The Live Wire



Press Release

It’s all geek to me


11 January 2007

One in two adults feel overwhelmed by new technology, according to Computing Which?*

Almost half said they feel weighed down by the amount of information to be taken into account when making large purchasing decisions such as buying a PC.

Despite the fact that 71 per cent** of households in the UK have a personal computer, many still appear to struggle with the associated jargon.

Computing Which? has always worked to simplify and clarify computer jargon and from January 2007 Computing Which? will carry the Crystal Mark, which shows that this clarity is recognised by the Plain English Campaign***.

Computing Which? aims to help make everyday computing simpler by explaining technical terms in plain English:

Technical term

Computing Which? ‘plain English’

Broadband

Fast internet access

Firewall

Technology that blocks unwanted data travelling between your computer and the internet

Phishing

A scam that attempts to trick you into giving away personal information. For example, you receive an email with a link to a spoof website, such as a bank, that looks genuine. The email asks you to enter your details into the site

Router

Technology that enables several computers to share internet access and the same files

Ram

Short for Random Access Memory, this is your computer’s short-term memory.The more your computer has, the quicker it will work and the more programs you can run at once

Spam

Junk mail sent to you by email

USB

Short for Universal Serial Bus. A technology commonly used for connecting devices, such as a mouse or printer, to your computer

Virus

A malicious computer program that gets onto your computer and causes damage, such as deleting files

Abigail Waraker, Editor, Computing Which? said:

“Many people feel overwhelmed by computers and all the associated technical terms, even if they use a computer on a daily basis.

“At Computing Which? we always make sure technical information is explained in a clear and simple way, so it’s great to have been recognised by the Plain English Campaign.”

* Which? postal survey of 2,439 GB adults aged 15+, conducted May–June 2005 by BMRB. Results were weighted to reflect the GB population aged 15+ using figures from TGI 2005
** GB TGI 2006 Q3, Pop
*** Founded in 1979 by Chrissie Maher OBE, Plain English Campaign is a self-funded pressure group that fights for public information to be written in plain English. The Campaign believes that all public documents should be written so that the intended audience can read, understand and act on them after a single reading. The Crystal Mark shows that these documents have reached plain English Campaign’s high standards of clarity.



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