Using Your Computer

By Lasa Information Systems Team

Having the computer equipment within your organisation is only half the story. Making sure staff have the skills to use it and ensuring that it is well looked after and working correctly is essential.

Once you have the equipment it is important that you know how to make the most out of it.

As with any equipment be it a car, bicycle or a computer it is essential that it is used safely and responsibly. Firstly Caring For Your Computer will mean that it not only last longer but works when you want it to. It is not just about how you look after your computer but what your of organisations' legal responsibilities in relation to ICT, this is covered in Computer Health And Safety.

Keeping secure

As many organisations hold personal information about clients it is essential the computers and information is kept secure. The Safe And Sound - Keeping Your Computers And Data Secure and Maximum Security - Lock Up Your Data provide detailed guidance on how to keep information secure.

One of the main areas of security vulnerability is passwords, the article How Am I Supposed To Remember That? Choosing And Using Secure Passwords looks at different ways you can create and remember passwords for every time you need them.

Other specific security concerns are covered in this section, including an investigation in to How Secure Is The Internet?, and Wireless Networking Security Considerations for organisations considering introducing a wireless network.

Increasingly organisations are using email to communicate with clients, Advice By Email - Security Issues looks at the question “How confidential is electronic mail?”.

Training

A lack of training can result in users not getting the most of their computers. The Knowledgebase Training Needs Analysis will show you how to work out the areas you need training in. Following on from this is the Internet And Email Training Needs Analysis - a questionnaire to help work out where your skills lie.

Often organisations cannot afford to employ a full-time computer technician so they rely on an “accidental techie”. This is usually someone who has an interest in computers or has more knowledge than other staff. This is an “unsung” role and the article Help, I’ve Become An Accidental Techie! is aimed at supporting people in this position.

Computer Problems

Although every organisation should have access to technical support there are certain things that can be done to maintain your computer, avoiding, and dealing with problems.

To begin with there are regular steps you should take to keep your network ship-shape, see Good Housekeeping.

One of the issues that often frustrate people is problems with the computer when starting up, the article Computer Starting Or Running Slowly? highlights what causes computers to start or run slowly and some of the things that can help to mitigate it whilst Computer Not Starting Up Properly? offers basic troubleshooting advice.

For organisations that can access technical support Helping Others To Help You - Effectively Communicating Your ICT Problems outlines how you can express yourself effectively makes it easy for others to solve your problems.

Accessibility

Although most computers are essentially set up the same the people that use them can be very different, there are a number of Knowledgebase articles to help you understand how to make your computer work better for you.

Starting with simple techniques that can help many people adapt their computers to suit their needs the Making Computers Accessible For Disabled People is supported by the Keyboard Shortcuts article which can save you time doing repetitive tasks such as cutting and pasting.

There are a range of accessibility products that can help people with their use of computers. These are not covered in detail in the Knowledgebase but for more information visit Abilitynet. All Operating Systems include some elements of customisation; these are detailed in the articles Windows Vista™ Accessibility Options and Accessibility On Linux Desktops.

Accessibility has increasingly become a key issue when talking about the internet, the article Customising The Web provides tips on customising your computer and web browser to suit your web surfing needs. PDF’s (Portable Document Format) are used extensively on websites as a way of uploading text. The article An Introduction To PDF Accessibility explains the key accessibility issues for people with disabilities with reading PDFs.

Email and Internet

Email has become the main method of communication in the sector. As well as direct email to individuals more and more people are subscribing to email lists – An Introduction To Email Mailing Lists will help understand their potential uses and how they work, as well as some basic tips for participating in an email list.

The internet has is an increasingly important tool for the voluntary and community sector. Practical tips for effective use of search engines are offered in the Finding Information On The Internet article.

Increasingly the talk is of Web2.0 – to find out what is meant by this see Web 2.0 The Internet Upgraded, although there is no one fixed definition this article gives an overview of what is meant by the term. See the Using the Internet & Email section for more information on using web2.0 tools including blogging and rss feeds.

 

As well as the Knowledgebase articles on Using Your Computer, there is the Using Your Computer Discussion Forum – this is a useful place to share knowledge, experiences, and ask questions.