Computer Info – March 17, 2004

This Week’s Meeting

Happy St Patrick’s Day. Today we will concentrate on questions, answers and discussion. The remaining time we will again talk about organizing your files so that you can locate them.

The next meeting will be April 7th.

Organizing Your Files

Create an organization system so that you can easily locate your files (pictures, documents, spreadsheet files, etc). A good organization system also makes it easy to backup your information.

Find your my DOCUMENTS folder. You can locate it from the START menu (where it says Documents) – or from MY COMPUTER – C:\ DRIVE. Open the folder up and start creating folders for your organization. There should already be a folder for your Pictures – if you run Word, then create a folder for your documents that are created in Word – if you run Excel, then create a folder for your spreadsheets that are created in Excel – if you create MP3’s or WAVs, then create a folder for your music – create a folder for your Internet items (such as your address book and your bookmarks).

To create a folder – check to be sure that you are in the MY DOCUMENTS folder (look at the blue top to the window – it will tell you where you are). Then right-click in an empty area of the window and choose NEW – FOLDER. When you do this, you will see New Folder highlighted in blue – if you start typing, the words New Folder will disappear and what you are typing will become the name of the folder. Create as many of these folders as you think will help you organize your files. Only create one folder for PICTURES --- open the PICTURES folder to create subfolders to help you organize your pictures. It is a good idea to include the date in the name of the picture folders that you are creating.

Now, - put those folders to use! When you are in a program, be sure to save your information to one of these folders. By the way, ALL programs allow you to save your information wherever you want – so don’t let the program tell you where – you decide. For example, when you are in Word – go to TOOLS – OPTIONS – FILE LOCATIONS. Highlight Documents – click MODIFY and locate the folder where you would like to save your Word documents. You can do this in Excel also.

What about your address book and bookmarks? How do we save them to the Internet folder that we created? In Netscape, choose BOOKMARKS – MANAGE BOOKMARKS. Then choose TOOLS – EXPORT. Now locate your Internet folder and click on SAVE. In Netscape for your address book, choose WINDOW – ADDRESS BOOK. Then choose TOOLS – EXPORT. Locate your Internet folder and click on SAVE. In Internet Explorer, choose FILE – IMPORT AND EXPORT. This will start the wizard. Choose EXPORT FAVORITES Under the EXPORT TO A FILE OR ADDRESS, clik on the BROWSE button and locate your Internet folder. Then click on OPEN. In Outlook Express to backup your address book, click on the ADDRESS BOOK. Then choose FILE – EXPORT – ADDRESS BOOK. This will save it as a WAB file (that is compatible with the version of Outlook Express that you are using) – be sure to choose your Internet folder to save it in. It would probably be a good idea to also export it as OTHER ADDRESS BOOK and then save it as a TEXT FILE.

Now that all of your information is located in one place --- it is a good idea to backup it up. Since most users have a CD writer in their computer, that is a good place to save it.

Watch Out !!

Dialer

A dialer is a very small program, often installed using the ActiveX technology. Dialers often promise access to free porn, free games or free cracks for commercial software. Once installed, a dialer offers to use your dial-up device to call in to the service, usually calling a quite expensive toll number. Some dialers explain the costs of the connection they will be making, like it is required by local law in some countries, but many dialers just display a button offering to connect, without informing the user of what is happening behind it. In the worst case, the dialer sets up the expensive number as the default Internet connection, meaning the user will have to pay high rates for being online, without even knowing it until receiving the next bill.

Trojan

A trojan is a program that has gotten onto your machine without your knowledge and contains malicious code, that would for example allows persons using another computer to connect to yours over a network. Typical trojans are open to anyone trying to connect (any person on your local network or even the internet). Special trojans are designed to make you machine accessible just to the person who infected your computer with the trojan.

The access an outsider can gain using a trojan on your machine can be nearly anything. From watching all your behavior (like a keylogger) to manipulating your computer to basically doing anything you can also do using your keyboard and mouse.

Your computer can get infected with a trojan by multiple ways. A person with physical access to your machine can place it there, but you can also accidentally install it yourself by opening an unknown email attachment that by chance contains a trojan.

Hijacker

Any software that resets your browser's settings to point to other sites. Hijacks may reroute your info and address requests through an unseen site, capturing that info. In such hijacks, your browser may behave normally, but be slower. Homepage Hijackers will change your home page to some other site. Error Hijackers will display a new error page when a requested URL is not found.