Page 7 - April 2024 Newsletter

Some Smart, But Simple, Technology Tips

Technology can seem very complex and daunting, but there are
actually some very simple things you can do to make it work for
you. Here are a few tips that I’ve learnt (sometimes the hard way)
from over 30 years of having to work with technology of various
kinds.

1. Before buying any new technology, think about what you
need to do now but also what you might need to do in the
future

The first PC I ever bought had 128 kilobytes of memory. I could
have bought one with 256k but that cost a fair bit more. Within two
months I was regretting that decision. What I learnt was that it is
much better to spend a little more research time and/or money to
find a device you can “grow into” than have to replace an
inadequate device later. Save time and money by doing a bit of
forward planning.

2. Use Keyboard Shortcuts
It’s essential to learn some keyboard shortcuts! They can
drastically increase your productivity by reducing the time you
spend on common tasks. Most people know that, on a PC, you
can use Ctrl + C to copy material and Ctrl + V to paste it
somewhere else. But did you know that Ctrl + A selects all the
material on a screen/page? Or that Ctrl +Z undoes an action and
Ctrl+Y does it again? There is a long list of shortcuts like this on
this web page.

3. Use A Password Manager
I cannot stress this enough: Use a password manager! As a
human, you cannot create randomness, and you cannot
remember randomness. So, instead of trying to remember a lot of
different passwords, create one very strong password to protect
all of your other machine-generated passwords. The variety of
passwords will limit the impact of any one data breach.

7