Computer Info – August 21, 2002

 

This Week’s Meeting

 

            John Watkins will be hosting the meeting this week.  He will bring his new HP all in one printer along to demonstrate the pro’s and con’s of an all-in-one.  It is the HP PSC 950I that is a printer – fax – copier – scanner.  He will follow that with a demonstration of scanning into Word for beginners.  And any time left, will be devoted to QUESTIONS.

 

Catch-A-Call

            This device was talked about at a couple of our computer meetings.  It allows you to accept a brief incoming call while you are on the internet  and then continue surfing.  The device called Catch-A-Call is sold at Radio Shack and other places.  It lists for $49.99 – and does require that you have call waiting service from your phone company.

            You can read about it at

                        http://www.catch-a-call-online.com/

Have you heard this before – “I’ve been trying to reach you all day, but your phone line is constantly busy!"  Catch-A-Call allows users to receive incoming phone calls and faxes while they are on the Internet, eliminating the need for a second phone line.

            Catch-A-Call uses your telephone company’s call waiting service (call waiting is required) to detect incoming calls while you are online. Catch-A-Call immediately rings and flashes a red light to                           notify you of the incoming call. If you choose to take the call, simply pick up the telephone plugged into the Catch-A-Call and your Internet connection will automatically be placed "on hold" for a short length of time (anywhere from 2 to 30 seconds).  After you are finished with your phone conversation, simply hang up. If your computer has not yet disconnected, you can resume surfing the Internet. If you stayed on the phone long enough to cause your computer to disconnect, simply click the Refresh button on your browser’s tool bar and your computer will dial up again and reconnect to the same Internet page where you left off.

 

One Way to Take Carbon Copied Names Out of E-Mail Messages

            Are you looking for a simple way to remove long recipient lists from messages that have been forwarded many times over or have been cc'ed to dozens of people by a single sender?  Follow these easy steps:

            1) Highlight the text of the original e-mail and then right-click on the highlighted area and choose COPY.

            2) Click on "New Message". Right click and choose Paste – this places the original copied text in to the new message window.

 

E-Mail Virus Hoax

            The e-mail virus hoax – JDBGMGR.EXE file – continues to spread.  The Jdbgmgr.exe File E-mail Virus Hoax was discovered a couple of months ago and continues to be forwarded by unsuspecting Internet users across the World Wide Web. If you receive an e-mail from a friend or relative which tells you to find and then delete the "Jdbgmgr.exe File" from your computer because it is (supposedly) a virus, IGNORE the warning and delete the e-mail message. The Jdbgmgr.exe e-mail message is a HOAX. There is NO virus called "Jdbgmgr.exe Virus."

            Here is how the E-Mail Virus Hoax works: You receive e-mail from a friend telling you that you may have an e-mail virus called the "Jdbgmgr.exe Virus." The friend's e-mail encourages you to do a search on your computer for a file called "Jdbgmgr.exe", which has a "teddy bear icon" above it. If

you find the teddy bear, the message says, then you have the virus. The message then goes on to explain how to delete the file from your computer.

            It also encourages you to forward the e-mail warning to everyone in your address book because if you found the Jdbgmgr.exe on your computer, then the virus has infected everyone in your address book as well.

            Here is the hoax    Jdbgmgr.exe is a standard windows component that is found in every Windows installation. This file has a teddy bear next to it. If you run a Windows operating system, obviously you are going to find this file (and the associated teddy bear icon) because it is part of the system. (The file is used as a Java Debugger Manager by Microsoft.) When you delete this file from your computer, you are not deleting a virus, but rather a file from your operating system.

            You may have already received this E-mail Hoax and deleted the Jdbgmgr.exe file from your computer. The good news is that the Jdbgmgr.exe is not a critical file within your operating system, so restoring the file is optional. Java applets may not run correctly without it, however.  To restore Jdbgmgr.exe to your system, you can go to this Microsoft support page for instructions:

                        http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q322993

Go to the "Recovery" section and complete the appropriate steps.

 

            Word of Caution: The Jdbgmgr.exe file located on your computer's operating system, like any other file, can become infected by a virus. If you receive a Jdbgmgr.exe via e-mail as an attachment, the file may contain a virus. If, however, you find the Jdbgmgr.exe within your operating system when doing a search for it, it is probably a clean file. Do NOT delete it.

 

JavaScript

            JavaScript is written and added to web pages to provide interactivity between the Internet user and the web page. When you see things moving on the web page, when buttons change as you roll over them with the mouse, when banners or ads rotate from one to another and when graphics scroll, these are often effects performed by JavaScript.

            JavaScript is a scripting language originally developed by Netscape and was called "LiveScript." The name was changed after Sun Microsystems' new programming language, called Java, became so popular. The drawback is that Netscape Navigator and Microsoft's Internet Explorer interpret JavaScript

differently.  In addition, because interpretation is left up to the web browser, Windows users, Macintosh users and Linux users will all see the JavaScript operate differently, if at all.

 

JavaApplet

            A Java Applet is a small computer application written in Java that is downloaded to your computer via the Internet. You see these frequently with online games and chat rooms--places where more interactivity is required and where the program would need to work on any type of machine

or operating system. Java programs, or Applets, are not interpreted directly by your web browser. Instead, a Java Applet must be compiled (translated) from the programming language into a language that can be "read" by your computer.  Java compilers are independent of any particular machine. This

means that Java Applets will operate the same on Windows machines, Macintosh machines and Linux machines.

            The program on your computer that "reads" the compiled code is known as a "Java Virtual Machine." The compiled code then is what your browser reads.  The file "Jdbgmgr.exe" mentioned in the virus hoax above is Microsoft's version of a Java Virtual Machine.