Child safety on the internet is becoming more and more important in todays internet. The ease of which information can be found seems to be exponential and the quantity of information is phenomenal. You can practically find out about any topic on the internet. This is fantastic when it is used for the right reasons, but when that privilege is abused we have problems.
With the number of home users getting online around the world increasing dramatically over the last couple of years, unfortunately the education of proper and safe internet usage has not been carried along with it. So there are millions of opportunities for people to exploit those newbies and many of these newbies are children.
Let’s face it, the world is less than perfect and so is the internet. With pornography, hate sites and all the other types of offending websites in plentiful supply it’s easier than ever for your child to find it. Simply doing a search in Google images, for example, can result in a child easily finding pictures of naked men and women very easily. Google and other search engines are helping to protect those searchers by using safe searches that allow certain types of websites and images appearing in search results, but any teenager with limited computer experience can quickly learn how to bypass this.
Over the coming weeks we’ll be releasing some important information that will help you as parents understand the risks and what you can do to protect your family.
So check back soon or RSS the feed to get the updates as soon as they’re released!
With the number of users ‘getting online’ increasing dramatically over the past year and most taking the plunge over to broadband there unfortnately has not been the education present to ensure that users are safe and many are using internet banking or shopping online without a Firewall or Antivirus software.
With this article I hope to educate readers to the best way to protect their identities and computer data from theft while on the internet.
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If you have had your computer a while by now you may have an enormous list of programs and it can be a horrible prospect to even find the program you’re after.
Does your ‘All Programs’ menu in START even fit on your desktop? I have seen some clients start menu and all the programs didn’t even fit on the desktop and they were finding it hard to find what they needed!
You can do this process manually but it can take a long time and for the less confident among us it can be a daunting task having to create folders and move shortcuts all over the place.
There is an easier way and it won’t cost you anything but a little time and effort, but the results will be worth it! I found this great little utility that allows you to easily organise your start menu and group certain programs together so they are easier to find. The program is called Tidy Start Menu and comes in two flavours, one is ‘Freeware’ and the other (Pro version) requires a small fee.
- The free version should give most of you all you need to get organised and even allows you to back up your start menu so if you make a mistake you can always go back.
- The paid (Pro) version includes some nice additions such as being able to uninstall a program you no longer need right from in the program and gives you free updates.
Either program works on most Windows systems, from Windows 98 upwards:
Windows 98
Windows Me
Windows NT
Windows 2000
Windows 2003
Windows XP
Ever get fed up having to go to the START menu, then All Programs, then find the right folder and finally get the program you wanted? Ever wanted a faster way to access a program you use regularily? Well you can and it’s very easy.
Here I’ll show you how to create a shortcut to a program on your desktop. Continue Reading »
Welcome to the first ever CP Tip!
This is a great one for beginners to learn how to use Windows faster. These keys work with Windows 98, 2000 & XP, but do require that you have a Windows keyboard (ie have the Windows logo key - between the ctrl and alt keys).
Pressing the following will give you some shortcut ways to access useful functions in Windows.
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windows key + F - Opens the search dialog
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windows key + R - Opens the Run dialog
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windows key + U - Opens Utility Manager (screen reader etc) dialog
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windows key + E - Opens the My Computer Window
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windows key + D - Displays the Desktop (minimises all open windows)
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windows key + L - Switches user to the logon screen - Useful if you use a password and want to quickly lock your machine.
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windows key + B - Displays the start menu bar
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windows key + M - Minimises all windows to display the desktop
These are a few shortcuts that may help you to find what you want faster, or at least show off to your friends that you know more than they do!
I hope you find these tips interesting, if you would like to submit a tip then contact me and I’ll try to get that put up here.
Don’t forget, there are more great topics offering other advice for the newbie or experienced PC user!
PC Tips & Advice