Nashville, TN – Economic and Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber and Mark Bengel, Chief Information Officer for the State of Tennessee, today introduced Connected Tennessee’s Computers 4 Kids initiative. Computers 4 Kids is an innovative project designed to positively impact the future of disadvantaged children in Tennessee by distributing computers to children and families facing economic challenges, are in the foster care system or that struggle with behavioral disorders and other issues.

“I hope to see every Tennessean realize the benefits of technology, and Computers 4 Kids is a step towards that goal for some of our most important citizens,” said Governor Phil Bredesen. “These are children who might not otherwise have the tools they need to access the abundant educational, informational and research resources available on the Internet today.”

Connected Tennessee is a non-profit organization that develops and implements effective strategies for technology deployment, use and literacy in Tennessee. Connected Tennessee is coordinating the Computers 4 Kids project with the State of Tennessee, the Department of Children’s Services and the Department of Human Services. In the pilot phase of the project, computers were distributed to group homes throughout the state. The second phase, launched today, will award 1000 computers for each of the next three years to children across Tennessee meeting certain behavior and academic requirements.

“This program is innovative and right in step with Governor Bredesen’s focus on children and his goal to move Tennessee forward in technology,” said Commissioner Kisber.

“With the Computers 4 Kids program we are able to give some of these deserving kids their own computer to help them build the skills that will be critical to their future success as they enter either college or the work place,” said Mark Bengel. “This is not a hand out, but a hand up for kids who have met the criteria of need and proven their desire to help themselves by maintaining a strong grade point average in school.”

Computer skills and Internet access have become essential to gaining access to the abundant resources in the global economy, and almost half of low-income families in Tennessee cite a lack of a computer at home as the reason they are not accessing the Internet. Since research shows that 87 percent of all Internet users in the U.S. have gone online for everything from researching a scientific topic to comparing different scientific theories to compiling resources to complete a science assignment for school, the need to help Tennessee’s disadvantaged residents join the Information Age is apparent.

”Basically, at school these days you need a computer to get along,” said Computers 4 Kids recipient, Lotez Holloway. “It’s like your pencil now.”

Computers 4 Kids is based on Connected Nation’s No Child Left Offline (NCLO) initiative, the most comprehensive undertaking by any state to help underprivileged children overcome the obstacles associated with the digital divide. To date, NCLO has helped to place approximately 1,500 computers into the hands of underprivileged families and organizations that serve them.

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About Connected Tennessee: As a public-private partnership, Connected Tennessee partners with technology-minded businesses, government entities and universities to accelerate technology in the state. For more information about what Connected Tennessee is doing to accelerate technology in Tennessee’s communities, visit www.connectedtennessee.org.

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This week I am going to tell you about some more WinXP tweaks and shortcuts. I have mentioned some of these before but since it seems to be a popular subject so I thought I would do another article about it. Hope you get a lot of good use out of these tips. As always, these are only suggestions. If you feel uncomfortable applying these tweaks please don’t attempt them.  Let’s get started.

Create shortcut keys

It can be a serious annoyance to have to constantly resize or minimize windows you are using in order to locate a needed shortcut to a program. While the quicklaunch bar can alleviate this to some degree, it still provides an un-needed distraction from your work.

Fortunately Windows XP allows users to bind certain key combinations with shortcuts, allowing you to open the program you need with a simple keystroke. Once you adjust to this, you will find it makes working with multiple programs much smoother and less distracting.

To create a keyboard shortcut:

Select the folder or program icon that you wish to use. Create a shortcut for it by right clicking on the item and selecting ‘create shortcut’ from the menu. Place your newly created shortcut on the desktop by dragging or cut/pasting. Right click the shortcut and select ‘properties.’

Next, select the ’shortcut’ tab and enter the key combination you wish to use (XP will automatically edit the combination if it is not acceptable. Just entering ‘e’ for example, will get you an actual key combination of ctrl + alt + e). Click ‘ok.’

Now you can open the specified shortcut by entering the key combination you designated.

Create a custom shortcuts toolbar

Windows XP allows considerable flexibility in the selection of toolbars that you can add to your desktop to speed up your computing. Unfortunately, it also packs the conventional taskbar at the bottom of the screen so full of stuff that it can be hard to use at times. Even the quicklaunch bar, once you enable it, tends to be dwarfed by the various applications and icons that quickly fill the taskbar.

If you use a number of programs often and don’t wish to clutter your desktop with shortcuts, there is an easy way to pack your favourite shortcuts into a toolbar for quick access.

To do this create a folder on your c: drive called ‘programs’ or something similar, and copy all the shortcuts you require into this folder.

Right click on an empty area of the toolbar and choose ‘toolbars’ then ‘new toolbar.’

Navigate to the folder you created and select it.

You now have a new toolbar that contains all your favourite shortcuts. If you’d like to relocate it to another area of the desktop, right click an empty area of the taskbar and uncheck ‘lock toolbar.’ By clicking and dragging on the dotted area to the left of your new shortcut toolbar, you can move it to another area of the desktop.

Once it is situated where you want it, right click your new toolbar and select ‘always on top’ and auto-hide’ to keep it out of the way until needed.

 Using ALT+TAB to switch between applications

 One of the most useful keyboard shortcuts built into all version of Windows is the ALT+TAB combination. Pressing and holding the ALT button while tapping the TAB button brings up a menu box with icons for all your open programs. By tapping the TAB button you can scroll through these icons.

When you get the one you want, release the keys and that program will be restored as the active window. This is especially handy when using full-screen programs like most games, as the ALT+TAB combination can drop you back to the desktop when needed without (generally) halting your game.

 Add the address taskbar to desktop

 Here’s an interesting little tip to speed up your use of the Internet. You can actually get the Internet Explorer address bar to be a taskbar item, hidden away on your screen until needed. This makes launching a web page without disrupting your workflow considerably easier. As an added bonus, you can also use this feature to perform the same operations you would do with the ‘Run…’ application from the start menu, like launching the command prompt with ‘cmd.’

To place the address bar on your desktop:

Right click on the taskbar, select ‘toolbars’ and place a checkmark next to ‘address.’

The address bar will appear on your taskbar. Now right click the taskbar again and remove the checkmark from ‘lock taskbar.’

Select the dotted area immediately to the left of the ‘address’ toolbar you just added.

Drag this to the top of the screen. The address toolbar will appear across the top of the screen. Now right click the toolbar and select ‘auto-hide’ and ‘always on top.’ The address toolbar will now pop up whenever you move your mouse to the top of the screen.

It is not my intent to scare anyone with my column but some things need to be discussed on a regular basis whether it is scary or not. With the recent publicity of some online crimes, I thought it was time to shed some light on online safety for children. Protecting your children’s privacy is perhaps the most important reason in the world to be familiar with the steps necessary to prevent problems with privacy invasion. Children are not necessarily targets of identity theft they are overwhelmingly susceptible to becoming targets of more insidious crimes which start with the perpetrator learning the identity of your child.

Understanding how chat rooms and email work can help parents teach children to behave safely online. While there are many programs and procedures you can use to track the activity of your children it is most important to educate them about the dangers of chatting online when you don’t know who they are talking to or who is reading what they say. Take similar precautions when your child has a cell phone or text messaging service.

Be Careful With Online Forums and Chat Rooms

The best way to insure your children are being careful online is to always supervise their activities while they are on a computer. If you can’t always be there to watch what they are doing then you need to ask yourself these questions.

Does your child understand that listing their real name, address, telephone number or information like the school they attend can be potentially dangerous if the wrong person decides to get in contact with them? Do they realize that although the forum or chat room is SUPPOSED to be for children there are possibly adults pretending to be children in order to take advantage of them?

While you do not want to unduly frighten your children it would be more terrifying if you found out that they had been in contact with a pedophile and they did not know how to tell you about it.

Give them rules. Here are some you may want to discuss with your children:

1) NEVER give out your name, address, telephone number or picture. NEVER agree to meet someone you met online without your parent’s approval.

2) REMEMBER you are speaking in a public area – other people may read what you write.

3) REFUSE to enter a private chat room. These rooms are closed off to the public and your child may be lured in by an adult trying to seduce them.

4) Encourage them to TELL you what goes on. Just as you would monitor who they spend time with after school or what TV programs they watch – you want them to feel comfortable telling you about their online friends.

5) LIMIT the amount of time they spend online. While talking with friends about sports, fashion or other interests may be fun it is not wholly productive for children to spend hours online chatting. It is also more likely that they will investigate sites or forums that are unsuitable for children. Curiosity may lure them in over their heads.

6) Have the computer in a PUBLIC area of the home. This will protect your children more than any software program. Check on them occasionally just to see what they are doing.

7) INFORM them about Spam and other email that looks suspicious. If they are not sure tell them to ask you before opening it.

Tell them never to engage in FLAMING. Flaming is an attack on another person who is posting. It is both emotional and uncontrolled – often due to the power of anonyminity that exists online. Children have been bullied by other children from school or elsewhere (called cyberbulling) and it can be devastating. Remind your child to show manners to others and be careful how they respond.

9) Check the HISTORY of their online surfing if you are concerned. It is good to let your child know that you will occasionally check this out as a protection for them.

10) Use a POP-UP BLOCKER. Sometimes windows open up that advertise pornography or other disturbing images. Make sure you use a pop-up blocking program to protect yourself and your family from this unwelcome exposure.

Even with the previous suggestions you can further secure your child’s online experience by looking for organizations like WiredKids.org – these teams provide safe chat supervision to children and teens at WiredKidz.org and WiredTeens.org.

Not only are these areas supervised (although following the above rules is still necessary) but they teach young ones about safe communication, how to use the Internet and other methods of communications responsibly. They also provide information on cyberbullying, cyberstalking, flaming and more. If your child has been a victim you can use their resources to find the information and support you need to fight back.

Reminder

With the age of advanced communications and technology people can learn new things, meet others and connect in ways never before imagined. It is important to respect the need for diligence to ensure these experiences are positive and worthwhile so that you and your family can enjoy these conveniences without undue risk.

Regardless of if you are protecting your financial information, personal information or your child’s identity you need to understand how this information can be abused online, through text messaging and in the real world.

Educating yourself is the first step. Passing these rules onto your children will protect them and give you peace of mind.

Incorporating steps to protect yourself and your children is a way of respecting your privacy and theirs. While we cannot combat all crimes we CAN make ourselves and our children less likely targets by always showing respect for our personal information and understanding how new technologies, like the Internet, work.