As stated on the preceeding page, I just got through a teaching/learning experience by giving a course on computer basics to a group of students here on Manitoulin through Cambrian College.
I have to admit that it was my first time at the front of a classroom other than years and years ago when Christian Brothers called me up to the front of the class for a demonstration of corporal punishment. It was rather refreshing not having to bend over and have a goaltenders hockey stick applied to my bottomside.

Clicking the above thumbnails will load a bigger picture.

• create a Hotmail account and use webmail with their browser to send e-mail, or
• use an e-mail client.

E-Mail Client: The WindowsXP operating system you have on your computer comes bundled with Outlook Express, the pared down e-mail client from Microsoft and cousin of Outlook - their main e-mail client. If your computer came with Microsoft Office loaded, you'll find Outlook is also on your 'puter. Now, as I stated in the course, I want to strongly suggest that you avoid using either of these e-mail clients and use Thunderbird instead. Thunderbird is a freeware application by Mozilla, a rival of Microsoft and as such is considered by many to be more secure as it is not subjected as much by virus writers as Microsoft applications are - they always pick on number 1, right! Download Thunderbird from Mozilla. Thunderbird Setup 2.0.0.6.exe is the name of the file you will be downloading and it is 6.4 megs (a long download for my dialup students). The current version is 2.0.0.6 so that file name will change as time goes by. Once you have finished the download there is something all my students were taught - run the file through your virus application to ensure you are not downloading a bogus file. You should do this with every file you download even files you download from trusted websites. If you are running the freeware anti-virus AVG, put out by Grisoft (29 megs) and a download manager like Free Dowload Mgr - this virus check can be set up to run automatically. A discussion of download managers will follow sometime in the near future. To install Thunderbird all you have to do is double-click on this setup.exe file and the install wizard will take over and guide you through with onscreen instructions. When installed, you will then have to set up the application so it is directed to your service provider. If you already had Outlook or Outlook Express set up then you can import these settings into Thunderbird. The graphic above demonstrates the import feature. If you wanted to import all three as listed, you would simply run this import three times ticking each selection. To Do This: In Thunderbird, go up to the top and click on Tools then Import. On the other hand, if this is your initial setup of an e-mail client you must do it manually. An example of this process is outlined in this online tutorial. As the information you must plug in is different with each service provider, you would be well to surf to your providers web page and secure the appropriate information. Vianet is one of a few possible providers on Manitoulin and their e-mail settings can be obtained here. If you are just setting up an account with Vianet, then you will need further settings as outlined here. (dialup number and DNS settings) To Do This: In Thunderbird, go up to the top and click on Tools then Account Settings. And in the case of Vianet, you would have to plug in mail.vianet.ca and smtp.vianet.ca in the appropriate tabs (Incoming Mail and SMTP which is the Outgoing Mail). Once these new settings are saved, I would suggest you close Thunderbird and then start it up again and you should be away to the races. Go up to the top and click on Get Mail - this will connect you to your provider's e-mail server and check to see if there is any mail sitting there for you. If there is something there, it will download from the server and put it in your Inbox. Have a look at the bottom of the window in the Status Bar and you'll see the activity that is going on between your computer and your provider. Important Note: For those of you that need a printout of these instructions to refer to as you go - My course students learned how to Copy 'n Paste. Simply select the material that you want to print and paste it into Notepad and then print it. Printing this whole web page may be a very long print after I start updating this page! Tweaking Thunderbird: Your e-mail client has a few folders that should concern you. Any mail that you send is saved in the Sent Folder. Everything you receive is housed in the Inbox folder and if you are a neat freak like me you'll want to keep that Inbox as clear as possible. I have friends that never clean up their Inbox and it is so long with mail I have no idea how they can cope with it. Some people read their mail then just delete it. I don't understand that! If I was to approach them a week later and ask them why they didn't respond to such and such e-mail they would have no way to go back and see if they even got the mail in the first place. I save all my mail by creating subfolders in the Inbox. I have everything seperated into categories - one for every web page client, one for every aquaintance, one for family with subfolders for each family member. To Do This: In Thunderbird highlight Inbox then go up top to File and click then go to New then go to Folder and a window opens where you would assign a subfolder Name then click OK and there will be a + sign beside Inbox indicating there is a subfolder. If you click the + sign it will open to reveal any subfolders you create. To move mail to these subfolders you can simply drag them or use the right-click option and use the Move To - this is particularly handy when you want to move more than one e-mail. You'd just highlight the ones you want to move and right-click on the highlighted group. Of course, you would be using the Ctrl key when selecting the mails.

Top of Page