Having a password that you enter when the computer first starts allows you to control who uses your computer. Only people who know the password can use your computer. You can set up multiple accounts , each with a different password so that that different people can use your computer. It is important you memorise your password because if you forget it you will not be able to use your computer

To find out more about passwords click on Start, and then click on help and Support. In the Search Box type in “Passwords” and then click on the green arrow.

1. Click on Start, Click on Control Panel. If you see Pick a Category, click on “User Accounts”. Otherwise you may have to scroll through a list to see “User Accounts” that you then have to double click on. Click on the icon of the account that you wish to set a password for.
2. Click on “Create a Password”. In the box under “Type a new password” enter the password you wish to use. Notice that as you type the password only big dots appear rather than what you type. This is so other can not see the password as you type it
3. In the box under “Type the new password again to confirm” enter the same password you entered in the previous step. Again you will only see dots rather than what you type. You enter it in a second time in case you pressed the wrong keys, and you don't see what you are typing.
4. You can also word of phrase to remind you what the password is.
5. Click on the Create Password Button
6. You can also make all your files and folders private by click on the “Yes Make Private” button
7. Close all the windows.

1. Whilst holding down the CTRL and the ALT key press the DEL key
2. Click on Change Password
3. If you previously had a password type it in. Notice that as you type the password only big dots appear rather than what you type. This is so other can not see the password as you type it
4. Type in the new password. Again you will only see dots rather than what you type
5. Type in the same password you entered in the previous step. Again you will only see dots rather than what you type. You enter it in a second time in case you pressed the wrong keys, and you don't see what you are typing. Click the right arrow icon

Pam, Notice below I have explained to Bev how to use a scanner

Downloading information is covered in the Internet and Email training notes here

Installing an update disk to an existing program is usually done the same way as installing the program see here. That is you put in a disk and follow the prompts. However becoming more popular is that the updates to a program are done automatically over the internet. Either you will not know about it at all or a message will appear to say it has been updated or a message will ask you if you wish to download updates.

Wanted to know how to us a scanner

Before you can use a scanner you must install its drivers. Typically scaners have a driver called “Twain” Twain drivers have the benefit of being able to be used in multiple applications. One program that can use Twain drivers, and so a scanner, is Irfanview.

Before using a scanner in Irfanview you must first tell Irfanview which Twain device you intend to use. From the file menu click on Select Twain Source, click on the scanner you wish to use and click the Select button. If the scanner and you wish to use is not in the list, then it has not been installed correctly. Find the installation disk and install it.

The acquire/bench scanning option from the file menu in Irfanview is used to scan individual or batches of pages. After selecting this option from the file menu, if you select single image: show acquired image in viewer, each image will be scanned and shown on the screen after which you will have to save the image. The multiple images (batch mode): save the quality images as files, option allows multiple documents to be scanned and stored with an number at the end of the file name, as described below.

To use the multiple images option you first have to enter the name against the output file name prompt, the starting index number, and the number of digits. As an example, an output file name of “sundry”, a starting the index of one, and incrementing of one and a number of digits of eight, would produce the first file of “sundry00000001” the second of “sundry00000002” and so on.

If you are saving the file as a JPEG format you can also select the options button which is where you can determine the quality of the image and so how much storage space it takes.

On clicking on the OK button the software which is the twain driver will be loaded. The way it operates will be different for each driver. Generally each driver has a preview option, which allows you to scan the whole document and then select which part of it you want to scan by dragging the mouse over the preview image. You can also usually select if the image is going to be black and white, grayscale or colour and the quality of the image in DPI (dots per inch) or as a percentage of the original size.

Hi Greg, So far I have learnt so much but I guess what I'd like to be able to do easily is send photographs with emails, download and watch vidoes and music. Oh just remembered web cam to talk to family, what does that entail? I'm still not confident with cut and paste either but you said that will be covered. Looking forward to the next lesson. Joanne

Joanne, the sending of Photos or anything else as an attachment is covered in the Internet and Email course. The part of the training notes that covers that is here

However the notes are for using client email, Outlook Express. I see you use hotmail. To attach files to it is slightly different. When you are writing a message their will be some were where it says “attach file” usually with a “Browse” button beside it. Or if not you click on “attach” and it then gives you somewhere you you can enter the file to attach, again with a browse button beside it. Click on the browse button and your computer will present you with a Open file Dialog (window). From there you navigate to where your photos are, like in “My Photos” and select the photo or photos you wish to email. You can select multiple photos. See Multi selection of files.When sending photos it is preferable to not send them full size as they will take some time to send and if the person receiving them only has dial-up internet access it could take them 5 minutes per photo to receive them. Even longer with videos. We will be covering the resizing and reducing the quality of photos (to make them smaller) later in the course using irfanview. There are exercises on using Irfanview here

If you intend to send the photos to several people it could be easer to put the photos on a WEB site and send one email to the multiple people telling them which web site the photos are on. The creation of web sites is a whole other training course however their are some web sites that allow you to put a limited number of photos on their site. To find these do a Google search of Photo storeage or Photo shareing.

This will be covered later in the course under the general heading of downloading. The notes are here

We don't usually cover this in the course but as it wont take long we will do it. You will need a WEB cam camera and a headset with microphone. Alternatively most modern notebook computers have a WEB cam camera built in as well as speakers and a microphone. You will also need some software to enable you to use all the above. Windows XP and Vista have this built in in the form of Window Messenger. An alternative to this could be Skype. In either case you will need to setup a user account, which is done using the software.

The most common things that go wrong is your sound card or web camera are not set correctly for the talking over the internet(VOIP, Voice Over IP) software to use it. Skype has a Skype Test Call on the contacts tab that if you click on the small green button with the phone on it, will ring Skype, speak a message to you and allow you to record a message that it will play back to you. If you can hear your recorded voice it means that you have the setting for your microphone correct. Otherwise you can go to the Skype web page to see what settings to check. Windows Messenger has an Audio Tuning wizard on the Tools menu that you can use to check your speakers and microphone.

You then need to know the contact details of the person(s) you want to call. These people also have to have set up an account on Skype or Windows Messenger. Both programs have a facility to search for the person you wish to talk to. In Windows Messenger this is Add a contact on the Tools Menu. In Skype it's Search for a Skype user in the tools menu.

The people you find in both cases will be put on your contacts list. Clicking on the person you wish to speak to in Skype then allows you to click on the green phone button to ring them. In Windows Messenger after clicking on the contacts name, where their will be a indicator to say if they are online or not, you can then click on Start a voice conversation or start a video conversation. In Skype once you are talking to the other person if you both have a WEB Cam you can switch to video mode.

The video in both programs can be jerky especially if you have slower internet connection and it, video, will use up a lot of your download capability more quickly than voice only.

Both programs have instant messaging facility. That is the ability to enter text that will virtually immediately will show on the other persons screen. If you pay to purchase Skype credits you can also ring people on their land line phone or Mobile phone usually at cheaper rates then the phone providers.

If you want to know why conversations using this method are cheaper than the normal phone companies then look up VOIP in Google.

As talking and seeing people requires both sides of the conversation to be using their computer and it can take time to set them up and get them started it is best to arrange via email that the call will tale place at a certain time so thay bot parties have their computer running and set up correctly.

Some ISP's (Internet Service Providers) have setup the ability to use VOIP without a computer. You ring a phone number, on any phone, where a computer answers with voice prompts for you to enter an account and pin number and then the number you want to ring. The computer then connects you to the desired number using VOIP technology. Such calls can be $0.10 un-timed to anywhere in Australia or $0.02 per minute to the UK, plus your usual local call cost.