Bob Bowman'sFREE EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES HOW-TO GUIDES © |
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Back to INDEX TABLE SEE HOW-TO INDEX
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Bob Bowman's FREE EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES HOW-TO GUIDES © |
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Back to INDEX TABLE SEE HOW-TO INDEX
SECURITY FIRST: The most important first step is to install malware protection SEE LIST - You could use these FREE tools - SUPERAntiSpyware Free Edition and Zonealarm® Free Firewall and AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition - which work well together!
NOTE: Although the focus in these guides deals with IBM®-compatible computers, please note that Apple® or Macintosh® computers will be combined in many links. There are many well-written guides to evaluate - try several for the style you may find helpful (plain text, graphics, videos, podcasts). Beginners' guides are listed first followed by more advanced links:
Computers 101 - Good starting point to explanatory links
More information about specific questions can be found in subsequent sections (especially Find more information / Support).
Software titles listed in this document and other links are written for
specific computer platforms, so you have to know what operating system software is installed on your computer before downloading available titles (some titles are available in separate versions for separate platforms).
Besides the Microsoft® series of operating systems which run from
DOS through Windows® XP® and Windows® Vista, there are the
Mac® series with the current OS X, and there are newer ones being developed. See this link www.osdata.com - Operating System Technical Comparison for over 30 operating systems which include many open source (free) systems like the LINUX platform.
Virtual PCs and Multiple Operating Systems
SPECIAL THEMATIC NOTE: Throughout these guides, access to the Command prompt (DOS) is often useful - so evaluate these links and search for others:
See the following links for building, upgrading, or buying a new or used computer:
SETUP:
For discussion's sake, let's assume that you are viewing this page from
computer "A" and you want to download the free software programs listed
throughout this document to copy to computer "B" (say at home or in a lab).
In order to make computer "B" ready for Internet access, it has to have some
minimum specifications (with the understanding that your Internet access will be severely limited if you will be working with a slow Pentium 2 version); a Pentium 4 definitely is recommended minimum, operating at least 800 Mhz speed, with a minimum of 512 MB RAM. Let's also assume you have installed a 56 kps modem and have secured a dial-up account from your local Internet Service Provider.
Next follow the sequence of my "How-To" guides to find, download, install, and use the software programs appropriate for your system based on the factors discussed in the preceding guide section.
It is NOT advisable to download or copy files directly to your hard drive unless you have some virus-protection program in place. Also check floppies often for infections (especially if they are shared between different computers) -
Security Note: I use Yahoo!.com® mainly - because potentially dangerous links are highlighted in red with warning!
Search engines/tools make it very easy to find any information on the Internet (and they are compared in some of the following links). In Altavista's advanced search block, for example, typing all the words in the following compound search string: "free software" AND Windows (NOTE the quotes around two or more words and the capitalized Boolean AND)
would yield somewhat limited hits of free software for Microsoft® Windows®.
A power-user hint to find related information at a given site is to use the directory-climbing method: Click on the URL address in your browser until the address is not highlighted. Place the cursor at the end of the address and then backspace to remove the last sub-directory in that address, one at a time: (http://www.microsoft.com/education/k12/) becomes (http://www.microsoft.com/education/). Press enter for the new directory.
OTHER SEARCH STRATEGIES:
SEARCH ENGINES: (Just a sampling!)
Look for "EDUCATION" (or keyword) in these subjects-by-category or indexed websites.
REMINDER:
Save time by using the FIND button on your browser to find key words in any displayed document (which is another search tool!)
INTERNET TOOLS:
If you want to make a copy of an online document displayed in your browser, select SAVE AS under the FILE menu function. When prompted for a name, rename it to something that makes sense to you so you can find it later.
NOTE: You will lose the contents of an old file if you use the same filename for any new file (in the same directory)!
If you have located an underlined file to download, move the pointer to the file you want and click the left mouse button to activate the download process (and choose the SAVE button).
To save online transmission time, many files are compacted (compressed or "zipped"). There are many formats you will encounter and you must use the tool which is appropriate to your downloaded file based on its extension. Some files are conveniently compressed into an executable file (*.exe) which, when run, will unzip one or more files in your working directory. That is why it is important to create a temporary directory and copy the downloaded file to that directory before unzipping.
See free tools at:
A free PC utility Directory Control - by Peter Esherick (based on PC Magazine's CO and DR: view, copy, delete files and more in DOS) will simplify marking multiple files to copy to other media
Programs larger than what will fit entirely on one diskette may be copied piecemeal by free disk utilities
Find out how to collaborate using the following tools: - most sites have usage tips!
Online Tools & Productivity - A lot of links you can use to collaborate!
Find out how to be more productive using the following tools - especially the ones that will convert text into spoken words which then could be played in portable devices:
NOTE: Some converters are also listed under Music-Audio-Pod-Video: and in the Freeware Section
By encouraging students to use free HTML editors to compose conventional "home pages", students not only get a greater insight about the popular mode of how information is handled on the Internet but more importantly advance to using editors and related tools for class reports, presentations, and ultimately for resumes in order to become entry-level practitioners for the high-tech marketplace.
Notetab (tm) Multi-file Editor - Free version even has Mouse-Click Encoding HTML tags - with script lang. WIN
When you are creating a document or program, save your work
frequently to TWO places: e.g. - floppy disk AND hard drive (or USB AND hard drive). Experienced users often save added text to a new filename so that if something goes wrong - they can retrieve the earlier copy in tack. An Uninterruptible Power Supply has also saved me a lot of grief!
* ALWAYS MAKE BACKUP COPIES OF IMPORTANT FILES!
NOTE: Although online editors save you the task of installing software on your PC - there are often file size limitations, e-mail delivery, and registration steps. Multiple selections are presented so you can find one that best suits your needs. Read attendant instructions on how to use them.
NOTE: Many converters are also listed under Conversions 101
USEFUL FILE RETRIEVAL UTILITIES
NOTE:
To access DOS - click on START - then PROGRAMS - then ACCESSORIES - then COMMAND PROMPT
Sometimes a file may not be where you thought you saved it:
If you forgot what it was named, you might try adding a DOS utility called
Since.zip - after unzipping it -
to the root directory of your hard drive: Typing the following
command will find all files added to your hard drive in the last 5 days:
SINCE 5 A | MORE
Secondly, try another DOS File Finder utility called WHEREIS.COM. Typing the following command will find the location of all files starting with my__: WHEREIS MY*.*
If you want to find every file in a given directory on your hard drive that has the word "holiday" and put the results into a file called found.doc, use the DOS utility called Bfind - Finds file strings and type:
BFIND "holiday" *.* > found.doc
Before you plan to download or install programs on your hard drive, it makes sense to defragment the hard drive (See DOS command for defragment).
CUT & PASTE SHORTCUT TO NEW LINKS: While using your browser in Firefox or Microsoft ®Windows® Internet Explorer®, you could open a text file in the Notepad / Wordpad program (say a list of recommended educational sites from a local teacher) and use the cut & paste technique - hold down the left mouse button and scroll the mouse cursor to block the desired site's URL address (say http://www.ibm.com for example) then use CTRL-C to copy, then switch back to the browser and place the cursor at browser's location window, clear existing entry by pressing ENTER then SPACE bar and use CTRL-V to paste new address.
INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED AS A GUIDE ONLY WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. USER MUST VERIFY SOFTWARE LICENSE TERMS. *Back To Top*