SURFERS’ PARADISE

When your computer is working well, it’s worth every penny you paid for it.

When it isn’t, it can be the most frustrating thing you’ve ever had!

When you buy a new car, it comes with a comprehensive manual and a schedule

for maintenance.  Every so often, you expect to check the tyre pressures and the

water level for your windscreen washers.  If you buy a vacuum cleaner, the

instruction book will tell you when to empty the bag and clean the filters, to

make it work more efficiently.

Yet, when you buy a new computer, nobody tells you how to get the best out of it,

or what to do when it seems to be going slower and slower.  What’s more, people

often don’t know what questions to ask, who to ask, who to trust, or how to

understand the answers.  And the last thing you want is to start paying

exorbitant fees to telephone help lines or the “experts” at places like PC World

-  let alone downloading some magical “fix-it” program from a website advertisement.

In practice, you can learn an awful lot from the various Help and Support sections in Windows;  from “plain English” computer magazines;  or websites like Digital Unite,

the BBC’s Web Wise or First Click pages.

Digital Unite

Web Wise

To keep your computer running smoothly though, you’ll need to do a bit of

regular maintenance.   This doesn’t mean getting your screwdriver out  -  but just

using some of the tools which are already installed on your computer, and a few

others which you can acquire at little or no cost.  It’s not at all difficult when you

know how, and it can make quite a big difference to the way things work

(although you can still shout at your computer if you want to!).

Our Computer Coffee Mornings are good places to learn the ropes  -  but over time

we’ll be adding a few practical tips to our own website as well.

MORE GOOD ADVICE