From the category archives:

Novice Users

5 things I would do with a Brand new Mac to set up

May 27, 2010

A friend of mine reminded me that he is not an old salt with a Mac, and he wanted me to give him 5 things to do to help him set up his Mac.  These are the 5 Things I would do if I had to set up a new Mac right out of the [...]

Mac vs. Windows Model

May 24, 2010

This is an Essay on the Mac versus Windows model of making computers.  This is to help those who are wondering what it is all about, how did we get here, and why is there all of this religious zealotry concerning two ways of computing.  A few confessions before we begin.  I am a Mac [...]

What is a scripting language?

March 3, 2010

This is a topic suggested by a reader. The reader wants to know what is a scripting language? I will provide an answer after the break.

Just what is the difference between 3G and 4G?

March 2, 2010

I got handed this question by a friend, and I was a bit stumped. I’m not a telecom watcher, but there is going to be a lot of 4G commercials coming out as the telecoms try to lure more customers to their data services. Just what is 4G, and 3G. The answer to that after [...]

RSS feeds explained

January 27, 2010

There are thousands of websites and you might be interested in ten or twenty of them. How do you know if a new post has been published to that website? Chances are that your site that you want to know about publishes something called a Real Simple Syndication Feed or RSS feed. Read on for [...]

Using Google Public DNS

January 7, 2010

In a previous post I discussed the internet and how it works from a high level. The concept of DNS is very much like a phone book, but we can carry the analogy a little further. More on this after the break

How does the world wide web work?

January 1, 2010

The internet is a network. The world wide web is an application that works with the internet. There are different services that the internet provides. The world wide web is one of these services. Read on for a high level explanation of how it works.

How does the internet work?

December 31, 2009

This is a question that I get from novice users all the time. I won’t bore you with the intricacies of how things are done. Instead I will be giving you a very high level discussion on how the internet works. Read on for this dicussion.

What do the numbers mean for HDTV

December 14, 2009

You may be hearing a lot about 720p and 1080p or 1080i. What does all that mean, and why should you care? I’ll be answering that after the break.

How to handle Computer Viruses

November 16, 2009

When I talk to Novice Users one of things they ask me about are viruses and the like. There seems to be a lot of Myth about viruses and so I’d thought I’d write a non-technical introduction to viruses and other deadly dangers.

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