Computer Info – December 27, 2000
This Week’s Program
John Watkins will be here again.
His program will be -- how to create EASTER OR VALENTINE STAMPS (Christmas
is passed so we have chosen another holiday) -- Word Art -- setting up
multiple phone numbers or accounts in your dial-up networking – and return
addresses for envelopes.
Digital Signature
Recent federal law makes electronic
signatures as legal as the pen and ink variety – at least for contracts
that fall within federal jurisdiction. But to be binding, an e-signature
must have built-in features proving that you applied it and that the document
has not been changed since.
OnSign works with
a minimum of fuss and no cash outlay whatsoever. The first time you run
the software, it asks you to scan an image of your signature into your
computer and uses this to create your e-persona – a file combining the
image with RSA public/privatekey encryption technology. If you can’t provide
a scanned image of your signature, the software gives you a form to sign
and fax to OnSign, which will return your e-persona file by e-mail. After
installing your e-persona, you can start e-signing, either by clicking
a new toolbar button in Word or by selecting an Outlook menu item. The
software prompts you for your selected password before the signature appears
in either case.
Recipients who have OnSign
see your signature; if the document has been changed, it’s marked invalid.
Recipients without OnSign can click a link to install a viewer.
You can’t apply more than
one e-signature to a single document; to do that you need Silanis Technology’s
Approvelt ($149). Since the majority of legal documents require multiple
signatures, this restriction limits OnSign’s usefulness. Still, it’s a
free introduction to a technology that may someday save quite a few trees.
http://www.onsign.com
WordPad
WordPad is a versatile little
program (a word processor) that everyone who is running Windows has. You
will find it located under PROGRAMS – ACCESSORIES.
To make it easier to get
to and use, why not put it on the START menu. To do this, go to START –
PROGRAMS – ACCESSORIES – and there you will see WordPad listed. Right-click
on it and keep the mouse button down while you drag it to your desktop.
When you release the button, you will see a menu of choices. Choose COPY
HERE. This will leave WordPad still listed under PROGRAMS – ACCESSORIES
and place an icon for WordPad on your desktop.
Now right-click (or left-click)
on the WordPad icon on your desktop and while keeping the mouse button
down, drag it to the START button and then release it. This will place
in on your START menu immediately.
WordPad is nice to open
so that you can paste information from a web page or an email into it for
printing and editing (like removing the chevrons).
An easy way to remove those
chevrons
(>>) from an email that you want to pass along to someone else – is to
copy the email to the clipboard and then paste it into WordPad. Then from
the EDIT menu, choose REPLACE. Where it says FIND WHAT – type one chevron
(>) – do not type anything into the REPLACE WITH box. Then click on REPLACE
ALL. They immediately vanish.
Christmas Programs on the FTP site
Visit John’s FTP site and browse
the OUT-GOING folder and then the FUN-STUFF folder. There are a few Christmas
holiday programs there that you might enjoy.
Christmas Deer --- Atree --- Lights95 --- Redspot --- Snowman
To get to the site, click
on this web address
http://www.hdprint.co.uk/ftp/out-going/Fun-Stuff
As pointed out at the meeting,
an important part in downloading any file – is to Pay AttentionToWhereYouAre
Saving It – so that you can find it afterwards.
Tree
When we are talking about computers
and we mention TREE – what do we mean?
To demonstrate this, right-click
on MY COMPUTER and choose EXPLORE. This will open Windows Explorer. The
right panel shows you the main tree – which would be MY COMPUTER and the
main branches of it – which would be your drives (A: - the floppy drive
---- C: - your hard drive --- your CD drive and any other drives that you
may have ) and other folders for CONTROL PANEL – PRINTERS – DIAL-UP NETWORKING,
etc. If you double-click on one of these branches – for example, your C:
drive. – then you will be shown all of the folders and files that are in
this branch of your tree.
If you double-click on one
of these folders, then you will be shown all of the folders and files that
are housed in it.
Think of folders as a
storage area to group files (information) and other folders that pertain
to a particular subject together .
Find
The Find command (which you
will see on your START menu) is a very versatile program. Not only can
you locate files within your computer by typing a portion of what you remember
the name was – but, once you have located a file – you can right-click
on it and choose to Delete it – Rename it – Send to (a method of copying
it to your floppy drive) or any of the other menu choices.
BCC (Blind Carbon Copy)
Netscape:
When you are in the composition
mode (creating an email) and you would like to add a BCC, click on where
it says TO: and you will be given choices of CC (carbon copy) – BCC (blind
carbon copy) – Group (which is for newsgroups) – Reply to: - Followup to.
Outlook Express
When you are in the New
Message window and the BCC is not listed – choose VIEW – ALL HEADERS from
the menu. That will give you the line for the blind carbon copy.
Registration of MS-Office
I have read that Microsoft now
requires Office users to register their software by adding a hardware-specific
identification code – therefore, how do I install and run the software
that I’ve already paid for – on a new computer that I bought?
You can upgrade your PC
and continue using your copy of Office 2000, but it may required
a phone call, according to Microsoft. There is a phone number in the Registration
Wizard. Call that number and the support techs will give you a code to
continue using the software.