A Few Things that Might Make Technology Work Better for You

YOUR MOUSE (Input device in Geek Speak!)
Do you like to use the trackpad on your computer? What about your mouse? I have a few clients with arthritis who have trouble using a regular mouse. Another option is a trackball. There are several different kinds, but like a mouse they just plug into your computer with a USB connection. The MX Ergo from Logitech is a trackball that allows you to set the angle that you use it from. It is on the expensive side for a mouse, about $100. You can get a trackball mouse for much less than that and there are plenty of other choices. 


YOUR DESK
much research lately is showing what a difference moving makes. Sitting is not the best posture for having a healthy body. Some of us spend way too much time sitting. A standing desk is one possible solution. There are a number of desks that convert from a sitting desk to a standing desk. You can work either sitting down or standing up. The WorkFit – T is one that will allow you to work from from a standing position.

Another one I have recently seen can be used standing or sitting. It can be placed on top of an existing desk or table and is designed to easily adjust up or down.







YOUR OWN SERVER
You have heard of "the cloud" and wondered how safe all of your data is out there somewhere. Why not have your own server and save all of your own stuff? Western Digital MyCloud will allow you to store photos, videos, and files from all of your devices including your smartphone then access them from anywhere using the MyCloud mobile app. The MyCloud comes in a variety of models with up to 16TB of storage. The MyCloud Home Duo system saves everything on two different disks for true redundancy. Prices on the MyCloud products begin at just about $160 for 2TB for all the way up to 16TB for $700.





YOUR OWN INTERNET BASED PHONE SYSTEM
VOIP, for Voice Over IP (Internet Protocol) is a system using the internet for voice communication (like phone calls). If you have phone service from your cable company that’s what you’re getting. But you’re probably paying about $40 a month for the service. Ooma is a VOIP service that you can use (like Skype) on your computer to connect with family and friends. What was new to me is that you can buy the gear from Ooma. With the Ooma home system, you buy the Telo base (about $100) and as many HD2 handsets as you need (about $60 apiece), then pay only taxes and fees every month, just under $4.00. 

Making Sense of Emoji's and Twitter

EMOJIPEDIA 

Emoji's are those cute little icons that show up especially in text messages. There are more and more of them and so sometimes it is hard to know what they really mean. They are supposed to make electronic communication more human, but sometimes they can be confusing. 

For those of us not born in the age of emojis there is the Emojipedia! There is an agency the "Unicode Consortium" that decides which images can be made into emojis. Each company (Apple, Google, Microsoft, Messanger (Facebook), HTC, etc... designs emoji's that correspond to a certain code. So when you send a message with an emoji the person at the other end sees the emoji that relates to that code. Here are a few pictures for "person taking a bath" 
https://emojipedia.org/ 

TWITTER ABBREVIATION GUIDE 

Maybe you have decided to come into the modern age and try out Twitter. It has become more famous since our president has been communicating with it. There are probably a few things that you should know in order to feel more comfortable. 

1. You CAN send a message directly to someone else. Let's say that you read something that makes you want to respond, but you do NOT want to respond to the whole world. You can type DM and then the twitter handle of the person you want to send directly to and it will go as a direct message. 
2. Hashtags are important ways to organize messages so that you can find and share what is being said on a certain topic. For example right now on twitter #Auburn is trending, which means that it is the most popular hashtag at the moment. If I put #Auburn into the search box on the top right of my screen I can see what is happening RIGHT NOW at the football game (or at least what people are saying about it). Anyone can make up a hashtag and put it at the end of their post. If other people decide to use the same hashtag your posts will all come up when someone searches. 
3. The @ sign with a word is right next to each post. If you roll your mouse over it you will see the Twitter account of a person. If you put @ and a handle on your post it can lead other readers to their account and they will be notified in email that you have tweeted about them. 4. People use all kinds of shortened words in order to fit what they want to say into the 140 (and now some people have 280 characters) characters of a post. I often do not know what the short codes mean, so it is great to have this resource! 

https://www.teachthought.com/technology/twitter-abbreviation-guide-make-sense-crazy-talk/

Using LinkedIn

USING LINKEDIN The main benefits from LinkedIn come when you are looking for a job or to hire an employee. There are also benefits related to connecting with other professionals in your area of interest. The following are some of them. Of course, the benefits increase a great deal when you have a paid subscription rather than using it for free. Open Profile - People who have paid for Linked In have an option of setting their profile to open so that anyone can contact them. If you have a free account you can only contact people you have connected to. This is for a paid subscription only. Request an Introduction to someone who is on a 2nd degree connection.  When you have a LinkedIn account you are networked to people directly and they are linked to others directly. You can communicate with the person you are connected to who is directly connected to their contacts. One example of this is being aware of who your contacts are connected to so that you can find someone inside a company you want to apply to. Check in on your network updates - Like Facebook, the more that you use it  and show that you Like, Comment and Share your network will become more familiar with you. Be identifiable - Make sure that you have filled in all of the options in the Settings To do this click on your picture (or thumbnail) in the top right. Choose Privacy & Settings and click Select what others see when you’ve viewed their profile. Make sure you check off the “Your name and headline (Recommended)” option. This allows you to take advantage of the next feature on our list.   Check out who has viewed your profile - There is more information on this available if you have a paid account. You can increase the number of people who view your profile by doing a few things.  normalize your title - look to see what others are titled in positions like yours and make yours match add keywords to your professional tag line - That way if someone searches for a term they will be more likely to find you. improve your summary - Make sure it includes lots of keywords that people can search for. If it is long break it down to shorter paragraphs for readability. expand your skills entry - Things change as you get more experience. It is good to take a look at the skills that are listed for you and make it more accurate. syndicate blog posts - If you are writing a blog post for somewhere else copy and paste it into LinkedIn also so that it will reach a larger audience. add your LinkedIn account to your email signature - This is usually in settings in your email program. Find new connections - This is one of the things that LinkedIn promotes . You can automatically add connections from your email account with Add Connections, Connect with other Alumni with Find Alumni. Keep in touch shows you when your connections have changed jobs, have birthdays, or just haven’t been in contact for a while. You can ask for connections to people you are interested in or who are in the same (or similar) industries even if you don't actually know them.  Use LinkedIn groups - There are over 13,000 groups listed. Become host of a group to show off your leadership qualities or just join a group to meet likeminded professionals. Share resources with this group and host industry-centric communications. Get a sense of what people are thinking about. Groups also allow you to connect with others in the group that are not your primary connections.  Advanced Search options - You  can search to find out if you are connected to anyone from a certain company or from a certain location Leverage mentions in your status updates - Use the @ symbol in front of someone’s name or company name in order to tag them when you post or share their post. They will get alerted when you mention them. They will be appreciative and maybe return the favor. Endorse people - Endorse people you have worked with that have done a good job. This makes them look good and also cements your relationship to them. As I write this I realize how skeptical I am about LinkedIn. I would love to hear stories of people who have used LinkedIn successfully. I often get requests for connections from people who are not in my industry and not even in my city or area. I do not accept them as connections, but I guess a person could collect people to add to their network so that it looks like they really connect to lots of people when they don't. Also, I have been endorsed for qualities by people who never experienced my skill in that area. I assume that they just wanted to be nice and so clicked Endorse when LinkedIn suggested it. If that is happening lots (and I assume it is) I don't think that Endorsing can be very accurate. I guess that if a person takes these things into account the connections that one makes with LinkedIn can be very valuable. The information here is from HubSpot. I believe that it is a PR firm that promotes LinkedIn as well as other companies. https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/23454/The-Ultimate-Cheat-Sheet-for-Mastering-LinkedIn.aspx

How can I control the Data on my Phone

Month after month I keep getting this message from ATT:

"75% of your 3072 MB shared data has been used. If all 3072 MB is used before this billing period ends 12/14/16 we'll add 1GB of shared data to your plan for $15...." It is so frustrating. I have already added to my data amount and 3 GB should be plenty.... at least I think so.

So, I did some searching to find out what might be causing my problem. Some of these things did not help me, but I found them at different places than the website says, so I am going to list them here.  They are from http://macworld.co.uk/how-to/iphone

1. There is something in iPhone OS10 called Wi-Fi Assist which mobilizes the cellular network if your Wi-Fi is not working well. It is turned on by default, so it may be compensating when you don't want it to be. You can turn it off by going to SETTINGS>CELLULAR>Wi-Fi Assist and then turn it off. The article said that Wi-Fi Assist is under Mobile Data. but in my phone I found it under Cellular.
2. To see how much you are using and which programs are using the most go to SETTINGS>CELLULAR. As you scroll down you will see each of the programs on your phone and you can turn on or off the use of cellular with each one. You can also see how much each one uses by looking at the number underneath the app. At the bottom is a number that totals how much you have used over time. You can and should clear this every month so that you can see what is changing.
3. You can download an app that manages your data usage. I decided to try this and went to the app store. I searched for Data Management and found a free app that I am trying. It is called My Data Manager.
4. It is important to realize that all of your apps that are allowed to use Cellular Data are checking for updates and updating in the background when you may have no idea that the Cellular Data is being used.
5. You can totally disable the use of Cellular Data and if it is near the end of the month and your data is running out you may want to do that temporarily so that you don't run over! This will turn off email, web browsing and notifications.
6. You can change your settings in Facebook so that video does not automatically stream unless you are in wi-fi. 
7. Stop iCloud Drive from using cellular data. Go to SETTINGS>iCLOUD>iCLOUD Drive and turn off Use
   
   Cellular Data. 
8. Check under SETTINGS>iTUNES AND APP Stores to make sure that Use Cellular Data is turned off.
9. Make sure that you have turned off Data Roaming. This will not make any difference in the US, but will not allow you to make calls in other countries.

Basically, I learned to be more conscious of when I am using Wi-Fi and when I am using Cellular data. Wi-Fi is a service that you contract for at home and many businesses and coffee shops contract and provide for you. You almost always have to put in a password to access Wi-Fi. Cellular Data is what come from the Cell Phone towers and YOU are paying for it when you pay your cell phone bill. That is why your bill can get crazy!  

So, I am going to do my best to use the Cell Phone Towers for phone calls and occasionally for driving directions and do as much as I can with Wi-Fi.

REMEMBER:  Public Wi-Fi is not a secure place to do anything private. If you are shopping or doing banking be sure to use your own protected home Wi-Fi. 

Merging Different Address Books

MERGING DIFFERENT ADDRESS BOOKS
This all started when a client asked me about the frustrating issue of having different Address Books in different email programs and how to make them sync. I told her I didn't know, but it was something that bothered me too, so I would try to figure it out.

STARTING
The first thing to do is to decide which address books/contact lists you have and figure out how many contacts are in each of them. When I started I had 5 places where addresses were kept:

Gmail contacts one - 2038
Gmail contacts two - 808
Mac address book - 2165
Outlook address book - 1968
iPhone contact list - 1635

To find out how many contacts were in each one of them I scrolled down to the very bottom of the list.
Outlook shows the total number of contacts right on the bottom left side of the screen
Mac Address Book shows the number at the very bottom
of all your contacts after you scroll down.

In Gmail Contacts you cannot find the number of contacts in the new version of the contact list. To find it go to the old version by clicking on MORE in the list on the left side of the screen and then look for Go to the Old Version. In the old version the total number of contacts is listed at the top.

Now decide which is the best list of contacts. You can spend some time cleaning up your one basic list. Here are some things that I did:

First I found duplicates and merged them or deleted the extra one. In my Mac address list this was the process:

• Highlight two or more address cards that you want to merge. 
• choose CARD (Mac uses a concept of Address Cards) from the top menu
• Then choose Merge and Sync  selected cards (sync means that it will not repeat information that is the same).

and also some that needed to be deleted 

• highlight the one that needs to be deleted
• Click on the EDIT menu at the top of the screen
• Choose Delete Card

ONE OPTION
Once you have a cleaned up list that you are happy with you can delete the contacts from the other lists, EXPORT the good list and IMPORT it into the programs you want to have the same.

Before you do any of this It is important to make sure you have a backup of your address lists just in case you need to go back to them. You can use the EXPORT process described below to create a backup of your email addresses.

If you use iCloud to sync your computer and phone you will want to disable it before you do this. You are doing some manual changes that you do not want replaced by automatic backing up.

Here is the process:

1. In the program that has the clean list choose FILE>EXPORT. You will then be given a choice of how to export the file. Choose to export it as a comma delimited file (CSV) or from a Mac address book as a vcard file. This is a file that can be opened and used by other programs. Do not choose to export as a .pdf A .pdf is meant to create a list that you can print. It will not work as a file to import into another program.
2. You also have to choose where to save the file that you are exporting. I usually save it on my desktop since it is a temporary file and I will need to find it right away. 
3. Go to the program you want to import the addresses into. Usually you will find FILE>IMPORT, but you may need to search a little bit or even try to drag and drop the .csv file onto the addresses list. With Outlook I was able to drag and drop the vcard file I created on the desktop.

Once you have done this with your Mac you can turn iCloud back on. This should sync the new address book with the one on your phone. See the next section for information on syncing. You will want to make sure that your lists are syncing so that any changes you make on one will show up on the others.

A SECOND OPTION
Maybe you do not want to take the time to clean up one of your lists and replace all of the lists with the same list. That is OK. You can still make sure that all of your lists are setup for syncing.

If you are just using Apple products you can make sure that all of your devices are setup to sync with iCloud. It is fun to make sure it is all set up and then to add a new address onto your computer and check to see that it has shown up on your phone!

If you use different types of hardware like a PC, an Android Phone, etc... you will have to look in your email program for the sync option and how to set it up.

If you use Webmail - Gmail is a good example of an email program you access from the web - it will not matter what type of computer or phone you are using.

Strangely enough Gmail does not have a way of syncing addresses between two different gmail accounts! There are software options for that. I am listing some below.

KyLook.com - See the chart on this page to learn about the free version of this software as compared to the paid version.

Gmail Shared Contacts - This one has a free trial, but after that you need to pay something. It is not a lot.

CONCLUSION-A THIRD OPTION
Now, after many hours of working on this, I have lots of thoughts. The main one is that it takes much less time to type an address than it does to try to clean up lists and make everything sync. I am sure that with over a thousand email addresses there are many on my list that are obsolete. I looked it up and you can have 25,000 addresses in your contact list. I don't think there is a danger of me surpassing my limit.

Email programs are designed to learn addresses and add them to the Contacts List when you send a message. If you mainly write the same people you will eventually have all of them in there.

How to do a Screenshot in PC or Mac or iPhone

ON A PC
On a PC or Windows Computer often there is a key at the top of the keyboard that says Print Scrn. When you press that button it will make a copy of your desktop that you can paste into a document. Once it is pasted onto a page you can click on it so that it has handles on the corners, resize it or find CROP in the Picture Format tools and cut out what you are not interested in showing.

You can also Right Click on the screen shot that you have pasted and choose "save as picture" and it will become a picture file rather than a temporary copy.

Another way (and I think a better way!) to do a screen shot is to use a program that comes with your computer called SnipIt. When you see something that you want to do a screen shot of you can go to the Start Menu>All Programs and look for Snip It. This tool will give allow you to draw around the part of the window that you want to snip and then save it as an image. For a newsletter like this I need to have images that I can insert rather than paste, so I use Snip It or something like it on the Mac all of the time.

ON A MAC
Screenshots on a mac are created by pressing a combination of keys on the keyboard. If you want to take a picture of the whole screen it is Command-Shift-3. You will hear a sound like a camera clicking and the screen shot will appear on your desktop. It will be called Screen Shot with the date and time it was done.

If you want a Screenshot of just a part of your screen click Command-Shift-4 and a skinny plus sign will appear. Draw a rectangle around what you want a picture. It will appear on your desktop with the name Screen Shot with the date and time it was done.

One more cool trick is to click Command-Shift-4 and then Spacebar.  What that does is turns the cross hair into a camera. Whatever window the camera is on top of is highlighted and can be made into a picture.

The website below has a video showing these things as well as a few more cool tips!
http://www.macworld.com/article/1164123/software-utilities/mac-os-x-screenshot-secrets.html

ON AN IPAD OR IPHONE
It is easy to take a screenshot of what is on your phone and it works the same on your iPad. In order to take a screenshot of what is on your iPhone click both the on/off button on the top right and the Home button at the same time. The home button is the circular button on the bottom that you use to get back to the main screen. If you do it right the picture will fade and then come back. When it comes back you will have a copy of the screen in your camera gallery. You can see the picture that I took of my new favorite game Monument Valley.

Tips for Switching from PC to Mac

If you are used to using a PC and switch to a Mac there are certain things that you will miss. The Mac can do everything that a PC does, but sometimes there are different ways to make them happen.

• How to right click on a Mac

Macs will respond to a right button if the mouse you use has a right button. If you do not have a mouse with a right button there are two ways to right click. The first is to hold down "control" when you click. The second is to set up your trackpad for secondary clicking. You can do this by going to the System Preferences (black apple at top left and then System Preferences), finding the Trackpad controls and choosing that tapping with two fingers equals a secondary click

• How to sleep, restart and shutdown

Always go to the black apple at the top left in order to sleep, restart or logout of your computer. You can also logout in order to switch users without turning off the computer. You should always shut down rather than turning it off with the on/off switch. This process allows the computer to close all of the programs that make it run in a way that does not cause any problems. 

• How to find a program you want to open on a Mac

There are several different ways to look for a program you want to open. For this article I just want to remind you of the Spotlight. It looks like a magnifying glass in the top right of your window. Type in here what you are looking for and you will find it!

• How to uninstall a program on a Mac

A Mac does not require you to uninstall software with a program like Add and RemovePrograms. You can just drag an app to the trash in order to delete it. Remember that anything with a bent arrow (like the programs on your desktop) are not programs. They are just pointers to the programs so you have to find the actual application in the applications folder and uninstall it from there. 

I like to use an app called AppCleaner. It will delete the app and look for any other files that are related to it and delete them as well. It is free and has worked well for me.

• How to close, maximize and minimize on a Mac.

On the Mac you have a Stoplight system on the left side of a window instead of on the right side. When you click the RED button to close an app the app closes, but the program stays open. To close the program you choose the name of the program and then slide down to Quit.

• How to control-alt-delete on a Mac

On a PC Control-Alt Delete is a way to force quit an application that is not responding or to force shutdown the whole computer if it is frozen. On a Mac the keys are Option-Command-Escape. When you press these keys a window appears allowing you to choose the app that you would like to force quit or to relaunch the Finder, which is like a force shutdown on the PC.

• How to find the control panel on a Mac

On a Mac The Control Panel is called System Preferences. You can find it under the black apple in the top left of the screen.



 

• How to set up multiple accounts on a Mac

When you turn your computer on you may want to have separate accounts for different users of the computer. This allows you to have your own document folder and set up (background picture, password to get in, etc...) This is especially helpful if you have children using your computer and you want them to have child friendly set up in the browser which will block some things and access to only certain software. Here is how to do this on a Mac. It can also be done on a PC, but I will leave that for another time.

1. Click on the Black Apple at the upper left side of the screen.
2. Choose System Preferences
3. Look for and click on Users and Groups
4. If the lock at the bottom left of the screen is closed you will have to put in the admin password and then it will unlock.
5. Click on the plus sign at the bottom of the list of users and a new user will appear.
6. You can give the account a name, a folder name that can be the same or different than the account name, set up parental controls (or not), and put in a password. The password is required, but there is no requirement of length, capitals, numbers or symbols.
7. Before the account is set up it asks you if you want your computer to Automatically open in the admin account or open so that either account will have to log in. If you choose to have the admin account log in automatically you will have to log out before the other account logs in.
8. The account will be set up and you will have a chance to change the settings including to put on parental controls if you forgot to do it earlier. You can even change the picture by rolling your mouse over it and clicking edit.

• How to move between open windows in the same program in a Mac.

Both Macs and PCs are created with the idea that you should be able to have several things open at the same time. Each program has different ways that you can show the windows so that they are horizontally or vertically oriented, but if you want to have several things open that take up the whole screen in order to switch between them look for the menu called "window" at the top. When you click on it the list of the windows open will show and you can switch from viewing one to the other.

• How to find out how much storage is left on your Mac

This is easy to do, but I always forget how!  If you click on the black apple at the top left of the screen and choose About this Mac you can find out anything you need to know about your computer (including the serial number!). At the top of this window are several choices. Click on Storage to find out how much storage memory your computer is using. It takes a little while for your computer to calculate the amount you are using, but right away you can see the total size of your storage. The picture it shows is like a thermometer showing how much each item takes up. You can roll your mouse over the ones that are too small to have words to find out what they are.

MAC OR PC?
People often ask me what I recommend: a Mac or a PC. My answer is evolving, but it basically stays the same. It depends....  Both platforms have their advantages and disadvantages. If you have limited funds you can find a much less expensive PC than a Mac. If you like to play high end video games often a PC is better than a Mac. If you like to be in control of your computer and put in chips to add capabilities and program so that it is more unique to you a PC is what you want.

On the other hand if you can spend a bit more, do not want to be in control and able to change things a lot, and if you just want it to work reliably a Mac might be better. They can both do way more than most people ask of them. Now it is pretty easy to move documents, pictures, etc.... from Mac to PC and back, so you do not have to stick with only one.


Tips from
http://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac/pc-users-guide-mac-how-do-things-3470332/

Slow Computer?

I have written about this before, but I thought I would revisit the issue here since I have come across some slow computers lately.These things may not solve your situation, but they are worth trying. I have put it in terms of questions to ask yourself and what you can do.

Do you have too many programs open at once or too many tabs open on your browser? 

I have seen browsers that are so full of tabs that they cannot even show them all at once. Many busy people open programs and forget to close them before going on to the next task.Even the stuff that you are not using is taking up some of the RAM or the memory that the computer uses to run things. The first thing to do is to try closing tabs and exiting programs so that you are only doing a few things and see if it makes a difference.

Is your hard drive full?  Here is how to check.

1. On a PC open the START Menu and look for Computer on the right side
2. Click on computer and you will see a thermometer-like line which shows how much space is used and how much is free.
3. On a Mac click on the black apple at the top left of the screen.
4. Choose About this Mac
5. The window opens with Overview usually.
6. Click on Storage and you will see a similar "thermometer".

When did you last empty your downloads folder and your trash? 

Your downloads folder is usually full of things like attachments that people have sent you or installation programs for programs you have downloaded. Most of the files in there are also saved somewhere else on your computer.  Do you ever even look at your downloads folder? Most likely there is nothing in the Downloads folder that you need. To be sure you can trash it all. It will stay in the trash and be unavailable to your computer. If you have no problems nothing was necessary. The next step is to empty the trash. When you do that it should make a difference in the storage memory of your computer. Remember: even though you have put something into the trash it still takes up space on your computer until you empty the trash.
Have you uninstalled all of the unused programs on your computer?

Each program on your computer takes up space. My rule is that I NEVER uninstall something if I don't know what it is. Computers often have programs on them that help them to run. I would hate for you to delete something that would cause trouble later. However, people often have programs on their computers that they never use and maybe even were installed before they bought the computer. You do not have to leave these ones on.

1. You can uninstall them on a PC by going to Control panel and searching for uninstall. It will take you to a list of what is ON your computer and then you can uninstall what you do not use.
2. On a Mac I use a small program called App Cleaner that was free to download. All I need to do is to open App Cleaner and drag the icon of the program I want to remove on top of the program. It will find all of the other files that relate to this program and I will have a choice to delete all of them or to pick and choose what I want to keep.

Have you deleted your "temp" files?

These are files that are created by your browser (IE, Chrome, Safari) when you go to a website. It is similar to packaging when you buy a TV. You want to keep the TV, but you throw away the packaging. Anything that is a temp file can be deleted without causing any problem.

1. On a PC open "My Computer", select your main drive (C), click the "Windows" folder then open the folder inside that called "Temp".
2. Use your mouse to right-click on the folder, and in the "View" options, choose "Details". Once this is done, select all the files that are older than the current date and press the delete key. Then go to the Recycle Bin on your desktop and empty it.
3. Macs are designed to automatically run maintenance and clear temporary files. However, if you are having difficulties and need to do it manually you can
   • Launch the Terminal application. You can do this by clicking "Go" at the top of your screen, then scrolling to "Utilities." Alternately, you can click "Applications" on the left sidebar of your Finder window, then double-click on "Utilities" from there.
   • Type "open /tmp" in Terminal (without quotation marks).
   • Press the "Enter" key. The Finder window should now navigate to the appropriate folder.

Have you defragmented your disk?

1. To do this on a PC go to "My Computer", right-click on the hard drive and select "Properties". Under the "Tools" tab there should be an option to "Defragment Now".
2. This is not necessary on a Mac. Here is a great article on things that you can do for a slow Mac. It involves downloading specific software, so I have not included it in this article.

https://www.howtogeek.com/184091/5-ways-to-free-up-disk-space-on-a-mac/

Have you done a Disk Clean Up?

1. On a PC click "Start" then go to All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup
2. On a Mac see the link above.

Do you have unnecessary programs running in your System Tray?

1. On a PC your system tray is on the bottom right side of your toolbar and shows what programs are running in the background while you use your computer. For example, one that you see there should be your virus protection, which you want to see. You also see indication of any flash drives that you might be using. However, there are many things that could be running that you do not need.
2. To stop the ones you do not need from running in the background you can right click their icon and close them.

What programs automatically run when you startup your computer?

1. Many programs install something in a file called the "startup file" on your computer so that they can open more quickly when you want to use them. 
2. On a PC to get these out of your Startup file click Ctrl-Alt-Delete to open the Task Manager. When it is open click on the Startup tab.
3. If there are any programs listed that you do not want to open automatically when you start your computer you can click to highlight them and then press "Disable" at the bottom right of the window.
4. A Mac calls these things the Login items. To see what your login items are go to the black apple in the top left and then choose System Preferences
5. Then choose Users and in that window click on Login Items. There should be a list in that window and to choose something that you do not want to be in your login items highlight it and click the minus sign at the bottom.

Well, I think that is enough for today!  I hope it has given you some things to try and maybe speeded up your computer. If these things do not work you will definitely need to find a Geek and ask for help. They might tell you that a good solution is to buy a new computer, but you are in charge of whether to do that or not!