Hello
From time to time I get asked all sorts of questions about Facebook.

What is it, what do you use it for, how do you do X, Y or Z.

The only snag is, although I know a bit about it, I don’t really use it myself. But I still wanted to do something to answer some of the questions I get.

Luckily, Georgia does use it – lots (she even has a mug saying “Facebook addict” for her tea in the office) – so I sat down with her to ask some of the questions I get – with a video camera running.

You can see what we came up with here: http://www.pcinnercircle.co.uk/index.php/videos/what-is-facebook/ (or from the Videos page).

Hope you find it interesting!
Tim

I was in the local Tesco the other day – and even in a supermarket, they had big piles of ebook readers at the end of one of the aisles.  Well, they had empty cardboard boxes because they were worried that people might pinch them, but they had them for sale.

It set me thinking about paper books, ebooks (electronic books) and whether ebooks will take over.  It’s pretty clear they’re getting more and more popular.

I’ve written an article about it for you – including a bit about how you use ebooks.  You can get at it from the articles page or just click here:

http://www.pcinnercircle.co.uk/index.php/articles/ebooks-vs-books/

(you also get to see a part of my study at home – apologies for the unpainted wall in the background, we haven’t decorated it yet…)

Tim

Hi everyone,

Some of you might have read on the Clubroom that we are having a bit of bother with our Clubroom Email system at the moment. Usually, when Tim or I answer your questions, you will receive an Email saying we have replied, and you will get a link to your answer.

This feature stopped working a couple of weeks ago, so the Emails haven’t been sent during that time. Rest assured, Tim and I are working on getting things back to normal, so it should be back up and running soon!

In the meantime, it might be an idea to make a note of the date and page that you have left a query, so you can check which page to look at to see if there is an answer to your question yet. Alternatively, you can leave me a comment asking if I have replied yet, and I will find your answer for you, and send you a link to it. Don’t forget you can use the search bar too, just search for your name and your question should be listed  in the search results.

An annoying setback, but we are working on getting it fixed!

Georgia

This week’s Word to the wise is about Hyperlinks, or just links.

E.g. clicking on a word or button that takes you to a different destination. Click here to go to Page 1.

A hyperlink (commonly just called a “link”) is usually a word, phrase or image that you click on to jump to a new document (or webpage), or a section of a document. Almost every website on the Internet will have a hyperlink, or a few hundred, allowing users to click their way from page to page.

Hyperlinks are often blue and underlined (see the example above), but they don’t have to be. It makes it easier to see them if you are looking at a page full of text. When you move the cursor over a hyperlink, whether it is text or an image, the arrow should change to a small hand pointing at the link. When you click it, a new page will open.

Another example would be sending someone an Email with a website address in it. The website address (let’s say, www.pcinnercircle.co.uk) is a hyperlink, because it’s a link to the website. Clicking on it would take you to the PC Inner Circle website.

I hope you found that interesting!

Georgia

This week’s “Word to the Wise” is something that used to crop up in the Clubroom quite a bit. It’s to do with one of those update windows that pops up in the bottom right of the screen now and again!

Java, and Java update

Most of us will have had a little pop-up or notification that says something along the lines of “Java update ready to install”, or “New Java update available”. But what is Java? And what does it actually do? Why do we need it on our computers? Do we need it at all?

Well, let’s start with what Java actually is. Java is a programming language used by geeks to write programs for our computers. Most of us will have a fair few programs on our computer than were written in the Java language, as it is one of the most popular in the world.

So what’s the updater all about? Why does it appear so often? The Java Update is a feature that keeps your computer up-to-date automatically with the latest Java releases. It connects to java.com at a scheduled time and checks to see if there is an update available. The Java update just makes sure our computers have the latest Java language updates, to make sure our programs run smoothly. Without Java on our computers, it would limit us to only using certain programs, and sometimes even stop us from doing things online, like watching videos or downloading things.

So, it isn’t anything scary, but it is something quite important. It’s always best to make sure you keep up to date with Java updates, (and any other updates, on that note!) as it will keep your computer running smoothly. It’s also free of charge, and you can’t go wrong with that.

I hope you found that useful! I used to get so confused by Java updates. They seem to pop up more often than the sun shines. In Cumbria, anyway!

Georgia

New poll – Do you use Facebook?

There is a new poll over on the right, this time about Facebook!

You can answer it by clicking on one (or more) of the answers and then clicking on “Vote” at the bottom of that box.

I use Facebook every day, but how about you? Feel free to leave some comments below!

Georgia

Codec

E.g to play a video

Before we get into this one, “Codec” stands for compression/decompression, or compressor/decompressor. You don’t really need to know that, but if you’re a bit of geek at heart it’s interesting all the same! Basically, a Codec is a computer program that shrinks large movie files and makes them playable on your computer. To help speed up downloads, Codecs make video and audio files smaller so it’s easier for them to travel through the Internet.

Sometimes queries on the clubroom are solved by downloading the right Codec, making videos viewable on your PC or Laptop. Codec programs are required for your Media Player to play your downloaded music and movies. For example, if you can’t watch one of the vieos on the PC Inner Circle website, it might be because you don’t have the right Codec installed.

Unfortunately, there isn’t just one Codec that you can download and solve all of your computer problems! There are literally hundreds of them. Lucky for us, though, some nice people somewhere online have created downloadable packages of Codecs, so you can download the ones you need in one go, instead of hunting for them separately.

If you think you might need a Codec pack, or if you want any more information, do let us know!

Georgia