Basic Computer training – Your computer

This is the start of our basic computer training course for seniors, beginners and complete novices. The computer lesson will answer questions about your computer, what is a chip, what is a processor, what is ram and what is a hard drive?

Designed to improve computer skills, the course is suitable for anyone worldwide and for those looking to learn about computers and qualify in The European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL), this lesson will cover EqualSkills computer basics elements 1.1 and 1.2, looking at your computer.

The lesson will demonstrate different personal computers and there various parts, talk about adding accessories before giving a brief description about some of the components inside your computer including the processor, RAM and hard drive.

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How to use a mouse computer Lessons for seniors

How to use a mouse free online computer lesson for seniors and beginners. This tutorial forms part of our basic computer training course and for those looking to learn about computers and qualify in the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) the tutorial will cover elements 1.4 and 1.5 of the Equal Skills module and shows how to use a mouse, essential for improving computer skills.

Learning Objectives:

• Using the left and right mouse buttons
• Double clicking
• Using the mouse wheel

Target Audience:

Complete computer beginner/novice

Introduction

Mice come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and usually have 2 or 3 buttons. Some have a small wheel instead of the third button. This lesson will teach you how to use a mouse and all buttons correctly.

The first thing you should do is place your mouse to the right or left of your keyboard and place a light grip on the mouse that is comfortable to you.

If you lift up your mouse and look underneath you will see either a small ball or a small red light. If you have the old fashioned ball type mouse I would recommend you purchase the new and much better optical type. However, either type will work and are used the same way.

You can either continue reading this computer course on this page or watch the accompanying video lesson below.

To enlarge the video left click on the small square icon in four pieces bottom right of video. Press the Esc button on your keyboard to return to normal view.

Let’s get started with how to use a mouse

As you slide your mouse forward, backwards, or side to side across your desk you will see the little cursor on your screen move.

The left mouse button is for selecting objects and the right mouse button is for displaying the different options available to you.

Exercise 1:  Opening a Window

Move your mouse until the cursor is over the recycle bin on your desktop (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Recycle Bin

You will notice that the image of the recycle bin changes slightly. This is designed to give you some feedback and tell you that you can select this icon.

Making sure that you keep the cursor over the recycle bin, double click the left mouse button, i.e. press the left button twice rapidly. A window should now

open up on your desktop (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: How to open a window

If it hasn’t it is because you have either moved the cursor away from the recycle bin icon whilst clicking or you have not double clicked quickly enough. Keep trying – it will happen. Don’t worry if you find this part tricky as most people do at first and

there will be plenty of time to practice later. We will be covering windows in another free online computer course for seniors so don’t concern yourself with the window contents at this stage, this computer lesson for beginners is only looking at how to use a mouse.

Exercise 2: Drag and Drop

Move your mouse until the cursor is over the top middle section of the newly opened window. Press the left mouse button and keep the button pressed down whilst you move your

mouse. The window now appears as though it is stuck to the cursor and wherever you move the cursor the window will follow. This is called dragging and dropping. As soon as you let go of the left button the window is released from the cursor.

Try and drag the window to different areas of the screen by releasing the mouse button and re-connecting again.

Exercise 3: Closing a Window

Move your mouse until your cursor to the top right hand side of the newly opened window until it is over the small red square containing an x (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Closing a window

As your cursor hovers over the small red square you will notice that it changes colour slightly. Click once using your left mouse button to close this window.

Exercise 4: Right Clicking

Move your mouse cursor until it is over the recycle bin and press your right mouse button. You will see a new sub-menu appear with a list of options (Figure 4)

Figure 4: Right mouse button options

The list of options you see on your screen may be slightly different from the ones in figure 4. The ‘Open’ and ‘Explore’ options do the same thing – they allow you to see the contents of the recycle bin.

Exercise 5: Practice

Practice double clicking with the left button on the remaining icons on your desktop and right clicking to see the available options.

Additional Exercise 6: Solitaire

All windows computers come with a computerised version of the solitaire card game. This is ideal for getting used to using the mouse. Beware though as it can be addictive!

To start the solitaire game, left click on the start menu button (Figure 5), found at the bottom left of your screen.

Figure 5: Start menu button

You will now see the start menu (Figure 6: Start Menu)

Figure 6: Start menu

If you do not see an icon for Solitaire, then type the word: “Solitaire” in the search box at the bottom of the start menu and the icon will appear in the start menu. Click the Solitaire icon to start the program.

Now experiment using the techniques that this tutorial has taught you and try to play the game.

Summary

You should now be able to use your mouse effectively. Keep playing solitaire and you will very quickly become comfortable with the mouse.

Where next

Try the following online computer courses for seniors:

• Opening Windows – opening, closing, minimizing and maximizing those windows
• Starting Microsoft Word computer lesson for seniors and the elderly
• Opening Windows Lesson for Seniors and Beginners

Basic Computer Training Understanding Your Cursor

Continuing our basic computer training for seniors, beginners and computer novices, we have a lesson about understanding your cursor. Your cursor behaves differently as it interacts with webpages and software, it is therefore important to understand what your cursor is telling you so that you can follow hyperlinks and type text where you need to. This basic computer training lesson will help you to identify the different appearances of the mouse or cursor.

The lesson is suitable for anyone learning online worldwide and covers elements 1.7 and 1.8 of the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) qualification in EqualSkills, Computer Basics.

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Basic computer training your keyboard

We continue our basic computer training for beginners, seniors and novices with a tutorial demonstrating you can use your computer keyboard for much more than just typing. The basic computer lesson is suitable for anyone worldwide and for those looking to learn about computers and qualify in the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) the basic computer training covers EqualSkills computer basics 1.9 and 1.10.

The tutorial explains how your keyboard is divided and demonstrates different keys and their functions, a core part of elementary computer skills.

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Basic computer training – Your desktop and icons

To continue our basic computer training course for seniors, beginners and novices, we move on to a tutorial explaining the layout of your computer desktop and an introduction to desktop icons. The lesson is suitable for anyone learning online worldwide and for those looking to qualify in The European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) this lesson will cover Equal Skills, desktop, elements 2.1 and 2.2.

The lesson demonstrates a conventional computer desktop and lists the three main areas, icons, gadgets and taskbar. The computer lesson then goes on to explain about desktop shortcuts and how they are identified fundamental for improving your computer skills.

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Using The Recycle Bin And Deleting Desktop Icons Free Online Computer Lesson For Seniors and Beginners

Recycle Bin and Icons

Learning Objectives

• How to delete
• How to restore deleted items
• Understanding Desktop icons

Target Audience:

Complete computer beginner/novice

Introduction and Online Learning Objectives

The next of our free online computer lessons for seniors and beginners explains how to use your recycle bin. In other words we will show you how to delete unwanted items and also how to restore items. This is particularly useful if you have deleted something only to find at a later date that you want it back. With the restore function you can do just that. This computer tutorial also explains about removing unwanted desktop icons, which is useful to prevent your desktop becoming over crowded, housekeeping tasks which are important in developing your computer skills.

Summary of Learning Outcomes

You should now be familiar with using the recycle bin, what happens when you delete an item and how to restore a once deleted item. You should also know how to delete unwanted desktop icons.

If you are still unsure over anything covered in this free online computer lesson for the elderly then either watch the video again or contact us. We are always interested in your feedback of our computer lessons as it helps us to improve. Please also let us know of any other online computer lessons you think would help.

Personalise your computer desktop

In this basic computer training lesson we demonstrate how easy it is to personalise your computer desktop if you know the right commands for your computer. The tutorial, aimed at seniors, beginners and computer novices, shows the three main areas to personalise on your desktop, the background picture, icons and gadgets. We demonstrate in this basic computer training lesson that with a few simple commands you can easily change your desktop to make your computer much more personal to you and developing your computer skills.

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Creating shortcuts computer lessons for seniors

This computer lesson for seniors and beginners shows you how to create desktop shortcut and desktop icons. This lesson also shows you how to delete icons from your desktop. When learning computer skills it is considered good practice to keep your desktop as free as possible of icons and shortcuts as it does tend to slow your pc’s performance. However, there are times when you need to create a desktop shortcut there to save time. This computer lesson for seniors and beginners will teach you how to maintain your desktop.

Level: Beginner

Computer lesson for seniors desktop computer gadgets

In this computer lesson for seniors and beginners we demonstrate how to customise your desktop display by adding desktop gadgets such as a clock, news feeds and weather from around the world. The tutorial uses the windows 7 operating system although gadgets can also be displayed using Window Vista. This online learning tutorial will demonstrate about gadgets and enhance your own computer skills.

Level: Beginner/Intermediate

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Man contemplates the task bar or taskbar

Our basic computer training course continues with a lesson explaining about the taskbar and some of the features of the task bar. The tutorial is suitable for any beginners and for anyone looking to learn online and qualify in The European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL), this tutorial will cover Equal skills elements 2.3, 2.4, 2.5 and 2.6.

The lesson uses screen capture software to demonstrate the taskbar, icons associated with the task bar and how to pin favourite programmes to the taskbar, as well as opening applications from your desktop. Seniors, beginners and computer novices will benefit from this basic computer training tutorial which also demonstrates how programmes remain running and available for use from the task bar. Understanding about the taskbar is essential for improving computer skills.

To enlarge the video left click on the small square icon in four triangular pieces bottom right of video. Press the Esc button on your keyboard to return to normal view.