The morning three things broke
Meet a morning where several things have gone wrong at once, sort out which of them is a fault, which belongs to somebody else, and which is an advertisement — and mend the one that is actually yours.
Everything in this course has been building to one habit: before you mend anything, find out whether it is yours to mend.
So here is a practice computer having a bad morning. Three things on it look broken. They are not the same kind of thing at all, and one of them is not a fault of any description. Nothing on the screen will tell you which is which, and there is no order they have to be done in.
Key points
- Find out whether a fault is yours before you spend an hour of your life on it.
- Get back something that has been deleted, without anybody else touching the machine.
- Tell an advertisement dressed as a warning from a warning.
What to remember
- That order is worth keeping: find out whether it is yours before you try to mend it. Whoever sells you broadband keeps a page saying whether they are having a bad morning, and the address for it is printed on your bill — which is why the bill is worth being able to find. Anything deleted on your own computer goes to the Recycle Bin and stays there until it is emptied, so Put back means exactly what it says. And a warning with a price at the bottom of it is an advertisement wearing a warning’s clothes — the thing worth reading on one of those is never the alarming part, it is the price.
- Honestly — how was that?
Try this
Find the most recent bill from whoever provides your broadband, and look for two things printed on it: their own web address, and their telephone number. Put that bill somewhere you could lay a hand on it in the dark. On the morning the internet goes, that piece of paper is worth more than any search.
Practice: The morning three things broke. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.