New Government Is Making Me Poorer - Pension Credit Stopped

I was on the phone yesterday to Works & Pension Office as my small or should I say minute Pension Credit was changed to Savings Credit as according to the government they deemed my £6.08 per week was far too much so now they have decided I can live just as well on 80 pence per week.

At last I might be able to lose some weight with the help of the coalition government, great fun.

At Last, I’m Online!

At last, I'm Online

My Internet ‘Hub’ came at last. My son came out to the house to plug everything in for me. There were no problems. The Internet came on within a couple of minutes. I turned on my new Acer Laptop and it detected the signal no problem. All I needed to do was enter the pass key in order to connect.

Then my son helped me to register with Tesco so I can do my online shopping. I’m looking forward to doing that. He also added a few other websites to my ‘favourites’ so I can return to them easily. They sites were Tesco, Asda and John Lewis.

I also downloaded Skype so I can chat to my family.

During all this, my son was beside me guiding me and telling me where to click and how to hold and use the mouse. I still need a bit of practice with it. My son said it was just like helping his kids with their homework. I had to laugh.

Once the serious stuff was over with he showed me Google maps and Street View where you can actually look at the outside of my brother’s house who lives hundred of miles away. Google maps is a lot of fun. In fact, it was a good day.

Tip: when filling in an online form field, such as username and password, you can press the Tab key to move from one field to the next instead of clicking in it with the mouse to activate it. Once a field is activated a blinking line shows up indicating it’s ready for you to input something.

New Acer Laptop But No BT Broadband

Well I had to return my Acer Aspire One Happy Netbook back to John Lewis because of it freezing up a few times. John Lewis checked it out and agreed that it had a fault and an exchange was offered. I decided to get a larger laptop instead of another net book but I wanted one with a webcam. This meant paying out a fare bit more that the netbook cost. I ended up with another Acer this time with a 15 inch screen and a DVD drive.

I still had 2 day to wait until my broadband was due to be installed.

(Pregnant pause)

2 Day later – no deliver. No Broadband. My son came to the house to put it in for me but the thing never came as I was told it would when I ordered it. And I have the printout to say it would be delivered and switched on, on the 4^th.

My son has internet on his phone and tried to track the delivery as per the order number on the print out but it could not find any details for the order. He then checked my Google email account and found a couple of new emails from BT. One had a number on it that we were able to track and found the delivery details. It was now due to be delivered later this month.

Very disappointed I phoned up BT and asked about my order and why the delivery date was put back almost a week later. The delay was due to some field in the original online order form that hadn’t been filled in because I didn’t have that information to hand.

There’s nothing more for me to do but wait a bit more and I’ll soon have my very own internet access.

Here’s hoping.

Jenny x

How Exciting is Masterchef: The Professionals

I love watching Masterchef. It's not a programme that I've taken to in the past but over the last couple of weeks I've been watching The Professionals and it's very exciting. I think so anyway, although I wouldn't eat half the stuff they cook.

The finalist’s dreams are to become top chefs and it's amazing how much dedication and effort they put into it not to mention how much it means to them.

I hope the girl wins! She’s good.

Not Such a Happy Acer Netbook After All

My son suggested that I write a post about how I’ve been getting on with my Acer Notebook over the last couple of days.

I’ve had it home with me, instead of here at my son’s who has Wi-Fi, so I’ve not been able to ‘connect to the web’.

The fist day I had it at my son’s house and was online, writing in this blog it froze twice and twice it needed ‘rebooted’ as my son calls it. I had to hold down the on/off button until it turned itself off. Then I turned it back on again.

So now this is my second attempt at writing this blog as again, it froze up. It only does it when I’m online it would seem. My son’s at a loss as to why this would happen but thinks it could be a software issue.

Tomorrow I’m taking it back to John Lewis where I bought it. As my son says, there’s no point in having a notebook, or netbook as described elsewhere if it crashes when on the net.

I’m sad to see it go but I think I’ll be going for something completely different and with a larger screen. But I still want one with a webcam built in. They are a fair bit dearer than what I’ve paid for my Acer Happy Netbook but I suppose that’s the way it goes.

I’ll let you know how I get on with the exchange and how John Lewis deal with the return.

Jenny x

No Lime Green but Lavender is just as nice

Went to John Lewis yesterday and could not get the Lime green Acer I wanted but I chose this nice Lavender one instead. Hopefully I will soon learn how to use it properly.

Jenny x

My New Acer Aspire One Happy Netbook in Lime Green

My son came to me yesterday and told me about the Acer Aspire One netbook. It has a webcam which can be used for Skype and other video calls. It smaller than my son's laptop which is what I'm using just now but that's OK. It does everything I need and I can use it anywhere in the house.

I'm just about to head out to John Lewis to pick one up. They have the latest range which is called the Acer Aspire One Happy Netbook.

I'm getting the Lime Green one.

The Acer Aspire One Happy Netbook

In a few days I'll get getting broadband put in too and then I'll be cooking with gas as they say. I'm quite excited about it and very much looking forward to doing more online.

Jenny x

Internet Shopping For The Winter Months

Winter is only a few days away. The very short days are only weeks away. The ice and snow is just around the corner. The worst part of all for an elderly lady like me is going out for messages in snowy, icy conditions especially if the council have not gritted the pavements. It can be very scary and I’m always worrying about falling. I hate the snow and ice as most pensioners probably do.

The benefit of having Internet at home is the ability to do your shopping online. I have not tried it yet. I am about to be introduced to it this week but I will save doing my shopping online and having my messages delivered for when the ground is poor under foot.

The biggest store to me that offers this service is Tesco, but Asdas and Sainsbury’s are not too far away either. I will register with Tesco within the next few days and will give it a trial run so I know what to expect for when I really need it.

Being stuck in the house or being afraid to go out to do some shopping during bad weather is awful, but having my shopping delivered to me knowing that I don’t need to go out if I don’t have to, especially if I know I have to walk in the snow and ice is a comfort.

Having family visit during bad weather to help out isn’t always possible but the next thing I’ll be learning about on my laptop is to use Skype with video call so I can keep in touch with family when I or they can’t get out to visit.

Jenny x

Using A Mouse For The First Time

One of the first things I needed to get use to was the mouse. To help me explain what the buttons on the mouse do I have found this video posted on YouTube. It's a few years old but it's still very helpful.
It explains the basics of the Left and Right mouse buttons, how to move and hold the mouse and what the wheel, if your mouse has one, does.



Enjoy

Jenny x

Welcome To Jenny's Internet For the Elderly Blog

Hi world.

I'm Jenny and I am just getting started with using the Internet at the grand old age of 75, and soon to be 76!

The first thing I would like to share with you just now is an article on Internet Safety for Senior Citizens.

The full article is below:

Internet Safety For Senior Citizens

Dishonest individuals scamming senior citizens out of their money appears to be happening more often than ever before. Seniors are targeted most often by criminals due to the fact that it can sometimes be easier to gain the trust of a senior trust and also due to the fact older, retired people are more likely to have some savings set aside and therefore become a more lucrative target. It can be helpful to keep some of the following tips in mind to help you or your loved ones who are older protected against scams and frauds, especially when shopping or working online.
Todays seniors say that staying in touch with family members and friends remains the main reason that they use the internet. According to recent research by the American Association of Retired Persons, seniors are the segment of the online community that is growing the most quickly. It is estimated that more than 27.5 million senior citizens are using the internet today. These numbers have risen significantly from about 10 years ago, when it was estimated that just over 10 million seniors were online. Increasingly, these seniors are putting their computers to use doing online shopping and banking, and people 55 and older are becoming quite a popular target for internet marketers. Unfortunately, some of those marketers are actually criminals who are using the internet to take money from unsuspecting victims. Because of the fact that the internet is relatively new, these scams continue to grow and develop.
While almost all age groups have their own distinct vulnerabilities and risks when making online transactions, seniors unfortunately seem to be at the greatest risks for internet phishing scams. Many scam artists are tailoring complex schemes specifically targeted to exploit internet users who are older. Many of the online scams will target seniors with nearly unbelievable deals on low-cost insurance and discount prescriptions. Scams will also often target older internet users with documents that seem genuine such as phony 'bank notices' and 'final warnings'.
Just like in the 'real world', you should take care when revealing your date of birth, social security number or credit card information over the internet. Search for web addresses on one of the major search engines instead of clicking links that you receive in e-mails. Then, use that address to contact the company and inquire about the message you received. Once you have verified that you are on a legitimate website, you can save that address in your broswer as a 'favorite'. You will then be able to return there again safely in the future.

Senior home safety begins with making yourself aware of today's numerous scams. If you would like to read more articles on how to keep senior citizens safe, please come and visit our website. Hope you found this article usful. Speak to you soon, Jenny x