Computer
Info –
This Week’s Program
John Watkins will be here this week
and will discuss using Amazon.Com and eBay.Com. He will then welcome questions.
Be sure to ask him about his car (remember the one that was flooded).
Virus Tactics
Lately
the newest threat in viruses is the blended
threats. A blended threat is when
you combine a worm with another Trojan horse.
You then have more than one way to attack a system.
The
SirCam worm from last year was one example.
It not only e-mailed itself but also took a random file from a
computer’s hard drive, and sent that out too.
Passwords
Do
not use any part of your user name, full name, address, birthdate for your
password.
Don’t
use English or even foreign words:
dictionary attacks try millions of word combinations per second.
Use
at least eight characters – the longer the better.
Use
different kinds of characters in your password. Uppercase letters, lowercase letters and numbers.
Use
a password that is easy to remember and easy to type, but don’t write it on a
sticky note and post it on your monitor.
Change
your password periodically.
PowerPoint
(Info
from PC Magazine –
“When I save a presentation in PowerPoint
2002, the file size increases even if I’ve changed nothing. Saving a new, blank slide yields an 8k
file. After three more saves with no
changes, the file is 16k. Is there a
way to control this mysterious file growth?”
This
happens because of FAST SAVES feature – which tacks data onto the end of the
file during the save instead of saving a new version of the file. To turn this feature off, choose TOOLS –
OPTIONS, then the SAVE tab. Remove the
check from the ALLOW FAST SAVES check box.
This
same feature is also true in Word and Excel – and it is not limited to the 2002
version of these products. You will
also find it in the 2000 versions and possibly earlier versions.
Web Site
AMG AllMusic
Looking
for a song and what album it is on or what artist did it – this is the place to
look for it.
LCD Monitors
The
LCD monitors have a space-saving design – many feel they cause less eye strain
– they produce less heat.
Another
key factor in choosing an LCD is the birth of DVI digital interface which is
now appearing on many monitors, though it is still rare on graphics cards.
They
now provide wider viewing angles without contrast or brightness loss.
Windows Media Player 7.0
A
security bug makes it possible for some sites to track your movements across
the Internet by obtaining a unique ID number from your player. You can prevent this by opening Windows
Media Player and choosing Options from the Tools pull-down menu. Click the Player tab. In the Internet Settings section, remove the
check mark next to the Allow Internet Sites To Uniquely Identify Your Player
box.
Internet Explorer Links
Internet Explorer’s Links is where
you place your most used Favorites (bookmarks).
You can delete any icon (bookmark)
from the Links by right-clicking on it and selecting DELETE.
To add an icon, go to the site you
wish to add, click on the icon immediately to the left of the URL (usually this
is a big E icon) and drag that icon to the LINKS bar. Rename the link by right-clicking on it and choosing RENAME.
If you are running Internet Explorer
6.0, you must unlock the Links bar before you can edit it. To do this, right-click on a blank area of
any of the toolbars at the top of Internet Explorer and uncheck the LOCK THE
TOOLBARS option.
Buying a New PC?
Your computer should have at least
-----
If you want these capabilities ---
High-speeed Internet access – DVD viewing – Digital photo scanning/editing –
digital music downloading/CD-burning – most recent games – switching among
multiple running applications – networking to other PCs
256
MB RAM
40
GB hard drive
1.0
GHZ processor
DVD
drive
CD-RW
drive
16
MB Video RAM
Good
sound system
Ethernet
card/port
USB
ports
Windows
XP
If you want these capabilities –
High-speed, high-resolution games – Live audio/video conferencing – digital
video editing – creating DVD videos – sharing an Internet connection with other
home computers
256
MB RAM
80
GB hard drive
1.5
GHZ or greater processor
Rewritable
DVD drive
CD-RW
drive
32
MB Video RAM
Good
sound system
Ethernet
card/port
Firewire
card
USB
ports