Digital skills hub

digital-skills-and-understanding
WEBVTT
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We know digital technology can seem complex.
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We can help with that.
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What do we mean by digital?
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It’s a common phrase, but do we understand it?
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It’s usually about using different electronic tools
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and devices to help carry out day-to-day tasks.
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And digital is everywhere.
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We’re regularly being asked by companies
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to go online or download their app.
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It can feel like a separate digital world
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with its own language and rules.
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Understanding this digital world is about
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digital-skills-and-understanding
so much more than just understanding
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how a single piece of technology works,
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like a laptop or a smartphone.
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For example, you might be comfortable
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using a computer for your job,
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but using one at home might feel completely different.
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You might have had to upgrade your existing technology
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and the replacement feels much more complicated.
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You may have very little digital experience at all.
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The point is it’s natural to find this overwhelming
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or even a bit scary, because it can be,
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whether you were born into the Digital Age
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or are just trying to get to grips with it later in life.
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digital-skills-and-understanding
It also holds a lot of potential for you to unlock.
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Part of what makes the digital world,
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particularly the internet, so overwhelming is its sheer size.
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Where do you even start when there are almost
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two billion, and counting, websites to choose from?
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Maybe a good way to think about the internet
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is to imagine it as a country,
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full of its own unique cities, towns, villages,
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as well as its own regional dialects.
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You wouldn’t expect to visit every part of a country.
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Instead you’d find the places you liked
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and begin exploring from there.
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Just like any country, there are bad and good parts,
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digital-skills-and-understanding
and dangerous and safe places on the internet.
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The key is equipping ourselves with the tools and knowledge
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to ensure that we can travel through this country safely,
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do the things we enjoy,
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and explore the things that interest us.
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Such as doing your weekly online grocery shopping,
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learning new languages,
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staying in touch with people
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or booking a trip.
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Our goal is to help you understand the digital world
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a little bit better, offering you some support
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to make things seem a little less complex
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and, with any luck, a little less overwhelming.
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digital-skills-and-understanding
We’re building a series of information guides
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which we hope will help you to become
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more confident using digital technologies
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and make the most of the online information that’s available to you.
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We’ll be looking at how to use certain digital
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and online features, how to keep yourself safe
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and the things you can check if it’s not quite working as expected.
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If you find this useful, or know someone who might,
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feel free to share this with family and friends.
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Are you ready to grow your digital knowledge?

WEBVTT
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Not all devices work in the same way.
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Think about the difference between a bicycle and a motorbike.
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Both have two wheels, require balance, and are classed as bikes.
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However, just because you can ride one,
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doesn’t mean you can necessarily ride the other.
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Likewise, laptops, desktop computers,
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smartphones and tablets are all different types of devices.
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But just like the bicycle and the motorbike,
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they also require different ways to get them to work.
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The main difference between devices
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is how you move around them.
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For laptops and desktop computers, you tend to use
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getting-started
a mouse or a touchpad to move the cursor
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around the screen, which you can use to click on things.
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For smartphones and tablets, you use
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your finger as the cursor, tapping the screen
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instead of clicking a mouse.
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Moving back and forth between devices
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takes time to get used to.
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Imagine you’ve been cycling on a push bike for years
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and someone suddenly puts you on a motorbike
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and tells you to drive down the motorway –
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you probably won’t feel comfortable doing that safely.
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We all need time to practise new techniques.
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Devices can use different browsers.
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getting-started
Think about browsers as your gateway to the internet.
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They let you view website pages on your devices.
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All devices which access the internet
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have a browser built in by default.
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For example, if you’re using a Windows device
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you’ll likely see Microsoft Edge on your screen,
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or on an Apple device you’ll see Safari.
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Usually you’ll find them at the bottom of the screen,
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and you just need to click or tap the icon to open a browser page.
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You can use the default browser that’s already set up
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on your device, or choose a different one if you want to.
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All browsers have an address bar,
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usually at the top of the page.
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getting-started
If you already know the website address you want
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to go to - usually starting with www. and ending
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in something like .co.uk, .ie or .com - you can
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type this in here and press Search.
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The address bar also lets you
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search the internet using key words.
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So, if you’re not sure of the exact website address,
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you can simply type in whatever you want to look for,
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and you’ll see a list of matching results from different websites.
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You can explore the list of results using tabs
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to open new pages without losing your original page,
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which is really handy if you’ve got a lot
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of search results you’re interested in.
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getting-started
Tabs in your browser work just like
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the dividers in a filing cabinet, allowing you
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to easily move between website pages.
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Tabs make comparing different websites easy,
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which is really handy when you’re shopping around for a bargain.
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In any open internet browser, you can select
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the plus sign to open a new tab.
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This will always be somewhere at the top of the screen.
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Each open tab can be closed individually by selecting
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the X on the right side of the tab.
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If the tab doesn’t show an X and you’re on a laptop
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or desktop computer, you can hover your cursor over the tab.
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Now you know how to use your browser,
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getting-started
we’ll look next at how you can stay safe and up to date.
 

staying-safe-and-up-to-date
WEBVTT
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We know that staying safe online is really important.
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It’s often the number one concern
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for people when they’re on the internet.
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You’re not wrong to feel this way.
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To feel safe, you have to feel like
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you know what you’re doing.
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Imagine your digital device is your house.
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Naturally, we all want our homes to be safe and secure,
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and if a stranger knocks on the front door,
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we wouldn’t let them straight in.
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By updating your device regularly,
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you’re effectively making sure you’re not
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staying-safe-and-up-to-date
letting anyone into your house
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without checking who they are first.
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The same goes for your browser.
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As it’s the gateway into the internet,
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it is also the internet’s gateway into you,
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so it’s important to stay on top of updates.
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Keeping your device and browser up to date
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means you'll get the latest fixes and security improvements
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to keep your device running smoothly and securely.
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A lot of computers and smartphones
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update automatically, but not all of them, and not always.
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Here’s how you can check your device is up to date.
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All devices use a built-in operating system to function.
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staying-safe-and-up-to-date
Windows, Android and macOS are examples
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of some of the most common operating systems,
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and which one you have will vary
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depending on who makes your device.
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For example, devices made by Apple
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use macOS for laptops and computers
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and iOS or iPadOS for mobile devices
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such as smartphones and tablets.
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Operating systems are updated regularly
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to repair any issues and to release improvements.
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Here, we’ll focus on laptops and computers as our example.
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You may be on a device that looks like this.
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Open the menu in the bottom left corner.
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staying-safe-and-up-to-date
In the search bar at the bottom left type ‘Windows update’
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and click the Windows update that appears.
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If you’re using a Windows 8 device that looks like this,
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use the magnifying glass in the top right
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to search and select ‘Windows update’.
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Select ‘Check for updates’ or ‘Check now’.
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This will differ depending on how old or new
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your laptop or computer is and may look like the following.
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Install all updates – you may be prompted to restart
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your laptop or computer as part of this process.
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Don’t forget to save anything you’re working on
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before you do this.
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Windows will sometimes prompt you to update
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Page 4
staying-safe-and-up-to-date
when you go to switch off or restart your device.
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Selecting ‘Update and shut down’ or ‘Update and restart’
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will automatically install the latest update.
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If you’re using an Apple device, from the Apple menu
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in the top left corner of your screen,
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choose ‘System Preferences’.
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Click ‘Software Update’.
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Click ‘Update Now’ or ‘Upgrade Now’.
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You only need to update your browser
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if it prompts you to do so.
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You’ll also need to close your browser after the update
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and re-open it to install the latest version.
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Now you know how to stay safe and up to date,
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staying-safe-and-up-to-date
you can continue to grow your digital knowledge
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with some helpful ideas in case things go wrong.