This was the first summer school class I have taken. It was a lot to learn in just six short weeks. I found it to be very informative and because of this class I am now more comfortable around computers and understand the components of computers a lot more. Prior to this class I was always afraid I would "break" a computer if I explored the system and would use the computer primarily for word processing and internet browsing.
Four of the topics I found especially informative were, virus protection, Google docs, internet privacy, Multimedia usage. I will discuss them in the following paragraphs.
Virus Protection
Prior to this course I wasn't aware that chain letters contained viruses. I just delete the chain letters I receive now instead of opening them as I used to before. The problem is I receive them from my mother in law and I think she may get offended if I do not respond but I will explain this to her and hopefully she will not send so many to me. It is very important to have some type of anti virus software running in order to protect your computer, it can be very costly and time consuming to try and clean up a virus infected computer. I usually run a de-fragmentation on my laptop every week as well as a disc cleanup at the same time to try and keep things running smoothly.
Google Docs
Prior to this class I hadn't used Google Docs and I have found that I really rely on it for most of my essays and writings. I love that I can access it from any computer at anytime as long as there is an internet connection. I have found I like this better than other word processing software and I use it more frequently. I have also introduced my kids and family to it so they may use it as needed for documents and projects.
Internet Privacy
Multimedia Usage
One thing I really love is multimedia on the computer. I use it for music, watching news stories of interest, watching youtube, just so many possibilities I feel that I really don't need my television anymore. I like visiting sites such as Pandora for streaming music, Hulu for television shows I may be interested in and may have missed, I love using Netflix which we can stream through my sons xbox, the convenience of multimedia is one of the greatest inventions on the computer that the internet has to offer in my opinion.