Week 7 - Clear

After viewing the videos and reading the chapter, I am clear on the concept of utility programs. They are operating system programs that help manage, maintain and control computer resources. Some are built in and but you can also buy stand-alone utilities which can offer improvements to the ones included in the operating system. Utility programs help to keep your computer running at peak performance.

Some of the different utilities are: Disk storage, disk fragmentors, disk checkers, disk cleaners, disk space analyzers, disk partitions, back-up, disk compression, file managers, archive, system profilers, anti-virus, hex editors, data compression, cryptographic, launcher applications, registry cleaners, network utilities, CLI and GUI.

Project - Web 2.0

I know that I procrastinated but today I have spent the whole day trying to work with www.empressr.com and was not able to upload my presentation. I first worked in PowerPoint since the site said I would be able to upload it as if each slide was an image.
I was not able to figure it out.

Week 4 - Clear

After reading this chapter the differences in software became clear. Application software are programs that are designed to make us more productive and assist us with personal tasks.

In the my daily routine I am required to use many software applications. Without knowing it I touch on all four categories: business, graphics & media, home/personal/educational, and communications. In the business category, I am required to use Excel for spreadsheets and to work with Project to manage timeline for projects or assignments to be completed. When working on presentations and on our company directory in my previous job I was required to use many different software such as Powerpoint, Photoshop, and Illustrator. These all fall in the category of graphics & media. Daily we use our email and instant messaging to communicate through out the office and with outside vendors. And on a personal or educational basis, I use TurboTax and many others.

As I noted in a previous posting, I had not realized how much this class would add to my learning.

Week 5 - Muddy

Totally confused. I thought that I would read this chapter and have a better understanding on memory. This is not the case. Recently I have been having problems with my laptop and everyone keeps telling me that I need more memory and that this will add speed to it. So I diligently read the chapter and paid extra attention to the memory section.

I am clear on the memory size but when I got to memory type is when I became truly MUDDY.

RAM is volatile memory which means that when I turn off my computer I lose the contents. ROM on the other hand is nonvolatile and is permanent. This concept of volatile and losing the contents is murky for me. I don't understand why if I buy more RAM my computer will run quicker. Is it because RAM is the memory used to run the software on my computer and if I had more RAM this would allow the laptop to process the information at a higher speed? Totally dazed and confused!!

Searching online I see that its quite easy to purchase the RAM and actually they say its easy to install it. (I have my doubts about that!!! I think I will just have someone from our IT department do it for me. Note this is an example of why so many people agree with the title of my blog.) The site that I went to http://www.memorystock.com/ was very easy to use. I liked that I was able to pick my specific Dell and hopefully get the appropriate RAM for my computer. In the end I think that I will just ask one of the guys in IT take a look at it and let me know what to purchase; this going through the Internet and looking for something that baffles me is too complicated.

Week 1 - Clear

I think that many people would benefit from this section. The importance of netiquette in this age of communicating via email and text is great. It is difficult to gauge an person emotion or tone since you can not hear or see them. I think that the use of emoticons is helpful but I would only use them for more laxed communications. Obviously, I would not send our CFO a message with emoticons.

I currently work in FIU and part of my job is to deal with the HR issues of all departments that fall under the CFO. I do most of my work via email for many reasons. The most important is to be covered if anything happens. During these communications I need to be clear and concise. I need to convey my tone politely.

One of the rules is that a person should try to be courteous and respectful. I not sure if its my age or that I was brought up differently but this to me is just common knowledge and should be applied at all times.

It is very irritating to receive emails from other staff members either in all caps or all smalls. In general writing in all capital letters is considered SHOUTING and is very rude. (Go back to Golden Rule - always be polite and courteous). Another peeve is when they use exclamation points for EVERY sentence.

We should always remember that the words and content we write are a representation of ourselves and that what we post on the Internet is very public and can be seen by anyone including future employers, the government and even criminals.

Week 3 - Clear - "Types of Websites"

When I signed up for this class I didn't think I would need it. I have been in the workforce for over 12 years before I decided to return to UF to complete my education. But as I go through the material I find that there is so much to learn still.

As I search the Internet for information I need for class or for work I come up with Wiki and Blogs and was not totally sure what they were. This chapter describes 12 types of websites.

When you go into Wikipedia it states that a blog is a site usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentaries and descriptions of events. Before this class I don't think I had ever read a blog or paid much attention to them. I think my very first blog and the only one I had looked at in many years was one set up by a brother of a friend. My friend had had a serious accident that left her in a coma. The blog helped us all stay up to date with our friend's progress and to know the status of the case against the drunk driver that hit her. The one thing that I realize is that by having the blog the family was able to let us all know the status of things without having to call us or have us calling them to repeat the same information over and over.

It was also interesting to learn that the "wiki" websites allow users to modify or delete information. This brings me to the question of the accuracy of some the wiki sites.

Week 2- Clear "Data/Datum singular or plural"

Being bilingual I find the quirks of the English language funny. After reading the FAQ in the text book I went on to look into this irregularity. According to Common Errors in the English Language there are several words with Latin or Greek roots whose plural forms ending in "A" are often confused for singular ones. Data is the plural form of datum. Datum is so rare now that many confuse data as the singular form. As stated in the FAQ it is now common for us to use "data" for both the plural and singular form. Other examples of this oddity are criteria and media.

I wonder how many other words do we try to make plural and are already in thier plural form. ummmmmm!