Welcome to the 1st edition of "Understanding the Basics of Computers". Future e-zines will be coming out once a month on or around the 30th of each month. Let me know what you think there is plenty of time to make changes. I hope everyone has had a great October. It's been nice here but it has been a bit chilly. I guess our summer is over. It's coming into the season where the computer will be used a lot seeing that Winter is just around the corner. As for the articles in this issue I am trying hard to give the most useful information I can come up with that will help you with your computer woes. My website is still a work in progress so check it regularly for new tutorials. If you have any suggestions for the website please email me at jennifer@free-computer-tutorials.net and let me know what you think or what you would like me to add.

In this issue:

• Set up webmail in Outlook
• Help with Printers and printer settings
• What is AntiVirus and how do I use it?

I have found in my training sessions that many people use webmail for email. This is a great way to sign up for email and be able to view your email online from where ever you may be. I don’t have anything against webmail but I would like to share with you how to use Microsoft Outlook 2007 to read your email so you can have all of your contacts, calendar, tasks you may want to accomplish, and more all in one place.

I am only going to do one example of webmail with gmail and if you use another webmail provider and like the concept of using Outlook 2007 for checking webmail contact me at Jennifer@free-computer-tutorials.net and I will send you an individual email on how to set it up.

• Open Outlook 2007 and click on Tools then Account Settings.
• The Account Settings Window will open and click on the New button in the E-Mail tab.
• Make sure the Microsoft Exchange, POP3, IMAP, or HTTP radio button is selected then click Next.
• In the next window fill in your name, email address (i.e. janedoe@gmail.com)and password and click Next
• When you click Next it will take you through the connection process. This could take several minutes so be patient.
• If everything worked properly it will give you a message stating Your email account is successfully configured.
• Click the Finish button and you will begin to receive email in Outlook 2007.

The great thing about Outlook is you can receive email from multiple accounts by repeating the above steps with each email account. Once you are receiving your email through Outlook you can categorize emails, flag them to follow up with some one or even set a reminder window to pop up. Outlook can be a great tool. Start looking for more tutorials on Outlook at www.free-computer-tutorials.net/outlook-2007.html

Printers have never been one of my favorite things. They are a necessity but can be a problem with paper jams, installing drivers, etc. I am sure all of you have had printer problems at one time or another. I am going to go over some tip on buying a printer then show you some printer settings that come in useful.

• When you decide to buy a printer think about what you will use most and focus on those features. So many of the printers come with multiple functions. Multiple functions are great if you are going to use all of them on a regular basis. If you are going to be printing mostly photos select a printer designed for photo printing. You will have better luck with getting the printer to feed precut paper and have ink in that printer that will print high quality photos.
• When shopping for a printer go online and use the comparison features. Most webistes have an option for you to select 3 or so printers and compare all of the features side by side. This will help you get the features you want and not pay for ones you don’t want

• I always look at what media size (paper size) the printer accepts. I want something that will feed an envelope or a precut 4x6 photo sheet.
• If you are printing photos you must look at the resolution so your photos are printing at the best quality. For printing photos I would recommend getting a printer with a color resolution of no less than 1200dpi and 2400dpi would be better.
• If you are always in a hurry when printing look at the PPM or pages per minute. For an ink jet printer 30ppm is a good rating.

Sometimes you can relieve printer headaches by just changing a few print settings. To get into the printer settings click print in any program or website and when the print window appears click the properties button usually up by the printer name at the top right of the window.

This print screen is just an example. Each printer has a little different configuration.

• If your printer has multiple trays for paper you can select what tray the printer pulls from
• You can select the paper size
• Type of paper, this can be important if you are using photo paper. The paper type tells the printer how much ink to use.
• You can have the printer automatically print on both sides
• Change the orientation. If you want the printer to print sideways on the paper choose landscape.
• In some of the other tabs you can choose to print a color document in black and white so you don’t use up all of your expensive color cartridges.

Read and play with these tabs and options in the printer properties. You will find new ways to print your documents. If you have any questions email at Jennifer@free-computer-tutorials.net

The definition of antivirus is protective software designed to defend your computer against malicious software. Malicious software, or "malware" includes: viruses, Trojans, keyloggers, hijackers, dialers, and other code that vandalizes or steals your computer contents. In order to be an effective defense, your antivirus software needs to run in the background at all times, and should be kept updated so it recognizes new versions of malicious software.

There are several antivirus programs. Just to name a few there are: AVG, Windows Live OneCare, Norton and many more. Most of these programs offer a free trial of 90 days so you can see how they work. If you do not like the antivirus program after the trial make sure you go to your control panel then add remove programs and remove the program and all of its components. If you have more than one antivirus program installed on your computer they don’t play nice with each other and can cause problems.

Make sure if you uninstall one antivirus program you find another one and install it right away. You don’t want to go unprotected.

It is not enough to just install the antivirus program, you need to keep it updated. There are always new viruses coming out if your antivirus program is not updated it will not catch the new viruses. Most antivirus programs will have an automatic update feature.

Also make sure you run a virus scan every once in a while or set the program to scan your computer on a regular basis.

I hope the first issue of Understanding the Basics of Computers was helpful. If you have any suggestions for next months issue or comments on this issue please let me know.

P.S. If you would like to purchase ad space in my e-zine please mail me with Ad in the subject line.