SCNI Digital News October 2015

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Star Pupils

Meet Mina and Anna, our featured learners this issue, and read their story of getting online later in life.

Jargon Buster

What is a phishing scam? How can you spot one and what should do you do about it?

Facebook Tips

Our top 5 tips to get started with Facebook. Try it today J

New hardware on the market - Christmas is comingeek! With so many choices its hard to know what to choose when buying a new computer

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Tablet or laptop? Apple or Android? Cheapest one you can find, or break the bank? And those are the simple questions to answer before things get quite technical! Its easy to get overwhelmed by the many options available, especially if you arent too familiar with the territory.

Start by thinking about what type of device you want. For the casual user (i.e. non-work purposes) a laptop or a tablet are better choices than a desktop computer which takes up a lot of space and cant be moved very easily. Many people who have never used a computer before find tablets easier to get the hang of because you just tap on the screen itself rather than having to deal with

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moving a mouse around. If youve never tried a laptop or a tablet, drop by an electronics store and try them both to get an idea of which seems more user friendly to you.

At this point you will probably find a salesperson asking what kind of OS or operating system (thats the software that runs all the other software on the computer) you want. The main three types are Android, Apple Mac, and Windows. Heres where the differences can get quite technical and where making a decision on price can help.

Apple products such as the iPad and the MacBook are well known and certainly

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stand out in terms of design, but they also tend to be more expensive than their Android or Windows counterparts. Ask your friends and family for their recommendations, especially the people you can rope into helping you learn your new computer once you get it! Youll find many people feel quite strongly about their chosen OS and will argue devoutly that it is superior to the others.

Finally, it all comes down to price. All this choice means you can spend just about anything you want on a computer. Set your budget and do plenty of comparison shopping. There are some great bargains to be had, especially by shopping online.

SCNI Digital News October 2015

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What would you think if you opened an email or text, and saw a message like one of these?

"We suspect an unauthorized transaction on your account. To ensure that your account is not compromised, please click the link below and confirm your identity."

"During our regular verification of accounts, we couldn't verify your information. Please click here to update and verify your information."

Our records indicate that your account was overcharged. You must call us within 7 days to receive your refund.

Think Scam! The senders are phishing

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for your information so they can use it to commit fraud.

Do not reply to any email, text or pop up message that asks for your personal or financial information, even to tell them to stop. Dont click on any links within them either even if it looks real. Legitimate businesses will never ask you to send sensitive information in an email.

Action Steps You can take steps to avoid a phishing attack:

Use trusted security software and set it to update automatically.

Don't email personal or financial information. Email is not a secure

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method of transmitting personal information.

Only provide personal or financial information through an organization's website if you typed in the web address yourself and you see signals that the site is secure, like a URL that begins https (the "s" stands for secure). Unfortunately, no indicator is foolproof; some phishers have forged security icons.

Review credit card and bank account statements as soon as you receive them to check for unauthorized charges.

You can report fraud and cyber crimes to the police see details here: http://www.actionfraud.police.uk

Phishing: Dont take the bait! When Internet fraudsters impersonate a business to trick you into giving out your personal information its called phishing. The email or text can look quite real, but just by being aware of this scam you can easily avoid it.

If you are concerned about the legitimacy of a message from your bank or other business, contact them using the phone number on your card or paper statement. Do not use the contact details provided in the message itself or any links the message contains.

SCNI Digital News October 2015

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1. Timeline

Before you begin searching for friends, its important to complete your Timeline (aka your personal profile), which includes everything from uploading a profile picture and a cover photo to outlining your employment history to determining your relationship status (all of this is optional) Its called a timeline because you can include information, important milestones and memories spanning your entire life.

2. Friends

Once youve filled out a healthy portion of your Timeline, start searching for and adding friends. Trust us, you wont be at a loss. Chances are, many of your co-workers, family members, classmates and neighbours are already on the network. Search for them in the search box that appears on the top of the site. Youll find that Facebook will start suggesting People You May Know as well based on the people you add.

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3. News Feed

Finding and adding friends on Facebook is the main function of the site. It helps you to stay up to date on your friends latest news, thoughts, activities and whereabouts. Once youve logged into Facebook, the first thing you'll see is the News Feed. There youll view friends status updates, new photos, links to articles, etc. You can also look for and Friend or Like various businesses and organisations.

4. The Status Update

A status update is anything important to you at a particular moment in time that you deem shareable with Facebook friends. Through a status update, you can communicate your present activity or whereabouts, this will then appear on your Timeline and is can be seen by all your Facebook friends. You can include a photo or a video in your status or post as it can be called. You can even tag other people so they will be sure to see it!

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5. Like and Comment

One of the most powerful tools on Facebook, the like button not only communicates your support of activities, brands, articles and products to fellow users. The like button lives on nearly every piece of Facebook content: status updates, photos, comments, brands timelines, apps and even ads. When you like an Ad or Page you will then see that products related to this will then appear on your newsfeed. A perennial favourite is liking travel companies - you will then see daily updates of holiday offers for all those interested in a bit of R&R. Of course, we hope youll like SCNIs Facebook page first!

Next try commenting on something one of your friends has posted. Now youre pro! Enjoy your new addiction J

Top 5 Facebook Tips

Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with friends and family. You can share photos, videos, even links to other web pages or interesting articles you have seen online. Youll also get to see what all of your friends are sharing and liking as well. It can be a lot to take in when you first get started though, so follow these 5 suggestions to help you get started.

For more in-depth information on Facebook and its settings please request a Facebook User Guide from Supporting Communities NI.

SCNI Digital News October 2015

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Meet Anna and Mina: Learning together with Breezie Anna and Mina are friends who live at Clanmils Gloonan House in Ahoghill just outside of Ballymena. They both started learning about the Internet as part of SCNIs Bridging the Digital Divide Project about six months ago.

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What made you want to come along to learn about computers and the Internet?

Mina: I had had used computers at work, but its 7 years since I retired. I thought Id like to spruce up my knowledge. Anna: Its very different from work though, I think this is easier to learn if you never used a computer before. I retired 13 years ago so I havent done anything like this before. I wanted to see what I could learn.

What are some of your favourite things to do online now?

Mina: I like to Google and look up information on all sorts of things. I look up recipes and play lots of games online. I downloaded apps to play word searches, jigsaws and crosswords. Anna: I enjoy looking things up and watching programmes Ive missed. I also like to see whos on Facebook.

Why is it important to have support when you are first learning to get online?

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Anna: I think a small group is better for learning; I like to get one to one help and be able to ask questions when I think of them. And I can look at Mina and see what shes at if I get stuck! Mina: I dont always have the answers! But we get somewhere!

Would you recommend learning to go online to your friends?

Mina: Yes I would. I think its important nowadays! Anna: And it will get more important in the future.

You can hear more from the Gloonan House group in a video they made about their learning experience.

Check out their video and other fun stuff by searching for Bridging the Digital Divide NI on Facebook.

For more info on this or our other Digital Inclusion projects, contact Supporting Communities NI on 02825645676 or info@supportingcommunitiesni.org.