This Month:

What's New

Warnings

Internet

FYI

Laugh a Little

We are PC correct but not necessarily when it comes to humor.. :-)
 

Any suggestions, recommendations or ideas found on this site are applied at your own risk.

Have problems or ideas you would like to have us address?  Let us know!
Like most sites, this one is designed for an 800x600 screen resolution.
Printed copies are available at the store. (Web Printing Hints)
For previous newsletters click here.

A Few Reminders...

If you have a new computer: Save your orignal CDs!

• Be sure to activate the antivirus application immediately!  
   
• If your new computer is more than *90 days old, or
  if you have not paid for a subscription within the last year,
  your antivirus application is out-of-date and you are not protected. More details on this issue in the 0302 newsletter.

* Many new computers come with a 90-day free trial version, but after that period you must pay to renew the subscription.  Wonder if your antivirus is up-to-date?  Click here

Looking to buy a new computer: 

Click here for some ideas that may help your decision.

Another Expo

Annandale's Expo was once again a great time. 

Thanks to all for stopping by our booth.   Hope you enjoyed the Expo as much as we did...

A special thanks to everyone that helped
setup and tear down!

Not Just Email Attachments

Symantec reported threats related to P2P (Peer to Peer such as Kazaa, Napster and other file sharing apps), IM (Instant Messengers such as AOL, Yahoo and MSN) and IRC (Internet Relay Chat such as ICQ and mIrc) make up 50 percent of its top 50 threat submissions, up from 32 percent covering the same period one year earlier.

Viruses

Between March 1st and March 17th there were 78 new viruses! 

Serflog Virus, Released March 7

If you are receiving a "formatsys" error, your computer is running slow or we cleared a virus since the beginning of March, you should visit this Symantec site and run the cleanup tool listed. 

There is no harm running this tool if you do not have the virus so if in doubt, run it!

eBay Users, Be Aware!

It is estimated that 50% of Internet fraud is via on-line auctions.  Know what you are doing and who you are dealing with before purchasing.  Here is a short article on things you can do to protect yourself.

Higher Monitor Prices?

Like porcelain, oil and various other commodities, materials used to make LCD (flat panel and laptop monitors) are apparently in short supply. The Article

We are not necessarily saying run out and buy that desired flat panel or TV.  On the other hand...

Nag, Nag, Nag...  Backup Your Data!

Failure to have data backups could easily result in hours of recreation time and perhaps even loss in business revenues. 

Microsoft has a fairly good article on data backup (click here) and perhaps redundant to the Microsoft article we also offer some detailed information here.

Attention customers using Microsoft's NTBackup and other automated backup systems.

Check the backup reports often!  If the report does not indicate your data folders/files were successfully backed up, you may have nothing to restore if the need ever arises! 

Have a PDA?

This too should be backed-up.  If using Microsoft ActiveSync, Tools menu > Backup then click the Change button and select a folder on the computer where the backup file will be stored.  Preferably under the My Documents folder so when you do your normal data backup you have a copy on CD or whatever media you use.

You may also want to change the backup file name on occasion to reflect the date but remember, you cannot use the slash (/) in a file name... 

For (a lot) more on saving files and file names, click here.

Adware/Spyware; Here To Stay?

Why does a Norton scan report spyware but does nothing to remove it from your computer?  One likely reason is; companies that create "spyware" applications are suing antivirus and antispyware producers for removing/disabling and even just referring to their product as adware/spyware.  More from the original article here.

If you are having problems with pop-ups, slow Internet or simply curious what is on your machine, try TrendMicro's on-line scanner.  TrendMicro is taking a little firmer stance with their scan results.  While it is not the end-all cleanup utility, it does a fairly nice job.  Try it out here.     

Hyperlinks

Review: Hyperlinks are found on the web and email messages and when clicked, take you to a specific site/page but not everything is at it seems!  This link for example appears to take you to http://www.microsoft.com but if you click it you will end up at our home page.  If you hover the mouse over the link you will see the destination in the status bar, but email links are not that obvious. 

Click for more information.

Designing a Web Site?

While word processors and similar applications are extremely powerful and very flexible, the Internet is not!  Web pages are very limited when it comes to formatting, spacing and fonts.  Below are the universal web fonts (a.k.a. "web safe" fonts), i.e., those that are recognized by nearly all computers regardless of the operating system.

Fonts appearing in your computer's font list may or may not be available on other computers.  If you use a font in a web page not available on other computers, the browser will simply replace the unknown font with a standard font and the result may be a very poor looking page. 

If you want a font not universally accepted, you will have to make an image out of whatever word/paragraph you want displayed, example:

this is how your browser interprets it.

The entire sentence above is the same font but chances are your computer does not have that particular font hence the second half appears different.

"Web Safe" fonts, some are available in bold, italics or both:

• Arial
• Arial Black
• Comic Sans
• Courier New
• Georgia
• Impact
• Times New Roman
• Trebuchet
• Verdana
• Webdings, e.g.   ciadb

More information on web design visit the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) http://www.w3.org/

Using an Instant Messenger?

As we mentioned in What's New, instant messenger and other such services are moving to the top of the threat list.  IM attachments containing viruses are becoming common place!

If you use or allow an instant messenger service on your computer, please read this security article from Microsoft.

Faxing from Windows (XP)

Like many versions of Windows, there is a built in fax service in Windows XP.  You can send and receive with this service but first, you will need a modem with fax capability.  It can be very difficult to determine if the modem is fax complaint or not.  Many, but not all modems will indicate such if you look at the modem properties via Control Panel > Phone & Modems and click on the modem tab.  If it does not plainly indicate "fax" or you are not sure, try setting up the fax service as discussed here.  During the setup process you should be informed if your modem is not fax complaint.  If it is compliant...

To send a fax from your word processor (or another application), select the Fax Printer from the File menu > Print option and follow the Fax Wizard prompts. 

To receive faxes, setup the service as discussed in this article but be aware when the computer is running and receive mode is on, the computer will answer all incoming calls.  A lot more information is available here by entering the key search word fax.

More Quick Keys

• Have multiple users on your Windows XP machine? 
  Window Key + L 
• To open a pulldown/dropdown menu without the mouse
  Alt + down arrow key (a.k.a. cursor control key)
• More quick ways to minimize all applications and view the desktop.
  Windows + M or Windows + D    Thanks Darryl

Background Image (Wallpaper) not Showing?

Try this:  Turn off the Active Desktop, Change Wallpaper to none and click apply. Turn the Active Desktop on again.  Then select the desired wallpaper.

Laptop Battery Life Hints

• Fully charge new notebook batteries before first use.
• Do not expose notebook batteries to excessive heat. 
• If you won't be using your notebook for a while, remove the battery and store it in a cool, dry place.  
• Allow your notebook battery to fully discharge from time to time.

RealPlayer

Perhaps an oddity but we recently had a computer that when the digital camera was connected, the Camera Wizard would not start.  After much research we found Real Player was Interfering with the wizard.  Uninstalling Real Player resolved the problem!

Just for fun:

A lawyer wrote a will for an elderly lady. She asked the price and he said, "One hundred dollars, please." She gave him a crisp new $100 bill without noticing that a second $100 bill was stuck to it.

Immediately, the lawyer faced an ethical dilemma:

"Do I have to report this on my taxes?"