MS-Word --- Letter Wizard

Computer Info – December 19, 2001

This Week’s Meeting

John Watkins will be doing Christmas things – Christmas games and a Christmas card in Word.. We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. And, remember, there will be no meeting on December 26^th, the day after Christmas; but there will be a meeting on January 2^nd, the day after New Year’s Day.

Taking Snapshots

(1) Get in closer.
(2) Have one main subject in your picture.
(3) Choose your background carefully.
(4) Get at eye level with the subject.
(5) The best film for snapshots is Kodak Gold – 200 or 400 speed.
(6) You can take the best portraits during mid-day – in the bright shade – have no shadows on faces.
(7) Hold the camera firmly, lean against something solid and press the shutter button steadily.

Windows XP

        John demonstrated Windows XP last week and gave us an insight into what we should expect from it.
        It has a very different appearance to it than what we have come to expect from Windows 98. But it does have the ability to change its appearance to mimic Windows 98 (this would be the Classic appearance).
        It has built-in ability to record CD’s – a zip program – a movie maker program – a picture viewer and slideshow program – speech recognition – a backup/restore program.

The most notable change in this version of Windows is its stability. Windows XP almost never locks up or crashes. The infamous Microsoft "Blue Screen of Death" is almost never seen.

To restore desktop icons like MY COMPUTER – MY DOCUMENTS, etc. – you can right click anywhere on your Desktop and select Properties. Click the Customize Desktop button under the Desktop tab. Place a check mark next to the icons you want to restore.

Discount Inkjet Cartridges

        We had one member report that their $500 inkjet printer had been destroyed by using discount HP inkjet cartridges that they had purchased via the internet.
        Their printer kept giving them an error message about "paper jam – please remove paper". They tried everything, and finally decided that they had to take their printer apart. Inside, they found solid lumps of ink that was around the gears. Despite the black hands, they were unable to remove the ink without destorying some of the gears on the printer.
        The biggest problem is, she didn’t remember the name of the web site where she purchased the cartridges.

W32.Magistr.39921@mm – a Virus

We have received this virus twice recently – so thought we would just remind you to be careful opening attachments – and, be sure to keep your virus definition tables (DAT files) up-to-date.

Can’t Catch Your Icons???

        We haven’t discovered how to cure this one --- but, we have two members of the group who are having problems with this.
        Here is the question that one of them wrote ---- "What causes icons (on the desktop) to scatter, run and move when approached by the mouse pointer or their mouse is moved?" I don’t know if it is a virus – a joke – a game – haven’t discovered what causes it or how to stop it.
        If anyone has any suggestions to this problem, please let us know.

Epson Stylus USB Driver Update

        If you are using one of the following Epson printers (USB connection only) AND Windows 98 is refusing to enter the Standby or Sleep mode, try this patch.
                        Epson Models 600 – 640 – 660 – 740 – 760
        Get the patch at
                            http://support.epson.com/hardware/printer/inkjet/sc600_/filelibrary.html

Online Data Collectors
(info from Smart Computering – January, 2002)

        Spyware lives on your computer, watching where you go on the Internet and targeting you for advertising. Most spyware applications are the products of online data collectors and their strategies to sell advertising. These companies lure you with their adware (software you get for free in exchange for letting a company send ads to your computer via the Internet). Your computer is capable of giving and receiving information.
        Gator.com and Alexa, actively develop and market software with embedded spyware that provide some service to you in exchange for a place on your computer. Companies such as DoubleClick and 14/7 Media mainly rely on cookies to help them focus advertisements. Others, like Web3000 and Radiate, pay a software publisher to integrate spyware components into their products. Software carrying spyware can include anything from games to utilities. Many of these packages are highly functional applications, such as CuteFTP (a file transfer utility) or Go!Zilla (a file download assistant).
        There are about fifteen major, commonly recognized spyware and adware companies, including Adware, Alexa, Aureate, Comet Cursor, Conducent, Cydoor Desktop Media, DoubleClick, EverAd, Flyswat, Gator, Gratisware.com, Hotbar, New.Net, Onflow, Web3000 and webHancer.
        The following sites have information about the different types of spyware and how to identify them.
                Counterexploitation Adware and Spyware Page
                                http://www.cexx.org/adware.htm
                Simply The Best
                                http://www.simplythebest.net/info/spyware.html
                Gibson Research
                                http://grc.com/optout.htm
                Richard Smith’s Tipsheet
                                http://www.privacyfoundation.org/commentary/tipsheet.asp

Web3000 has been known to replace a Windows file, Winsock32.dll, with its own version and may interrupt you with requests to connect to the Internet. Gator has been linked to causes of some browser crashes.