U3A Computing Beginners Class

1. U3A Computing Beginners Class Leader – Brian Moore Week 6 of 10 weeks. Mondays 4:15 to 5:45 pm

2. Email • Very Important use of computers. • Is the main method to send personal messages/letters to individuals or groups. • Can “Attach” files to the message e.g. a Word Document, or a photo but we will talk about limitations later. • Has been partly replaced by social networking sites such as “Facebook” and “Twitter”.

3. Access of Email • Two ways to access email. • An Email program such as “Outlook Express” or now “Windows Mail”. In a College or Work- “Outlook”Some technical setup required. Need Username, Password and server details.Beginner home users no longer use this. • Or • Webmail – Now the main way, allows access to email anywhere you have Internet access.Still need your Username and Password.

4. Access Continued • Outlook Express is a program installed on a computer. It allows emails to be read even when your internet is not connected, called Off Line. This was useful when we all had Dial Up Internet access but now everybody has Broadband this is no longer relevant. • Webmail. Is a web site to access your mail. It can be run by your Internet Service Provider for their free account or e.g. Hotmail, Yahoo or Gmail.

5. Logging on - Password Change • Please attempt to Login as usual. • You may get a Logon Message – Your password will expire in xx days. Do you want to change it now? • Click on Yes. You will then get a request for a new password – put in u3a1234 and the same in the Confirm New Password. Ignore the other boxes. OK this and you will get a message “your password has been changed.” OK this. • This will happen about every 5 weeks and is for security reasons.

6. Starting Web Email • Our U3A accounts have a web based email account available. • Start Internet Explorer and OK on any warning messages as usual. • At the St Thomas More Intranet page.Click on E-Mail on the LHS top of list. • You may get a Security Warning – Do You...delivered securely answer NO. • You should now have Internet Explorer running “Outlook Web Access” showing email. Maximise it. This is often used in commerce and schools for access at home.

7. Outlook Web Access at STM • The Outlook screen is divided into 3 main areas. • At the left under your Name are folders Calendar to Tasks the most important are Inbox and Sent Items. • Inbox is probably selected now and may show some titles of emails in the middle area. New ones sent will appear here. • The large area on the right shows the contents of a email that is selected in the middle area. If you double click on an attachment it will open it.

8. Left hand area • Calendar. Double click on a time to add an entry. Reminders can be set. • Contacts. Is where all email addresses along with their personal info is held. Address book icon, like an open book is an earlier email list and in Outlook should be set to use Contacts. • Deleted Items, is like the recycle bin and is a last ditch area for items deleted out of Inbox & Sent Items. Clear it out often after checking the mail is not required.

9. Left hand area 2 • Drafts – contains new saved emails that have not been sent yet. • Inbox - where all new emails come in. If there are Rules set which identify them as annoying they will be moved to the Junk E-mail folder. You need to check this to see if any have been moved by mistake. • New emails you create are put into the Outbox first. When the computer has sent them they are moved to the Sent Items box. • Notes and Tasks are for your general use.

10. Sending a Email at STM • To send an email, click on “New”. • Type in the Email address you want to send your Email to in the long white area to the right of the “To:” box. Here our email addresses are Username@st-thomasmore.cheshire.sch.uk • You can send to many email addresses, just separate with a ; • Normally a LH click on TO... Gives a list of email addresses from Contacts but it’s not working at STM.

11. Sending an email 2 • CC – means Carbon Copy. Add email addresses of people who you just want to keep in the picture, with no actions. • Normally all the recipients can see the To: and CC: lists. • Bcc – means Blind CC. The email addresses are hidden from all the recipients. • Type in a Subject - it’s just a Title • In the main box type in your message. • It you want you can add a “Attachment” When all is ready LH click on “Send”.

12. Distribution Lists • If you want to send a email to many people often you can create a “Distribution List” which is just a list of email addresses with a name.First you have to add email addresses to “Contacts” then also under New create a Distribution List.This all varies between web mail systems. Again it’s not working well here!

13. Adding an Attachment • You can add any file with the following proviso. But getting around these is advanced. • Business and Schools/Colleges may well ban adding Word documents which have “Macros” in because they are a favorite place to hide Viruses in. • Also they will probably have a limit to the size of attachments added, typically 6Mb, that's about two full size high definition photos. • It’s all well described in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_attachment

14. Example of adding an Attachment • When creating a new email click on the paperclip icon at the top. • Then find what you want to add and click on open. • Advanced bit. To get round schools etc banning Office attachments. Compress the file first. See http://www.ehow.com/how_2093605_compress-files-before-sending-them.html or simply Right click on a folder containing required files.Send To, Compressed Zip Folder. It creates at the same level a file of the same name.zip Attach this.

15. U3A hotmail account for your use • I have created a hotmail account which you can use. • Browse to www.hotmail.co.uk • Windows live ID= mondayu3a@hotmail.co.uk • Password= u3a1234 • You can use this to send & receive emails from your U3A St Thomas More account. Or each other. • Hotmail is due to be replaced by Outlook.com stating next year. The good news is @Hotmail addresses can be kept as long as required.

16. Make own Hotmail account • If you have time create your own Hotmail account as an alternative to your usual one. • This is useful when you sign up with some organization that insists on sending junk email. You can just abandon it if too much comes.

17. Practical • Send emails to each other. And to mondayu3a@hotmail.co.uk At first just type in a email address. Then try in Cc & Bcc. • Add an Attachment by using the paperclip icon. Find something from your My Documents. When you receive one with a attachment double click on it to see it. • http://www.google.co.uk Create a @gmail account.

18. Some web sites to look at • https://www.pcforseniors.co.uk/Selling a book for £20 • http://www.sendmediscounts.co.uk/ • http://www.bwired.nl/ • http://www.navitron.org.uk/