CAN YOU SEND CELL PHONE TEXT MESSAGE FROM YOUR COMPUTER?

Absolutely – many of us don’t have “text” ability on our cell phones or if we do, we don’t know how to text..

But you can send a text message to anyone who uses “texting” as long as you have their cell phone number. There are several websites – all are free – that offer us the ability to send family and friends text messages to their phones. Here is how they work...

• You type in the persons cell phone number
• Now type in your email address
• Now type in your message (actually it is a tweet because it has a 140 character limit and counts down as you type so you know what you have left) or they have lots of “quick messages to choose from so you don’t have to type”
• You're done, so now click on the SEND button..

The message appears as a text on their cell phone and if and when they respond, their message will come back to your email account…

Again these services are free – like email it’s their advertising that allows them to stay free. Most of these services also offer you the ability to set-up a free account, which will then confidentially save the cell phone numbers you send to and save your email address so you don’t have to type them in every time - very much like your address book in email..

So give it a try and start texting/tweeting – it’s all free!!!

http://www.textem.net/
http://www.txt2day.com/
http://www.text4free.net/
http://www.onlinetextmessage.com/

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH

I just want to thank each and every one of you for your generous loving thoughts and prayers for Bob's wife Jennifer, their 2 little boys Dylan & Justin and for me and my entire family these last few weeks since our son Bob's death Sept. 19th - you've touched our hearts and helped more than you'll ever know.

I know without a doubt that Bob is safe in God's arms and that God will give us all the strength to get thru this until we see him again...

God Bless you all and I will see you after the Thanksgiving holiday. Until then thank you and remember, although I'm in Arizona, I'm just an email away to answer any questions you may have...

Cherie Houston & family....

Changing Times on Your Blogs

We hope you are all enjoying working on your "blogs" This like anything else just requires practice..

One question being asked repeatedly is "why the date & time isn't accurate?" In some cases this means your blog won't post for a few hours because the time is off..
So be sure the time is accurate and indicates the Eastern Time Zone.
To make that change, you must be in your blog

• go to Customiza,
• go to Blog Settings,
• go to the Formatting Screen
• go to Time Zone on the list to the drop down choices
• Now be sure you have highlighted the correct time-zone selected
• Be sure you choose SAVE.

Remember, whenever you make any change at all - add a new post, add a gadget or change a setting, you must remember to use the SAVE button (typically in orange)

H1N1 Flu - Signs & Prevention Tips

H1N1/Swine flu symptoms are similar to those of other flu strains:
· Fever
· Cough
· Sore throat
· Body aches
· Headache
· Chills
· Fatigue
· Diarrhea
· Vomiting

Swine flu symptoms develop three to five days after you're exposed to the virus and continue for about eight days, starting one day before you get sick and continuing until you've recovered

Prevention - These measures may help prevent flu:
· Stay home if you're sick.
· Wash your hands thoroughly and frequently.
· Avoid contact.
· Reduce exposure within your household.
· Clean “shared” items often – phones, keyboard, mouse, etc
· Clean and or/replace toothbrushes

We have placed "disinfectant wipes" in all classrooms for your use - one wipe can easily be used on several keyboards & mice... Remember-if you are ill, please stay home - we can always bring you up to date on anything you missed....

For more "accurate" information - visit these websites to get the facts - not the hype!!!
www.cdc.gov

www.mayoclinic.com

INTERNET UPDATES

Just a few reminders to help you enjoy using the internet...

When you visit a website you enjoy, be sure to save it to your favorites, so you can access it again easily... How????

When the website is on the monitor:

• Go to the Menu bar, choose Favorites
• Top of the list that appears choose "add to favorites"
• Now "choose your folder" or create and name a new folder
• Now "be sure you are happy with the name" or type your own for the website
• Now click ADD and it's added to your list

Next time you're on the Internet, go to Favorites, find your folder and websites you've saved will be there without having to remember the web address - just left click on it and another connection to the Internet will open and connect you to the website....

A few other reminders....

• Use the F5 function key to REFRESH any page on your monitor
• Use the F11 function key to get a FULL SCREEN (and eliminate all the toolbars) to get them back, just tap the F11 key again...

HAPPY LABOR DAY EVERYONE...

Hard to believe it’s Labor Day already… Enjoy it – the weather is glorious…

Looking for an interesting website – we have something for everyone – enjoy puzzles, check out jigzone; great site to find just about anything is allmyfaves; want to watch what’s happening all over the world then check out camcentral; and for those wanting to relax and see some beautiful photos-check out calsgallery...Hope you’ll enjoy these websites…. If you have a favorite website – share it with us so we can share it with everyone……

www.jigzone.com

www.allmyfaves.com

www.camcentral.com

www.calsgallery.com

See you all this week... and as always - we hope you enjoy your classes and never hesitate to ask questions...

Help Your PC Last Longer

In response to the question we are asked most often - how to speed up your computer and extend your computer life... these are our tips...

1.) Install spyware and antivirus programs and be sure to keep them updated
Whether you use Norton, McAfee or AVG they are only successful if and when you keep them updated. And be sure you also have a program to eliminate spyware, such as Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware or Microsoft’s Windows Defender that detect & remove spyware from your pc...

2.) Run diagnostics. Most PCs have maintenance tools built into your system and on a schedule. To find them in Windows PCs, go to Start, Accessories and you'll find them in “System Tools”. Its recommended that at least once a month (or better yet once a week) we should:

a. back up

b. run disk defrag, and

c. run the disk cleanup tool

If your diagnostics are scheduled to run during the night and your computer is off, the diagnostics cannot be done, so you must do it the next time you turn your computer on, when it will remind you....

3.) Increase RAM. The quickest way to increase the performance of our computers is to add more memory - RAM (Random-access memory). All of us should have at least 2GB or worse case at least 1GB. This is especially important for those of us running software made in the last year or two.. you can get 1 GB for less than $50; 2 GB for under $100 - a very worthwhile investment..