Slow Computer? Could Be You!

When it comes to your poor typing skills, ff you’re hoping to blame a slow computer on stiff joints in your hands, hold that thought. A new study just published in the journal Arthritis Care and Research shows that people who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis could type just as fast as subjects who did not suffer from the disease. The study did show that the best predictors of typing ability were training and the age of the typist.

Improving Computer Skills Can Improve Speed

If you avoid using the computer because your data entry skills are lacking, consider taking a typing course or working with typing software. There are several free online typing test sites that can help you measure your typing speed and accuracy. Most sites are associated with a typing tutor program or software that is designed to help you learn how to touch-type.

In addition to online sites that can help measure your typing skills, you can consider using typing tutor software. The software will provide typing exercises that will help you learn the keyboard without having to look at the keys. Believe it or not, looking at the keyboard actually slows you down when it comes to typing! Your brain must verify the location of the keys you’re looking for. That visual confirmation actually reduces the efficiency of your data entry.

Worried about making mistakes? When you use programs like word processors, you can enable spell-checking and automatic error correction. Even if you type a word incorrectly, the computer can often figure out what you meant and make the appropriate substitutions. One word of caution regarding spell checking: the spell-checker won’t correct grammatical errors or word misuse. For example, if you mean to type “the” but accidentally type “she” the spell-checker will not flag the mistake because, after all, “she” is spelled correctly.

Some more advanced word processing programs also offer grammar checkers that may or may not flag misused words. Grammar checkers are not as sophisticated as spell-checkers, primarily because there is widespread agreement on the spelling of a word, whereas the rules of grammar are often circumstantial.

You can also benefit by working with tutorials or taking classes on more complicated computer applications, like spreadsheets and databases. Learning how to get the results you want from your software can improve your performance, which may make the computer seem to work a little faster for you!

Photo Credit: Dan Foy, via Flickr

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