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.

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