Welcome to this week's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, June 6, 2010
In this Issue:
Special Feature: New Travel Scam Alerts for the Upcoming Vacation Season
Tips & Tricks: Create a Keyboard Shortcut for your Favorite Program
Featured Computer Term: The Top 30 Internet Terms for Beginners: 8. Blogging
This Week's Topic: Minimizing Spam - Never Respond to Spam
Question: Windows 7 Mouse Properties
Websites of Interest: Grocery Coupon Websites; Diets and Good Nutrition; Pet Information; Alzheimer’s Prevention
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Special Feature: New Travel Scam Alerts for the Upcoming Vacation Season
The following article is by Audri Lanford of scambusters.org
You are not the only person looking forward to your upcoming vacation. The travel scam artists share your eager anticipation. They have dreamed up some new tricks they hope you do not know about, and put a new spin on some of the old favorites. Here are some travel scams to be on the lookout for in 2010:
Fake car park attendants
Previously prevalent in Italy, this travel scam now pops up in many big European cities, where parking can be notoriously difficult.
The trick can take many forms. You may just drive onto a piece of wasteland where other cars are parked or you may enter a big, official parking lot. Either way, a "parking attendant" approaches you and hands you an official looking ticket, usually demanding a fairly exorbitant fee. You are tired, frustrated and there is a language problem, so you just hand over the cash.
Later, you discover you're either parked illegally or there's another fee to pay -- this time, the real one.
Action: You put yourself at risk if you do not know who owns the place where you are parking or what the real arrangements are for payment. Check them out the best you can. You can ask the attendant to show credentials -- but avoid confrontation.
Phony travel guides.
At a famous venue, a local offers to show you around for a fee. This may be a fairly obvious and transparent ruse, where he is just trying to make a quick buck. But some scammers pose as agents for official guides, taking your money and telling you to wait at a particular spot. Of course, they never return and there is no official guide.
Action: Guidebooks and online sites will tell you the arrangements for official, paid tours.
Free holiday awards
Although a well known travel scam, we can't miss out mentioning the "you've-won-a-free-vacation" scratch card trick because it's probably the number one scam on many European and Caribbean beaches this year.
There are numerous angles but the scam boils down to two things -- you'll either have to pay a "processing fee" to get your otherwise free vacation, which is really non-existent, or you'll be asked to attend a tedious presentation where they try to sell you timeshares or expensive vacation add-ons with high pressure sales tactics.
Action: Every one of these cards is a winner -- that ought to be enough to tell you what to do, but we will say it anyway: Treat these the same way you would an email that says you have won a lottery -- trash them.
Credit card problems
This is our catch-all for numerous tricks you need to be on the lookout for this year. These are the key ones:
- Try not to let your credit card out of your sight when you're using it in an unfamiliar place. Out of sight, the number and the crucial security code printed on the reverse could be written down.
- Don't be taken in by a trader in a foreign country who offers to bill your card in dollars, thereby saving you a foreign exchange fee from your card issuer. The trader will almost certainly use an extortionate exchange rate and you will end up out of pocket.
- Check how much your credit card issuer charges for foreign transactions. Some charge nothing, others as much as 3% of the value of the transaction.
Paying for paper tickets
When you book a flight online, you usually have the option of just using an "e-ticket" (basically a printout of your booking confirmation that you take to the check-in desk) or having an old-fashioned paper ticket mailed to you for an additional fee.
Usually, this is $10, which is what the International Air Transport Association says it costs.
But some unscrupulous travel agents and organizers are charging up to $40 or $50 for this questionable privilege.
Action: Do not take paper. But if you do, make sure you know what the fee is before committing yourself to buy. If the fee is too high, consider taking your business elsewhere.
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Tips & Tricks: Create a Keyboard Shortcut for your Favorite Program
Following these steps, you can create shortcuts to open your frequently used programs. Rather than the long process of maneuvering through the Stat menu to find the program you want to open, you can use a combination of keys to quickly start the program.
Here are the steps:
Open the Start menu and look for the program you want; right click on it. A menu will open, left click on Properties.
The Properties window will open; click in the shortcut key text area (you do not have to erase any text that is in there; when you type, the text will disappear). Choose an appropriate letter for the program you want to open and type it into the box. Example, use the letter i for Internet Explorer or w for Word. Ctrl + Alt +” will be automatically entered for you as soon as you type the letter in.
Click OK to finish creating the new keyboard shortcut. (In Windows Vista or 7, you may be asked to give administrator permission, click the OK or Continue button.
To use your new keyboard shortcut, hold down the CTRL key and the ALT key with one hand and press the letter you choose with the other. Release the letter key and then release the CTRL and ALT keys. Your program will open.
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Featured Computer Term: The Top 30 Internet Terms for Beginners: 8. Blogging
Whether you are brand new to using the Internet, or you've been using it for years, there are thirty important terms that are absolutely worth learning. Join us for our ongoing series on Internet terminology, where, with the help of Paul Gil from about.com, we provide definitions and information on the Top Internet Terms for Beginners.
This Week: 8. Blogging
A blog ('web log') is the modern online version of a writer's column. Amateur and professional writers publish their blogs on most every kind of topic: opinions on health care, commentaries on celebrity gossip, photo blogs of favorite pictures, tech tips on using Microsoft Office. Absolutely anyone can start a blog, and some people actually make reasonable incomes by selling advertising on their blog pages.
Web logs are usually arranged chronologically, and with less formality than a full website. Blogs vary in quality from very amateurish to very professional. It costs nothing to start your own personal blog.
Read more about blogging here:
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/031906.html
In our next edition: Social Media and Social Bookmarking
Please visit our Newsletter Archives to review the terms we’ve already covered:
http://computerkindergarten.com/30internetterms.html
Is there a computer term or phrase that you'd like to see an explanation of? Email it to info@computerkindergarten.com and we'll put the term and its definition in an upcoming newsletter.
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Today's Topic: Minimizing Spam - Never Respond to Spam
You should never respond to spam. In many cases, junk email is generated by a computer using random characters to make up email addresses. If you respond, you're letting the advertiser know that there’s a real, live person at the end of that email address and you may get even more junk email. Unless you actually respond, advertisers who send spam have no way of knowing whether or not you open and read their messages.
Junk emails often have details about how to remove your name from a mailing list in the body of the message. This can be anything from replying to the sender with the words unsubscribe in the subject line to going to a Web site. Never respond to spam! While advertisers from legitimate businesses will usually take your name off their mailing lists, with spammers, when you try to unsubscribe you’re really just confirming your e-mail address and you're likely to wind up on more spammers' lists of valid accounts.
In the next edition of this newsletter: Minimizing Spam – Report Spam
Visit our Newsletter Archives for previous articles on Minimizing Spam:
Minimizing Spam - Create a New Address
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/110908.html
Minimizing Spam – Registering Online
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/111608.html
Minimizing Spam – Stop the Forwarding Fiend
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/120708.html
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Question: Windows 7 Mouse Properties
Question: I just purchased a laptop. Can I use a mouse? I am not very comfortable with the touchpad.
Answer:
Yes, you can. Just plug the mouse in and the computer will automatically set it up for you. There will be a little message in the bottom right corner when the computer is finished setting it up. It will then be ready for you to use.
Question: I am left handed. On my old computer I switched the mouse buttons so I can use it with my left hand. Can I do this on my Windows 7 computer?
Answer:
Yes, you can. You will have to go into Mouse Properties to do so. Here are the steps:
Click the Start Orb at the bottom left of the screen. Open Control Panel. Click Hardware and Sound and then click Mouse. The Mouse Properties window will open.
You will see tabs across the top. Click the Buttons tab.
In the Buttons configuration area, click the checkbox to the left of Switch primary and secondary buttons. Click the OK button.
Question: Can I make the mouse pointer larger on my new Windows 7 computer? It is a little difficult to see right now.
Answer:
Yes, you can. Your computer comes with quite a few different pointers from which you can choose.
Click the Start Orb at the bottom left of the screen. Open Control Panel. Click Hardware and Sound and then click Mouse. The Mouse Properties window will open.
You will see tabs across the top. Click the Pointers tab. In the Scheme area, you will see a dropdown box with a small down arrow to the right. Click the down arrow. A list will display with the mouse pointer choices. You will see large and extra large choices in the list.
Click on one; below, in the Customize area, you will see a preview of the pointers in that scheme. When you find a scheme you like, click the OK button.
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Websites of Interest:
Grocery Coupon Websites
Question: My daughter in law prints out grocery coupons online. Can you tell me those websites?
Answer:
There are many websites that you can use. Here are a few:
http://www.groceryguide.com/
http://shortcuts.com/
http://www.couponchief.com/
http://www.coupons.com
http://smartsource.mygrocerydeals.com
http://www.valpak.com
http://www.ppgazette.com/
http://www.couponmom.com/
http://www.mambosprouts.com/
http://www.redplum.com/
Diets and Good Nutrition
From the U.S. National Library of Medicine, this site can help with planning a diet and staying healthy.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/diets.html
Pet Information
From the American Veterinary Medical Association, this site is filled with free audio and video media on pet-related topics.
http://www.avmamedia.org/
Alzheimers Prevention
This site provides information on reducing risk factors for Alzheimers.
http://www.alzprevention.org/