How Computer Literate Are You?

1. Word Processing

Most people who have used a computer have used it for writing letters, emails etc at somepoint. This is one of the oldest and most basic usages for a computer however some of the basic functions of word processing may have never been used by yourself? Many programs such as Microsoft word, free options like Open Office and even email programs allow you to perform basics functions such as spell checking your text, table creation and working with headers. Is this something you have done before?

2. Search Engines

You may think by using a search engine such as google or yahoo that you can fully trust the results. One of the big reasons a lot of people get into trouble is by searching for help from a specific company. What happens is the user searches for help from “Facebook” for example and they dial the first number that comes up. The chances are they aren’t actually calling the correct number and have actually called a hoax number from a dodgy advert. This usually results in the fake company connecting upto your computer (with your permission as you think they are genuine) and demanding hundres of pounds insisting you have multiple errors on your computer (which you actually don’t)

3. Common Keyboard Shortcuts

Sorry but using your mouse to copy and paste does not count as computer literate, eek! Operations systems such as Apple OS and Microsoft Windows have keyboard shortcuts which can save you a lot of time over the years. The shortcut commands are universal over all computers. Instead of right click or evening going into certain options within a program you can simply press 2 keys on your keyboard together and it will do the same thing. Taking a lot of friction out of computing.

4. Virus & Malware Scanning

A lot of the antivirus and malware programs now actually do a lot of the scanning automatically. However from time to time bugs, spyware and other malicous application can work there way into your computer before the automated scan has time to do it so it’s definitely worth getting into the routine of performing a scan. It’s always worth knowing how to keep your antivirus and malware software upto date. If the software is not upto date it won’t be able to look for and recognise the latest viruses & malware.

5. Browser Basics

There are many basic functions to a web browser which are definitetly worth knowing. For those who don’t know already a web browser is basically a program which you use to access websites. For example Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge. A lot of companies have there own browser which all do the same thing just a version from a different company. A very simple action like “clearing the cache” could be the difference from a website loading and failing to load altogether but a lot of people who call themselves “computer savvy” don’t actually know how to do this. There are many useful functions which can save you a lot of time such as bookmarking a website for you to visit later rather than searching for it and trying to find it all over again. This can be very time consuming and very frustrating.

So the big question, how many out of the 5 above did you already know?