John Watkins is hosting the
program this week. He will show how to remove the >>> from the beginning
of each line of a email that has been forwarded too many times. He plans
to demonstrate how easy it is to connect an external Zip drive to your
computer and use it to backup files. He plans to show how to create a simple
batch file to help when backing up the files. He will show how to back
up files by using WinZip to floppies for those who don’t have a Zip drive.
If he has time, he will try to demonstrate Ghost – a program that backs
up your entire hard drive.
You can read about this virus
at
http://vil.mcafee.com/vil/vm10461.asp This virus comes disguised
as a Y2K Fix. Computer security experts are warning of a new, first-of-its-kind
virus that can update itself with potentially malicious instructions from
a Web site in Japan. This virus primarily affects home computers and spreads
through Microsoft software used for chat rooms. Beware of Chat Rooms. Don’t
accept unsolicited files and computer users should use updated virus-detection
software. But because this virus spreads through chat rooms, users should
turn off any auto-download features.
When an infected user logs
on to a chat room using MIRC chat software, the virus gets sent as a Y2K
bug fix to anyone else in that chat room. If the user accepts the software,
the virus will install itself and later obtain several files from Japan.
The virus can spread by
e-mail as well, though home e-mail use is not as heavy as that of businesses.
Therefore, Symantec says this virus is not likely to spread as quickly
as other viruses.
WINZIP 7.0
If you find that you do not
have an unzip program and would like one, you can download it following
these directions. You must be online for this. The address you type into
your browser is www.hdprint.co.uk and then don’t forget to press the ENTER
key. When the web page is loaded, scroll down and on the left-hand side,
click on CLICK HERE FOR OUR FTP SITE. On the next page, click on OUT-GOING.
And on the next page, click on WINZIP. Click on WINZIP70.EXE. You should
have a screen come up asking you to "open it" or "save it to disk". You
want to "save it to disk". Watch where you save it to (this is where having
a download directory or folder comes in handy). Depending on your connection
speed, it should take just a few minutes to download this file. After you
have saved it, you can close your internet browser and disconnect from
the internet.
To install the program (so
far you have only downloaded it – placed the file on your hard drive) –
you must locate the file and then double click on it. It will immediately
start the installation program and you will just have to answer the questions.
It is suggested that you choose the CLASSIC MODE when ask – but the choice
is yours. You normally do not need to have an icon on your desktop for
this program, because you normally run it by double clicking on a zipped
file.
Fun Stuff
The programs that were demonstrated
by John last week can be obtained by following these directions. You must
be online for this. The address you type into your browser is www.hdprint.co.uk
and then don’t forget to press the ENTER key. When the web page is loaded,
scroll down and on the left-hand side, click on CLICK HERE FOR OUR FTP
SITE. On the next page, click on OUT-GOING. And on the next page, click
on FUN-STUFF. This is where you will find the four programs that John was
demonstrating -- ATREE.ZIP (decorating a Christmas tree) -- REDSPOT.ZIP
(follow the red spot) -- ELFBOWL.EXE (bowling with elfs as the pins) --
FROGPULT.EXE (catapulting frogs trying not to have them eaten by alligators).
To download them, just click on the one that you want and you should have
a screen come up asking you to "open it" or "save it to disk". You want
to "save it to disk". Watch where you save it to (this is where having
a download directory or folder comes in handy). Depending on your connection
speed, it should take just a few minutes to download these files. After
you have them saved, you can close your internet browser and disconnect
from the internet.
Two of the files end with
.EXE – this means that they will run just by double-clicking on them. But
to do that, we have to locate them. Let’s use the FIND command which is
located on the START button menu. Look for FROG – be sure it says that
you are looking in C:\ (not a directory name like MY DOCUMENTS) and be
sure that there is a check mark next to INCLUDE SUBDIRECTORIES. Then click
on FIND NOW. When you see a listing for FROGPULT.EXE – right click on it
and choose COPY from the menu. Now place your cursor on an empty spot on
your desktop and right click. Choose PASTE AS SHORTCUT from the menu. You
should now have an icon on your desktop that you can use to run the program.
Do the same thing for the ELFBOWL.EXE file. In the FIND command, look for
ELFBOWL.
Now, the other two files
that you might want to download, end in .ZIP. This means that you must
have a program such as WINZIP on your computer to use to extract (unzip)
the files that are inside of the file that you download.
Let’s open MY COMPUTER to
locate these files. Then double click on C:\ (your hard drive) to open
that window. Locate the folder where you downloaded your files to (maybe
it was your DOWNLOAD folder) and double click on it to open it. Right click
on the file that want (ATREE.ZIP or REDSPOT.ZIP) and choose COPY from the
menu. Let’s go back to our C:\ folder and decide where we want this file
to be pasted. Since these programs are little games (or entertainment),
let’s look and see if we have a GAMES directory. If you don’t, let’s create
one. Right click on an empty space in the C:\ window and choose NEW from
the menu. Then choose FOLDER. You will see a folder appear in your window
and the name of the folder will be highlighted in blue – this means that
from the keyboard (without touching the mouse) you can type a new name
for the folder. Type in GAMES and then press the ENTER key on the keyboard.
Now you can double click on your new GAMES folder to open it. Somewhere
on an empty spot in this window, right click and choose PASTE for the menu.
You now have your zip file in your new GAMES directory – so you are ready
to unzip it. The icon that appears with this file should look like a vise
– that will tell you that you have WINZIP (or another unzip program) loaded
on your computer.
To unzip the program, double
click on the file and this will start your WINZIP program running. On the
first screen, just click on I AGREE (to the license). This will open up
a window that shows you all of the files that are inside of your zip file.
You just have to click on the button labeled EXTRACT. In the next window
where it says EXTRACT TO: -- type C:\GAMES then click on EXTRACT. When
the green light in the lower right corner is on, then you can close your
WINZIP program. Now comes the part where each program you unzipped is different.
You now have to look at the files in your games directory and find the
one that you are suppose to run – what you are looking for is a SETUP program
or an EXE file.