Computers are complex devices that can cause excitement and frustration.  This site is about increasing the excitement factor and making the use of a computer easier and understandable.  For most home users, communicating with family and friends is one of the primary reasons for having a computer in your home.  My goal is to provide detailed information about computers in plain, easy to understand English.   

Two things every computer user needs to understand is that computers need regular maintenance and you must backup your data.  My wife watches “Granny TV” everyday. Granny TV is her screen saver of our grandchildren and family.  I have backed up her pictures to DVDs and remotely.  That’s right: there are two copies of her priceless pictures.   Early in my computer career I learned of the importance of backing up data.  I kept an extra copy of a work database at home.  My computer crashed and the backup disks on my desk were also damaged.  The extra copy of the data at home saved my job.  

The more we use our computers, the slower they get.  After about a year, most users can sense that the computer is getting slower.  After about two years without regular maintenance it has gotten very slow.  When you first brought your computer home you made coffee and turned your computer on and got busy.  Now, after a couple of years of use, you now turn the computer on and go make coffee, hoping the computer will be ready to go when you get back.

To start understanding you computer click on Plain English Blog above, or if you have a question click on Question & Comments.