August Computer Class Schedule

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August 2009 Computer Class Schedule

Preregistration is required for all classes.

All class times are 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Basic PC:

Requirements: No prior experience needed.

Monday, August 3rd

Saturday, August 29th

Basic Internet: Requirements: Experience using a PC and a mouse.

Tuesday, August 4th

Saturday, August 8th

Monday, August 31st

Keyboarding: Requirements: No prior experience necessary.

Monday, August 17th

Word Processing with Open Office Part I: Requirements: Experience using a PC and a mouse.

Saturday, August 1st

Monday, August 10th

Word Processing with Open Office Part II: Requirements: Word Processing with Open Office Part I and experience using a PC and a mouse.

Saturday, August 15th

Monday, August 24th

Presentations with Open Office: Requirements: Experience using a PC and a mouse.

Tuesday, August 25th

Spreadsheets with Open Office: Requirements: Experience using a PC and a mouse.

Tuesday, August 11th

iGoogle: Requirements: Experience using a PC and a mouse.  Internet experience is suggested.

Tuesday, August 18th

Digital Photography: Requirements: Basic PC skills. Must bring digital camera and all accessories including batteries.

Saturday, August 22nd

To register for a class or classes, please call 226-3799 or 226-3798. Space is limited. Registration will be handled on a first-come, first-served basis. If you register for a class and cannot attend, please call the Center as soon as possible. No one will be admitted after 10 minutes past the time the class is scheduled to start.

Alternatives to Microsoft Word

In recent days my computer as decided that it is time to shut down when I open up Microsoft Word or try to open up any kind of Word document. Until the problem is solved there are several remedies that I could use temporarily. First there are portable office suites that you can install on your flash drive. It isn’t Microsoft Word but they work basically the same way. One portable app is called Open Office. It is also available for download to a computers hard drive as well. Open Office is one alternative office suite that is most similar to Microsoft Word and it is compatible with Microsoft Word.

Another method of using office suites is to use online office suites like Google Docs or Zoho. Both of these office suites are free to use. You must first create an account. The downside to using online office suites is that there is not guarantee that the Internet service will always be available. Things happen and when things happen you lose power which means you lose your Internet connection. On the other hand, online apps are pretty much available at any Internet connected computer. You don’t need to download any special package in order to use it.

Microsoft Office Alternative

When purchasing both my desktop PC and laptop, I wasn’t given many options in regards to a word processing suite. If you wanted Microsoft Office there was an additional cost to have it added to the PC. With both my computers I was given Microsoft Works, which is basically a watered-down version of the Microsoft Office suite. To be honest with you, I am not that fond of Works. First of all, it doesn’t have all the features of Microsoft Office. Second, I don’t like the interface of Works. Third, sometimes it is not compatible to other programs.

Without going into debt, there are other alternatives to Microsoft Office and Microsoft Works. There are online programs such as Google Docs that is capable of handling most formats. There is also alternate office suites which can be downloaded to your computer at a very reasonable price…free! Open Office is one such example of free word processing. The multiplatform and multilingual office suite is free to download, use and distribute. For Open Office 2 the system requirements for a Windows-based system are as follows:

• Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000 (Service Pack 2 or higher), Windows XP, Windows 2003, Windows Vista (enhanced Vista integration from version 2.2)
• 128 Mbytes RAM
• At least 800 Mbytes available disk space for a default install (including a JRE) via download. After installation and deletion of temporary installation files, OpenOffice.org will use approximately 440 Mbytes disk space.
• 800 x 600 or higher resolution with at least 256 colours

Other system requirements can be found by going here.

This Microsoft Office alternative has basically the same features of Microsoft Office, just without the high price.

There are several components to Open Office. In some ways I believe that Open Office is a better program than its competition. Here are the components:

• Writer
• Calc
• Impress
• Draw
• Base
• Math

Each of these components can be examined further by visiting: http://www.openoffice.org/product/product.html.