Computer Help for Seniors

Is your google homepage getting cluttered with multiple gadgets? Organize gadgets under different categories or tabs. 1. On the left side of your google homepage 2. Click the triangle pointing down beside home 3. choose add a tab 4. type in a label for the tab or category you will create 5. remove the I’m feeling lucky 6. click OK 7. your new tab/category has been created Click on the tab name and click “add stuff” to customize your new empty category/tab [Microsoft Word] I am getting a small preview of each page on the left, how can I remove or get it back 1. click the view menu 2. choose thumbnail to remove or make it appear I have been using this new igoogle, I like it, but I want my original Google page back without all the gadgets. What do I do to get it back? 1. on the top right of the page, you will see a link titled “classic home” 2. Click that to have your google.com page return to the classic style/design ***notice once you have the original google page displayed, the link y

Setting up a custom iGoogle homepage with personalized windows displaying topics of your choice. (ex. news, directions, tv listings, daily soduku, joke of the day, stock updates, gmail – choose 1 or all) 1. go to igoogle.com 2. click sign in (top left) 3. type in your entire gmail email ex. sftowershelp@gmail.com 4. type in your password and choose remember me on this computer 5. click sign in 6. a window will appear (the first time you set it up) asking which topics you are interested in including on your custom homepage 7. check a few of the boxes beside the topics 8. if you like you can choose a custom theme that can be changed later if you do not like it 9. type in your zip code 10. click “see your page” to generate your custom homepage Navigating on the iGoogle homepage *Tabs on the left On the left of the window are tabs that list each of the panels/gadget you have included as part of your homepage. Click it to open a larger view **Each panel/gadget is separated by its own border

Creating a gmail account for email and access to google’s other online functions Sign up for a Gmail Account 1. Open Safari or Firefox 2. in the address bar, click and type in "gmail.com" 3. Click "sign up for gmail" 4. A form will appear, fill out the needed information, First Name, Last Name...type in the desired prefix you want for an email address, ex. mynameandzip@gmail.com TIP: press tab to skip to the next field 4a. click check availability...if it is not available, add a zip code, area code, or birthday to the login name you want 5. type in a desired password you want 8 characters in length, WRITE DOWN WHAT YOU ENTER, use a combination or letters and numbers to strengthen the password 6. fill out the remaining questions, write down the answer you use for the security question 7. Type in the displayed security word 8. click submit information to activate your account 9. Upon successful completion you will see a congratulations screen 10. Click take me to my a

Tips for Surfing the Internet 1.Going to another www.internetaddress.com 2.With Safari or Firefox open 3.In the address bar on the top of the screen with http://www.... 4.Click on the little dot/picture to the left of http:// 5.This Selects/highlights in blue, the current address 6.Press Delete to clear the address bar 7.Now you can type in the website address you want...press "RETURN" to go to the page

Sign up for a Gmail Account 1. Open Safari or Firefox 2. in the address bar, click and type in "gmail.com" 3. Click "sign up for gmail" 4. A form will appear, fill out the needed information, First Name, Last Name...type in the desired prefix you want for an email address, ex. mynameandzip@gmail.com TIP: press tab to skip to the next field 4a. click check availability...if it is not available, add a zip code, area code, or birthday to the login name you want 5. type in a desired password you want 8 characters in length, WRITE DOWN WHAT YOU ENTER, use a combination or letters and numbers to strengthen the password 6. fill out the remaining questions, write down the answer you use for the security question 7. Type in the displayed security word 8. click submit information to activate your account 9. Upon successful completion you will see a congratulations screen 10. Click take me to my account to view email using gmail How can I access my gmail account? 1. open safar

Sending e-greetings cards via the internet and an email address. Benefits: Saves time and paper You can send to multiple addresses at once Cards have music and animation, Fun! www.jacqielawson.com www.egreetings.com www.hallmark.com Tip: If you have a yahoo email address you can go to greetings.yahoo.com and send greeting cards from your email address book. Why is Firefox so slow or it freezes? Firefox takes up a large amount of computer memory. In class we compared Firefox to Internet Explorer opening 3 of the same website tabs at the same time, and Firefox allocated 95mb while Internet Explorer used only 56mb. What happened? I believe that over time…popularity of Firefox has demanded more bells and whistles thus increasing the need for more memory to run the program What does this mean…do I need to switch? No, but if you do have problems you can try using one or the other. Tip: There is a new browser that seems to work better and faster (for now). Safari, Apple computers web brow