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November 10, 2003
This is the first issue of a monthly newsletter to help you get the most out
of your computer and help you avoid some of the bumps, traps and pitfalls of the
computer world. The newsletter will be available in paper form through the mail or electronic
form through email. If you would like to receive a copy, please email me at
dfolske@ndsuext.nodak.edu or call the Burke County Extension
Office at 701-377-2927.
Internet Account Thefts
We’ve
all heard about identity theft on the news. It’s a growing problem on the
internet too. In the past week I’ve received two emails from
suspend@ebay.com. According to these emails, my Ebay account
has been suspended and I need to click on the link in the email, log in and
re-enter my bank account and credit card numbers, my mothers maiden name and
the question and answer I can use for password retrieval if I forget my
password.
The emails look entirely genuine with the ebay logos and copies of the
sections of the user agreement which says they can suspend my account.
The request for account numbers raised a big red flag with me so instead
of clicking on the link in the email, I surfed to ebay’s website and logged
into my account through the "My Ebay" link and found nothing wrong. I then
followed the "Help" link on the main Ebay header and typed "suspend" in the
help window which popped up. The first link that came up was "suspended
account information". I clicked on that and found a note that some members
had reported attempts to gain account information by fake suspension
notices. By going to the Ebay "Community" link and the "Trust and Safety"
discussion boards, I found a lot of information about these types of scams.
A few things to remember can help you avoid being a victim of similar
scams:
- Honest businesses which you deal with on the web don’t have to email you
asking for account information. You’ve already provided it through their
secure server!
- If you receive an email telling you to click on a link in the email to
log into to your account and re-enter or check your information to make sure
it’s correct - DON’T! Most real business will tell you to log into your
account through the normal link on their website. Even if you believe the
email to be a real contact from the company, I suggest you go through your
web browser (Internet Explorer or Netscape) to access the company’s website
and log in through your normal links.
- If in doubt, go to the companies website and look for a phone number or
email address to contact the company. Don’t just "Reply" to the suspicious
email. You would just be replying to the individual who sent it in the first
place and he/she would assure you it is legitimate.
Email
Fraud
Some people in
the area have recently received emails claiming to be from a credit card
company which has just received a charge to your credit card account and
asking you to OK it or deny it. It asks you to fill in your credit card
account number and expiration date and then click yes or no.
Do NOT do this! It is an attempt to steal your card.
Emailing Pictures
Do you have a scanner or a digital camera? Do you send picture by email?
Recently I’ve had several calls from people who couldn’t get their email to
work at all or who couldn’t receive particular emails which they were
expecting. Another complaint was that the emails they were trying to send
were not deliverable. They would get messages back from their server which
said the message could not be delivered.
In each case the problem has turned out to be emails with large photos
attached. Most web-based email services like "Yahoo" or "Hotmail" have
limits on maximum file size and total used server space. If a single email
is too large, they will not accept it. If the total space used by emails in
the account has reached the maximum, the server will refuse to accept
additional deliveries.
Some internet service providers also have limits on the email accounts
they provide. Many of them also have "timeouts" on their dial-up access. If
a single download file takes 15 minutes or 30 minutes or more to download
the server interprets the connection as inactive and terminates the
connection.
My digital camera has a resolution quality capability of 2.1 megapixals.
A typical picture in the HQ (high quality) mode will be 420 or 500 kilobytes
in size. A picture this size would take about 4 minutes to download with a
28,000 bytes per second (bps) connection speed. A really good connection
with a 56K modem might be 45,000 bps. That would still take over 2 minutes
to receive a single picture through email. If I set the camera to SHQ (super
high quality), the file size more than doubles. If I set the camera to
record in TIFF format instead of jpeg (the standard for digital photos), the
file size will be 16 times larger than the HQ jpeg size of 400 to 500
kilobytes. That would mean over an hour to download a single picture at a
connection speed of 28,000 bps.
For viewing on a computer screen, even the 400 kilobyte size means I have
to scroll horizontally and vertically to see the whole picture. Downsizing
the photo to just fit on my screen reduces the file size from 400 to 80
kilobytes and means a corresponding reduction in download time.
Most digital cameras come with software to easily downsize photos for
emailing. If you don’t currently have a program for that, you might try
downloading Kodak Easy Share from
www.kodak.com. It’s free and easy to
use.
New Bowbells & Burke County Websites
www.bowbellsnd.com and
www.burkecountynd.com are two new websites you should look
up.
bowbellsnd.com is a website I have developed for the Bowbells Area
Development Corporation. The purpose of the site is to provide basic
information about the area and provide contacts for anyone wanting to learn
more. Hunters and other potential visitors will be able to see what our area
offers. People planning a move to the area will find information on
available housing.
The burkecountynd.com site is the homepage of the Burke County Job
Development Authority. It is similar in purpose to the Bowbells site but is
focused on the whole county.
Both sites feature links to other sites of a local and regional nature
including communities, schools, main street businesses and home-based
businesses.
Both pages are and will always be "under construction" as old information
is removed and new information is added. If you have information, ideas,
photos or links you would like to see added to either or both of these
pages, please email me at
dfolske@ndsuext.nodak.edu or call
the Burke County Extension Office at 377-2927 or call Marcia Olney at the
Job Development Office, 377-5627.
Speed Up Your Computer
Is your computer slower than it used to be? Many programs install
themselves so they launch automatically at startup. Whether you need them or
not, they are using memory and processes space. I’ve seen computer with over
100 programs running in the background making the computer extremely slow!
Pressing the Ctrl, Alt, and Del at the same time will bring up the Task
Manager which lists all open programs. If you have more than five or six
when you don’t have any programs open, your computer will benefit from using
MSCONFIG to reconfigure your startup files if you are using Windows 98, ME
or XP.
Click on "Start", then on "Run". In the "Open" window type MSCONFIG, then
click OK. This will open the "System Configuration Utility". Click on the
"Startup" tab. You can disable programs by unchecking the box in front of
the name.
It is normally safe to disable anything listed in this "Startup" window
however there are a few things you shouldn’t or may not want to. Your
anti-virus program should not be disabled. If you disable the "System Tray"
you will lose your clock and volume control on the taskbar.
Disabling programs like "Weatherbug" and "Create CD" do not prevent you
from using them. You will just have to open them from the normal program
menu by clicking "Start" or from a shortcut on your desktop. This way they
will not be running and using up memory even when you are not using them.
You will see a number of programs like ctfmon.exe or Atiptaxx. You can
identify these and learn if you should disable them or leave them by going
to a site like Answers That Work
www.answersthatwork.com/ and
clicking on the "Task List" button. Click on the number or letter that the
program name starts with and scroll down alphabetically until you find the
program.
It may take a little time but it is a simple process and it can put new
life into your old computer.
Tips for Using MS Word
Do you use "Word" a lot? Most computers today have MS Word installed
either as part of "Works" or as part of Microsoft Office. If you write
letters or do other word processing tasks, you will know how time consuming
it can be to keep moving your hand from the keyboard to the mouse and back
again. There are many combinations of keystrokes known as keyboard
shortcuts. Learning these keystrokes can save you a lot of time.
Here are a few:
| Ctrl + C |
Copies the selected text to the clipboard |
| Ctrl + X |
Cuts the selected text to the clipboard |
| Ctrl + V |
Pastes the contents of the clipboard to the current
location |
| Ctrl + A |
Selects the entire document |
| Ctrl + F |
Brings up the "find" dialogue box |
| Ctrl + P |
Brings up the "print" dialogue box |
| Ctrl + Del |
Deletes one word to the right of the cursor |
| Ctrl + Backspace |
Deletes one word to the left of the cursor |
| Alt + Backspace |
Un-does the previous action |
| Ctrl + Enter |
Starts a new page in your document |
| Ctrl + B |
Toggles the current font between Bold and non-Bold |
| Ctrl + I |
Toggles the current font between Italic and non-Italic |
| Ctrl + U |
Toggles the current font between Underlined and
non-Underlined |
| F7 |
Starts the Word Spell Checker |
| Shift + F7 |
Starts the Word Thesaurus |
| Ctrl + S |
Saves the current document |
| Ctrl + N |
Starts a new document in a new Word window |
Windows Update
Have you installed the critical updates to your operating system? As
hackers develop new viruses and find new ways to hack into networks and
individual computers, Microsoft develops "patches" to stop them. If you are
not installing the critical updates from Microsoft, you are leaving your
computer vulnerable. It’s like driving in Los Angles or New York and not
locking your car.
If you use Internet Explorer for accessing web pages on the internet just
click on "tools" at the top of the Internet Explorer window, then on
"Windows Update". The Windows Update website will open. Click on "Scan for
Updates" and install any critical updates your computer finds.
- A Word of Caution - If you get an email from Microsoft telling you to
"click on a link in the message to update your computer" - don’t do it. This
is a virus! Microsoft does not send these types of emails to customers!
Pop-Up Killers
Are you tired of pop-up ads when you are surfing the web. These ads are
getting so common that it can be difficult to find information or even to
follow links in a website.
Pop-up killer software can be a partial solution. There are many
different programs available through retail stores like Walmart or OfficeMax
or online at websites like download.com. I am currently using Smart Pop-up
Killer, a free program which I downloaded from download.com. I was easy to
setup and use. It offers five different setting from "allow pop-up" to
"block all pop-ups". You may wonder why you would want any setting other
than "block all". Many sites have links to pays that open in new windows.
The Bowbells Schools site, bowbells.k12.nd.us is one of them. If you go to
the activities page and then click on "Speech", "Music", "Pep Club",
"Student Council" or "Class Officers" with your pop-up killer set to "block
all" these pages will not open. Regardless of which pop-up killer you try,
make sure it has variable settings and is easy to turn off and on.
New Computer Virus
A new virus called Mimail has been identified and has been found in the
North Dakota State University System.
It will appear to come from the administrator of your email provider and
the plain text portion of the email will tell you that your email address is
expiring and you should read the attachment for details.
These messages will have an attachment named message.zip, which contains
the actual virus.
Both McAfee and Norton anti-virus software will detect this virus if your
virus definitions are up-to-date.
Dan Folske
Extension Agent/Burke County
Soil Conservation Technology Specialist
PO Box 280
Bowbells, North Dakota 58721
dfolske@ndsuext.nodak.edu
701-377-2927
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