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Question: My company's computers were down for a day and a half after getting hit by the 'Anna Kournikova' virus. We have an expensive antivirus program in place, but it didn't catch this one in time. Is there any advice you can give on avoiding these disasters?
Answer: Well, the good news is, if you don't use Microsoft Outlook, you are partially safe, since viruses like this one only infect Microsoft Outlook. (This virus is called a worm, by the way. What most of these files that end in 'vbs' do is run a small program that will go through your contact list or address book and send copies of itself to everyone on the list.)
However, if you do use Outlook, you should turn off the automatic preview pane. Having that on has the effect of automatically opening your email, and leaves your computer vulnerable to any attachments that may contain a virus.
To close the automatic preview pane, click View on the menu bar, then click Layout. You'll see the Window Layout Properties dialog box. Check off (click until the check mark goes away) Show preview pane.
Always have virus protection software on your computer. If you frequently bring in files from outside your computer, whether through downloading, bringing files in from other computers on floppy disks, or swapping programs with friends, you should upgrade your virus protection software on an average of about six months. If you never download, never bring in outside files, you don't have that much to worry about.
Your best protection is to keep informed. This newsletter is an excellent source of information on viruses and other important current events. If you hear of a new virus out, do NOT open any attachments from anyone! In any case, never open an attachment from people you do not know.
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Today's Featured Website: www.hilink.com.au/times
We're all familiar with those maps where they draw time lines across the flattened globe. Unfortunately, it's easy to get confused where anything is, not to mention whether it's yesterday or today, or maybe even tomorrow. This Australian site, Local Times Around the World, is much better in pinpointing places and times.
Select from a list of wide, generalized locales -- Asia, Pacific Ocean, Central America, anywhere -- then choose the country (sometimes even the city) you want to know about. Click, and up comes a screen with the current time at that spot as well as the Greenwich Mean/Universal Coordinated Time.
Great for finding times in hard-to-figure-out places like tiny islands, and cities and countries whose geographical locations are not too familiar to you.
http://www.hilink.com.au/times/
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Today's Featured Computer Term: USB
Short for Universal Serial Bus, a new external bus standard that supports data transfer rates of 12 Mbps (12 million bits per second). A single USB port can be used to connect up to 127 peripheral devices, such as mice, modems, and keyboards. USB also supports Plug-and-Play installation and hot plugging.
Starting in 1996, a few computer manufacturers began including USB support in their new machines. It wasn't until the release of the best-selling iMac in 1998 that USB became widespread. It is expected to completely replace serial and parallel ports.
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Today's Topic: Create a New Email Desktop Shortcut
You can create a shortcut on your desktop that will open up a blank email message in either Outlook or Outlook Express. Follow these steps to create the shortcut: 1. Right click on any unused space on your desktop.
2. Select New then Shortcut from the context menu.
3. In the location text box type "mailto:" (without the quotes).
4. Click Next.
5. Type New Message or whatever you want for the shortcut name.
6. Click Finish.
7. Now just double click the shortcut. A blank email message will appear ready to use.
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Progressive Learning Series:
How a Printer Works
When your PC is ready to print something, it needs to tell the printer how to print it. The instructions that the computer gives to the printer must include information about fonts, where to print text on the page, how and where to print pictures, and whatever else pertains to the particular document. It does this by using the printer's page description language. The most common page description language is PCL, used by Hewlett-Packard printers. PostScript is a common page description language used by other printers.
The information in the document to be printed needs to be translated into the printer description language. To do this, your PC uses a piece of software called a printer driver. This driver takes the information from your file and formats it in such a way that the printer can understand it, using the printer's page description language. Each printer has its own unique printer driver.
Using the printer driver, your PC sends the data to be printed through its parallel or USB port. The data travels over a special printer cable and then into a port on the printer.
The data is received by a processor inside the printer. The processor, which controls the printer mechanism, reads the instructions and instructs the printer on what to do.
Different kinds of printers use different technologies to do their actual printing. An inkjet printer, for example, uses a print cartridge that moves sideways across a piece of paper, which fires colored ink through tiny nozzles onto paper. |
