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Welcome to this week's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, February 25, 2007
In this Issue:
Special Feature: Internet Safety
This Week's Topic: Deleting Old Email
Question: Change in Daylight Savings Time
Websites of Interest: Who Shares Your Birthday?; Jungle Walk; Confessions of a Car Salesman
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Special Feature: Internet Safety
Question: How do I keep my computer safe on the internet?
Answer:
If you keep up with technology news, you will see that rarely, if ever, a day goes by where we hear nothing about some new threat, scam or hoax that is out there wrecking havoc on computers all over the world. All computer owners must take care to insure that their investment and information are safe.
Use a Firewall
A firewall is a piece of hardware or software that sits between your computer and the internet. It is designed to make your computer invisible when you are connected to the Internet.
Firewalls are used to prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing computers connected to the Internet. Everything entering or leaving the computer passes through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria.
If you are using a high speed internet connection that is always on, for example Optimum Online, you must use a firewall to prevent hackers from accessing your computer. Windows XP has a firewall as part of the program, but it has to be enabled (turned on).
To do so, click on the Start button. Open Control Panel, then Network Connections. Locate the connection that you’re using and under the Network Tasks tab, click to change settings of this connection. Under the Advanced Tab and Internet Connection Firewall, choose the option to protect my computer and network by limiting or preventing access to this computer.
If you are using Windows XP with SP2 (Service Pack 2), you will see Windows Firewall as soon as you go into Control Panel. Open it and enable the firewall.
Use an Antivirus Program
An Antivirus Program protects your computer from damage from viruses, and prevents your computer from being used to pass on viruses to other computers. An antivirus program will scan your email or other downloaded files before you open them to make sure they do not contain any viruses.
Viruses spread through email, disks, and Internet downloads.
Email. Do not open email from anyone you do not know and be very careful about downloading attachments. Be especially careful with attached files that have the following extensions: .exe, .com, doc, .bat, .xls, .hta, .vbs, .pif, and .scr, since viruses are usually sent in those types of files.
Disks. Be careful when using a CD or DVD that someone gave you. Make sure it was scanned for viruses so you do not copy any onto your computer.
Internet Downloads. Watch the sites you download from. Make sure they scan all files before putting them out to be downloaded.
In the past, viruses caused system crashes and data corruption. Nowadays, virus attacks are designed to give the sender/creator of the virus access to that computer. Once the attacker has access to the computer, he can look at personal information stored on that computer, or use the computer for any malicious task, hacking into other computers, for example.
What to look for in an Antivirus Program
An antivirus program should scan incoming and outgoing email and automatically remove viruses, worms and Trojan horses. Look for a program that will also detect and block viruses in instant messages, and download virus protection updates automatically.
Use an AntiSpyware Program
Spyware
Without your knowledge or permission, spyware has the ability to send information about you to any computer in the world. With hundreds of thousands of copies of commercially available spy software in use worldwide, there is a good chance your computer may be bugged right now, or if it isn't, it could be at any time.
Spyware is software that transmits personally identifiable information from your computer without your knowledge. It is generally used to silently track your personal information and surfing behavior to create a marketing profile that will be sold to advertisement companies.
Spyware is a relatively new kind of threat that most anti-virus programs do not yet adequately protect against. If you see unusual things happening on your computer, programs popping up that you didn't intentionally install, slowdowns, freezes, browser crashes, or things that have changed without your having changed them, you may have been infected with spyware.
Unfortunately, even if you do not see anything, you still may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging that is covertly entering computers without the owner’s knowledge or permission.
A less threatening sort or spyware is adware. Adware is similar to spyware, but does not usually transmit personally identifiable information. Instead, it collects information on Internet usage such as website visits and time spent on particular websites.
Another kind of spyware is tracking cookies. Cookies are used all over the internet in useful and less useful places. Advertisement companies often set cookies whenever your browser loads a banner from them. In that case, the company gets notice about every site you visit that contains their ads.
Learn more about cookies at this link:
http://stsico.com/html/cookies.html
It is very important that you protect yourself and your computer from spyware. There are many free spyware protection programs that can be downloaded and used. These programs will search your computer for instances of spyware and remove any that are found. Good anti spyware programs will also immunize your computer from known spyware that could infect you in the future.
One such program is Spybot – Search and Destroy. This can be downloaded at download.com. It is a free program that is very easy to use and provides good instructions and documentation.
Download Spybot:
http://tinyurl.com/78ubw
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Today's Topic: Deleting Old Email
Question: I use Outlook Express for my email. I have almost 500 items in my Sent folder. I know how to delete each email, but can I do all of them at once?
Answer:
Yes, you can. Here are the steps:
Open Outlook Express and then click on your Sent Items folder to open it.
Click on one of the emails in the Sent Items to select it. Hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard and then press the a key. Release the Ctrl key (this is the keyboard shortcut to select all items).
You can now delete all the emails as you usually do. A window will open asking you if you are sure you want to delete the messages; click the Yes button.
Note: depending on your version of Outlook Express, these deleted items may go into the Trash or Deleted Items folder. You can empty that folder with the same steps given above.
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Question: Change in Daylight Savings Time
The date that we push the clocks ahead this year is much earlier than it was previous years. In the past, my computer always updated for the time change. Will it do so this year?
Answer:
It depends on your operating system. Visit this website for a comprehensive list of operating systems and what you need to do, depending on the operating system on your computer.
http://tinyurl.com/39cfu3
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Websites of Interest:
Who Shares Your Birthday?
Visit this website to see the birthdays of famous people.
http://www.famousbirthdays.net/
Jungle Walk
Nature lovers will find a tremendous amount of information at this online animal encyclopedia.
http://www.junglewalk.com/
Confessions of a Car Salesman
Visit this website for a story by a writer who goes undercover as a car salesman. Learn what goes on in the back rooms of car dealerships, the sales tricks used, and how to avoid overpaying.
http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying/articles/42962/article.html |
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