Central England People First s friendly guide to downloading What is Skype? Skype is a computer programme that turns your computer into a telephone. This means that you can speak to other people using your computer but even better you can see them too!! Here is a picture of Central England People First speaking to their support worker Catherine over Skype (They are in Kettering, she is in Nottingham.) She took this photo of them from her computer. Why should you try Skype? We know it can be hard to have to travel all over the place to have meetings. It takes a long time, costs a lot of money and needs a lot of arranging so that support people can come. We think that we could all save lots of money and work together better if we could speak by Skype. It s better than a phone call because everyone can hear and see the person you are talking to. You can see if the person is sad or angry and you can look them in the eye to show that you care and that you are there for them. People can also teach you how to do things over Skype. Because you can see each other you could learn to do something like how to use a new piece of equipment. It s also really easy. Once you have put it on your computer you only need to press the green button to phone people like with a mobile phone. This means that all of your members should be able to do it, even without support. Do you want to give it a go? Then read on for our simple guide to setting up and using Skype. 1
What you will need: A computer that can go onto the internet Someone who knows how to get onto the internet and who can save files (like Word documents) onto your computer (this is as much technical knowledge as they will need we promise!) A web camera you can buy these from the shop for about 10 or you can come on our course and get a free one! Some new computers even have these built in. If you computer has a built in web cam you should be able to see a little lens at the top of the screen in the black plastic bit. Speakers attached to your computer so that you can hear the person when they speak. Try playing some music on your computer if you can hear it then you have speakers which are working. A lovely friend who you want to speak to who is also on Skype luckily you have Central England People First to be your first Skype friend! Okay once you ve got these together let s get started! 2
Downloading Skype onto your computer (you only have to do this once on each computer you want to use) People with learning difficulties 1. Get Ready: Turn your computer on and make sure that the internet is working. 2. Get the website open: Type www.skype.com into the address bar on your internet screen and press enter. (Typing the address in might look like this.) 3. Check its right: The Skype web page should now open in your computer. It will look something like this. 4. Get an Account: At the top of the page on the right hand side there is a little white box with blue writing that says join skype it looks like this Click on this button and a new page opens. The page should look like this 5. Put in your information: Fill in the page with your details. Don t forget that if you are making an account for your organisation then you need to put the organisations name in the First Name Last Name boxes. When it got to the Birthday we chose the day that our organisation started in 1990 - you do not need to fill in this part or the part about your phone number if you do not want to. Just fill in the ones with the little star next to them if you are worried about sharing too much information. 3
When you get to the bottom of the page it asks you to type in a Skype name. This will be the name that you give out to people so that they can find you on Skype. It needs to be okay for everyone to see it and it also needs to be clear that it belongs to you. We chose Central.England.People.First for our name. We put the dots (.) between the words because you are not allowed to use the space bar in your Skype name. You can only use letters and numbers. The name cannot be less than 6 digits and it must be unique to you. By unique we mean that you are the only person on Skype who is using it. If it tells you that the name is already taken you will need to think of a new one, you could try adding a number to the end of it or putting UK at the end. When you have filled in all of the information in (including your password). You need to type the strange looking letters into the box so that the computer knows you are a real person. Then you must click on the green I agree - continue button at the bottom of the page. It looks like this We recommend that you try to get someone to read the terms and conditions first before you click the agree button, just to protect yourselves. They are not easy to read but we have not seen anything strange in them. They tell you to not use Skype to break the law or to use it to commit a crime and other things like this. 6. Well done!: When you have done this you have created your account. You only need to create an account once even if you want to put Skype on all of the computers in your office. You now have a Skype name and other people can find you on Skype. Next we need to put the Skype programme on your computer so that you can start using it to make calls. 7. Downloading Skype: When you have pressed the green I accept button at the end of step 5 the computer should automatically take you to the next page which looks like this (below). This page will help you to download (or put) the Skype programme on your computer. You must do this so you can use Skype to make calls. We now need to start the download. Your computer might do this bit by itself so if you can t follow the next bit try skipping to the next step instead. 4
If your computer stays on the Thanks for choosing Skype page (above), then you need to start the download yourself. Your computer thinks that the Skype programme might be dangerous (it is not) and has stopped it being put on your computer. It tells you it has done this by putting a little yellow box at the top of the screen that looks like this (our computer did it to us). You need to click on this yellow box with the left button on your mouse. A little grey box should then pop up which looks like this. Please click on the Download File option with the left mouse button. This will tell your computer that Skype is not dangerous and that it should start the download. 8. Run the Download: A grey box should pop up on your screen asking you whether you want to run or save this file please click on the save button. 5
Your computer will then ask you where you want to save Skype. This looks different on every computer and should look like the box that your computer uses when it wants to know where to save a Word Document. We would recommend that you save it onto your desktop. To do this click on desktop and then click save. Don t worry if you can t do this just click on save and your computer will save it to somewhere else. It does not really matter where it is saved so long as you do not save it onto a USB stick/dongle etc, it must be on the actual computer. If you do not know what these words mean then don t worry you are probably not using one. Once you have pressed save the download should start. A little green line will show how quickly it is downloading. When it comes to the end it will say download complete. You then need to press the run button. Your computer might then ask you to make sure that you want to run Skype. Another grey box like the one below might appear. Just press the run button. 6
Once you have done this then the Skype wizard should appear. (It s not a real wizard unfortunately) but a programme that will help you to finish downloading Skype. The Skype wizard looks like this Make sure that the language box says English and then click on the I agree next button. Again you should really get someone to read through the terms and conditions before you do this just so you know the rules. But like before the rules are mainly about not breaking the law. Once you have clicked on I agree next Skype will start to download itself onto your computer. This will take about half an hour depending on how new your computer is. The green bar will work its way across the screen like this While your computer is downloading we think you should have a cup of tea because you are doing really well and you deserve one! 7
9. Sign In: When it has finished downloading a new box will open that looks like this This is the sign in box that will appear every time you want to use Skype in the future. You need to type in the Skype name that we created earlier and the password that you typed in too. Once you have put these in click on the sign me in button. A new window will open that looks like this. This is the Skype screen. This will be how you will use Skype. Everything we need to use Skype is in this screen! Well done you have set up Skype. Now lets move on to Using Skype. Skip straight to Step 3 on the Using Skype guide. 8
Central England People First s friendly guide to using 1. Before you can use Skype you need to download it using our friendly guide to downloading Skype. It will teach you how to create a Skype account with a Skype name and a password and it will teach you how to download the programme onto your computer. Once you ve done this you can move onto Step Two. 2. On your computer you should see a logo that looks like this please click onto it to open Skype. A box like this should appear asking you to type in your Skype name and password. Type them in and press the sign me in button. A new window should pop up that looks like this, this is the Skype screen. 9
3. Get your webcam and microphone set up: Before you can make a call on Skype we need to get your microphone and webcam working. If your microphone and webcam aren t part of your computer then you need to plug them into your computer now. You usually do this by putting the end of the cable into one of the USB ports on your computer they look like this Because we don t know what microphone or webcam you are using we can t really help you with the set up. (Some computers have them built in, if you are not sure you can always skip to the next step and see what happens) Once you ve plugged them into the computer most webcams/microphones set themselves up. You might see a couple of boxes pop up and disappear in the bottom right hand side of the computer screen. They normally tell you that the computer is setting everything up for you and you just have to wait. If you get stuck on this bit you can always phone the people who made, or sold you the webcam and microphone for some advice. Once it looks like its finished doing its stuff we will now check that the web cam and microphone are working. 4. On the Skype window click on the Echo/Sound Test Service a big green call button should appear in the right hand side of the screen. Click on the Call button. It will make a beep sound and then a lady will start to speak. Note if you can see the screen below but cannot hear anyone speaking then you need to check your speakers. Make sure that they are not on mute by clicking on the sound button in the bottom right hand corner of your screen. If you do not have a sound button you probably need to buy some speakers because it does not look like your computer has any. (Buy some speakers, plug them in and then work your way back to this part until you can hear the lady). 10
The lady will ask you to record a message. She will then play this back to you. You should be able to hear your voice clearly. Press the red button to hang up on her at the end of the conversation. If you can t try sitting closer to the microphone, using the sound button to turn up the volume on your speakers and your microphone. She will also give you some more options to help you if you cannot get this to work. Well done that was your first Skype call! We only used sound on that call we will get to the picture in a minute. 5. Make some friends: Now you need to test things out for real so let s make a call to Central England People First. We normally have our Skype on all of the time but just in case you can always phone us on 01536 515548 just to let us know that you are going to Skype us so that we can be ready. Okay let s go! At the bottom left of the Skype window you should be able to see a button called add a contact. Click on this button. This will put someone new into your address book. We are going to put Central England People First in there. 11
A new blue box comes up on screen and asks you to type in the email address, phone number, full name and Skype name of your contact. You don t need to know all of these but we can give you the ones for us so please type them in. Email: cepfhistory@hotmail.co.uk Phone Number: (after the +44) type 1536 515548 Full Name: Central England People First Skype Name: Central.England.People.First Then click on the green +add button. A new screen opens with a message from you to Central England People First saying that you want to be friends. Click on the Send Request Button. When we get this we will accept you as our friend and you can Skype us. Once you ve done this click on the little red cross to get rid of this. 12
6. See your new friend: Now you have done this you should see Central England People First appear under the Echo/Sound test service box. The small question mark next to our name means that we are not logged on to Skype at the moment. If there is a little green tick next to our name like the one next to the Echo/Sound test, that means we are logged in and you should click on the green button to call us. Your new friend is here If your webcam hasn t set up properly then you can always press this one and we will be able to speak to each other but not see each other. Don t worry we will be able to help you when we speak to you. If your webcam has set up properly you should be able to click this button to call us. You will make a video call. We will be able to see you and you will be able to see us. 7. Speak to us!: The line will ring just like a telephone for a moment and then you should be able to see us and we will be able to see you! It will look a bit like this. 13
When you ve had enough you just click on the red telephone button to hang up just like on a mobile phone. Well done you did it!!! Happy Skype-ing! When you are ready you can get more tips, like how to speak to more than one person at a time. Remember: Skype only costs the amount of money that you pay for your internet. If you just pay for unlimited internet then Skype is free. 14