ACTIVITIES


Mouse Activity

Place your hand on the mouse with your index finger on the left section of the mouse. Move the mouse and watch the pointer on the screen move. Practice moving the pointer to different parts of the screen. You may see other information such as opening files or the cursor changing to a hand. The more you use the mouse, the more comfortable you will become. Remember to relax and place your hand securely on the mouse.

Clicking:
Most mouse devices have two buttons. On a two button mouse, buttons are referred to as a "left button" and a "right button" according to the side of the mouse on which they are located. The buttons will usually be facing away from the user and toward the screen. The left button is used most frequently to click either once (single click) or twice (double click) on certain icons (symbols or images) and links (colored text that opens more information). Double clicking is usually used to start up programs whose icons you see on the screen. Generally, you only need to single click links on the web.

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Clicking Activity

Your cursor symbol will appear as an hourglass when your computer is performing an activity. The hourglass indicates that your computer is working on a task; you should wait until the task is finished before attempting to do something else. When your computer has completed the task, the hourglass will return to its previous symbol (usually a pointer).

Scrolling:
In many programs you will see a bar with a slide running vertically on the right side or horizontally on the bottom of the window in which you are working. This means that there is more information to see in the window. You can use the slide bar to scroll up and down or side to side to see additional information.

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Scrolling Activity

Practice your scrolling skills. To scroll, press down the left mouse button and hold it on the slide bar on the right of the screen. Then, while still holding down the button, use your mouse to move the slide bar up and down (or to the side depending on the direction of the slide bar). The screen will move up and down.

 

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Useful information

WHAT CAN I DO ON THE INTERNET?

* Exchange messages through e-mail or chat.
* Read specific information through newsgroups.
* Find information through the World Wide Web (www).

THE WORLD WIDE WEB (WWW)/ BROWSING WEB PAGES

* Also simply known as the WEB, the NET or CYBERSPACE.
* Allows the user to browse information on the Internet, using a web browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator.
* Use hyperlinks to move from one web page to another.
* Use the BACK and FORWARD buttons to move between pages you have visited.
* Use the STOP and REFRESH buttons to control the display of pages.
* Understand and set your homepage.
* Minimize, maximize/restore and close button.

WAYS TO FIND INFORMATION ON THE WEB

* SURFING - Going on random sites; checking it out
* GUESSING - Typing any domain name you think of in the address box
* SEARCH ENGINES - i.e. Google, Excite, Lycos, Hotbot, Yahoo, Looksmart, Alta vista, Ask, Snap

SEARCH TECHNIQUES

* Use lower case
* Type in keywords (i.e. Say you want to search on the web about a certain music group, i.e. The Beatles, therefore you would type "The Beatles" in the search box).
* To search for a specific phrase, use double quotes

BASIC SAFETY ON THE INTERNET

* Beware when giving out personal information such as your full name, address, telephone number, social security number and credit card number.
* Never give out your password.
* Do not respond to messages that make you feel uncomfortable.

WHAT IS A COMPUTER VIRUS?

* A computer virus is a computer program that makes your computer or network "sick".
* It is a program that is intended to do bad things to your computer or network.
* A computer virus makes your computer not function properly.
* A sudden decline in the PC or network performance.

HOW ARE VIRUSES TRANSMITTED?

* Emails or email attachments
* Internet downloads
* Internet pages
* Software releases on disc or CD

WHAT IS SPAM?

* Unwanted mail that is sent through the Internet

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