Computer Info –
This Week’s Meeting
John Watkins will be hosting the meeting this week. I’m sure he will start us out with one of his stories. Then the subject is Word – and he will welcome lots of questions on Word.
The next meeting will be May 7th.
Spam
Spam is getting worst, isn’t it. What is Spam? A spam e-mail is a solicitation you never asked to receive. This differs from those that you have signed up to receive – remember, these are some that you requested.
Why do they send it? Because it is PROFITABLE. Bulk e-mailers receive a kickback for every sale that results from an e-mail they’ve sent. Some also receive commissions every time a recipient clicks on an e-mail link to visit the sponsor’s web site (even if the visit doesn’t result in a sale). Putting it simply, if spam didn’t work, it wouldn’t exist. The same is true of so-called “junk” postal mail.
Spam e-mail is so pervasive, one analyst estimated that it could account for as much as 39% of all Internet e-mail traffic.
How do they get your address? They use special software to continuously prowl the Internet, looking for anything that appears to be an e-mail address. They check Web sites, Web site guest books, newsgroups among other methods. They also use software that generates e-mail addresses on a randomized basis – known as the dictionary attack. If the spam e-mail doesn’t bounce back, they assume it was sent to a valid address.
How to avoid spam –
--- Avoid posting comments to UseNet newsgroups. They are the mother lode when it comes to e-mail harvesting.
--- NEVER, NEVER respond to spam e-mail. Some messages include an invitation for you to remove yourself from the spam list, but in most cases, this is considerably less than truthful. When you respond to a spam, you have proven that your e-mail address connects with a live target – you.
---
Run a spam filtering program on your computer.
According to the
MAILWASHER ( http://www.mailwasher.net/ )
MAILSHELL SPAMCATCHER ( http://www.mailshell.com/spamcatcher/ )
MCAFEE SPAMKILLER ( http://www.mcafee.com/myapps/msk/ )
DEERSOFT
SPAMASSASSIN PRO ( http://www.deersoft.com/ )
The down side to running one of these programs is that it can block e-mail you want to receive – but the programs do allow you to place those e-mail addresses that it seems to be blocking into a ”whitelist” that will allow them to pass through.
Spam is like viruses. As the anti-spam software becomes more advanced – the spammers change their tactics to thwart it. It is a war without end.
Legislators are introducing laws that may prohibit spam, but the legal outcome is in question. Some believe that this could be challenged on First Amendment grounds. Other anti-spam legislation would make it illegal not to remove an e-mail address from a spam list if requested. You can also report spam to the Federal Trade Commission at uce@ftc.gov --- just forward the offending spam email to this address.
Website for finding shortwave
frequencies
http://www.milaircomms.com/war_iraq.html
This
website lists shortwave frequencies and has various video live feed for news
agencies – all dealing with
Excel – Shortcut
I learn this trick from the group at the last meeting.
To quickly get to the last row --- hit the END key -- release it -- hit the down arrow (and you are quickly on row 65536).
To
quickly get to the last column --- hit the END key -- release it -- hit the
right arrow (and you are quickly on column IV)
If you want to select while
doing this -- hold down the SHIFT key while following the instructions above.
Windows Media Player 9
Be sure to create a RESTORE point BEFORE installing Windows Media Player 9 updates. This is so that you can roll back to a time before you installed it. Microsoft has made it impossible to remove the update with the Add/Remove Programs feature – so the only thing you can do, is to restore to a point before you installed it.
A Word For Small
Internet Providers
This was a statement that I read in Smart Computing magazine ----- By signing up with a smaller ISP, you support a LOCAL business rather than pouring money into the vast coffers of AOL/Time Warner or Microsoft.
Internet Explorer Repair Tool
Ever hear of it?? Did you know that there is an Internet Repair Tool?? I learned about this by reading about an error message that was reported in Smart Computing magazine (May 2003). The error message was “Explorer caused an invalid page fault in module SHDOC401.DLL”. We know that Explorer refers to Windows --- but Internet Explorer is so tightly integrated with Windows that it affects all sorts of things.
Well, you don’t have to reinstall Internet Explorer – the easiest way for you to fix this problem is to run the Internet Explorer Repair Tool, which replaces a corrupt SHDOC401.DLL file.
Click START – SETTINGS – CONTROL PANEL – ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS. Scroll down the list until you see Microsoft Internet Explorer. Click Add/Remove for this entry and when prompted, click Repair The Current Installation of Internet Explorer. Click OK and let the software do its work, monitoring it for error messages. Sometimes the tool cannot repair errors and will tell you to reinstall Internet Explorer. At this point, you should reinstall it. If you don’t see additional error messages, that means the repair tool has checked the integrity of all critical Internet Explorer files and replaced corrupt files with fresh copies.
If you cannot find an entry for Microsoft Internet Explorer in the ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS list – you can run the repair tool manually by clicking START – RUN and typing the following line exactly as it appears, keeping in mind that the command is case-sensitive.
For Internet Explorer 5.5 or earlier:
rundll32 setupwbv.dll,IE5Maintenance “C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\Setup\SETUP.EXE” /g “C:\WINDOWS\IE Uninstall Log.Txt”
For Internet Explorer 6.x:
Rundll32 setupwbv.dll,IE6Maintenance “C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\Setup\SETUP.EXE” /g “C:\WINDOWS\IE Uninstall Log.Txt”