Happy New Year…

A very Happy New Year to everyone at TR. With the first OnMouseClick column coming so soon after New Years, I am writing this column for everyone who made a resolution to simplify their accumulation of computer and web related information. But first, I want to pay tribute to a TR couple that is no longer with with us.

My friend and neighbor Carol Ettenhofer didn’t make it down to Travelers Rest this year. She passed away on Christmas Day during the drive down. Instead of spending the winter with us in Florida, she has joined her beloved husband, Arnold, who predeceased her only two years ago.

Eddie and I will miss Carol, as we have Arnold. They were the most upbeat, warm people you could ever hope to have as neighbors. And although they were both along in years, they were an inspiration to seniors everywhere in their embrace of modern technology—both were avid computer users. When Carol left TR last spring she was planning to buy a new laptop for this season. She was also thrilled with a digital photo frame that her children had given her last Christmas. With people like the Ettenhofer’s in mind, I plan to devote this season’s OnMouseClick columns to covering how computers, and other computer-like devices, can work to the benefit to those of us who live in confined spaces during the winter season, and on using technology to enhance our lifestyle as we grow older.

One thing that using computers has not done for us is make life less complicated. How many web sites do you visit regularly that ask for a username and password? If you do online banking, online management of medical insurance, online ordering of prescription drugs, to name a only a few, you need a username and password. To make life easy, you can use the same password for all of the sites you visit, but that is not a good idea (I must admit, that I have been guilty of this, and am trying hard to rectify it). Every password you use should be unique.

If you are running an up-to-date operating system, your computer will store and input passwords for you, but what if you get a new computer? Or, worse yet, have to reformat and reinstall everything on your hard drive? The simple answer is to keep all of the information you might need in one, easily accessible location. Instead of filing all of the information away in a filing cabinet, I suggest using a sturdy notebook to keep near your computer workstation.

I use a small (4 3/4” wide by 6 1/4” high) hard cover, spiral notebook divided the into sections with colored, write-on tabs. I have set-up sections for retirement information, medical insurance websites and passwords, computer serial numbers and warranties. There is also a section listing the serial numbers of all of our installed software, and finally a section with the username and passwords for website access. On the last page of the book I keep a list of telephone numbers and account numbers for the periodical that we start, stop, and change addresses for as we travel throughout the year. This notebook has saved time on numerous occasions. When I need a password or serial number I know exactly where to find it. I recently set-up a new computer (I have a new, MacBook Pro 17” — an amazing machine) and my “little black book” has proved invaluable.