for years both in their work and in their homes, and they have never read Windows Help.

I have no formal computer training most of what I have learned about computers is from reading Windows Help. But I have learned in 4 years; I have developed a good working knowledge of computers.

Earlier I mentioned that I developed the desire to learn how to repair computers. So I went online and spent  days researching all the ebooks I could find I checked Amazon and there were lots of books on computer repair in ebook form. Man, wading my way through Amazon.com was quite a trial for my old brain. That IS a heck of a Website. The books I found there were written in Geek and I am NOT a Geek. I don't speak Geek I don't understand Geek. I Googled and I Foogled for 3 sleepless days in search of the answer to my quest. I EBay ed.  nope not there; then I found the Holy Grail. This ebook was written in language that I could understand. It made sense, period written by a 20 year veteran of computer land, a certified computer engineer. Out came the credit card and I bought every ebook he had to sell.

I have his books Self  Computer Repair, How to Build a Custom Computer, How to Upgrade Your Computer, How to Build a Server and his latest release Do It Yourself Computer Repair Unleashed.

All written by Monte Russell.

What I have learned from this man's books well how's this repaired/rebuilt two computer that my sons had that were dying. Built 3computers and have built my own Server ( Microsoft Windows Home Server) The server backs up in image form the 6 computers in my house but not the 3 laptops those I do not back up as they do not belong to me. There are over 7,000 songs in the music file on the server, shared  photo albums and a video library. And I can but have not done so access the server from anywhere in the world.
Have repaired and optimized over 10 of my friends computers. Set up the network wired and wireless in my house, my son's houses. They my sons nearly have Associate Degrees in Computer Science and know less about computers than I do and their Collage Education cost me plenty. Dad is the one who repair and cleans their computers and is the one who will build the computers for his grandchildren.

On the Internet there are hundred of site on Computer Repair, information posted by thousand of knowledgeable people, and I have read much of what they say in the last 4 years but when I want to refresh my knowledge of a certain aspect of an application concerning computers with Windows Operating Systems I go to Do It Yourself Computer Repair Unleashed  and review the information this book covers almost
everything a person will ever want to know about a computer including the history of the development of the present day computers which companies and individuals were involved in the development of programs. What services we should turn off that are back doors to our computers for hackers. Identity Theft prevention.

There are new Federal Laws, that state that you cannot give a Testimony unless you own a product that you are giving a review for will brothers and sisters I could not be more pleased with Mr. Russell's books and I have never worried about that 100% satisfaction part of things.

Well folks it is time to end this post and I hope you enjoyed reading this and if you like what I have written please indicate so.

Thank you.

Kermit Bengtson

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