Dave Bytes

Dave "Bytes"

Please remember to use your thinker, before you tinker!

April 10, 2005

A Periodic Newsletter for the Members of the Sarasota PC User Group and the World!!

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Here's A Windows Tip

The solid box behind a shortcut label can be very annoying, especially if you have dozens of icons on your desktop.

It doesn't take much to change this.
Right-click "My Computer" and choose Properties (or hold down Alt & double left-click "My Computer") to bring up the Systems Properties window.
Select the "Advanced" tab.
Under "Performance" click the "Settings" button. This will bring up the Performance Options window.
Under the "Visual Options" tab, click the "Custom" radio button. You'll see a list of check boxes. Check off the one that says, "Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop".
Then "Apply" or "OK" to make the change.
When you go back to your desktop the labels should be clear. Now you can see your wallpaper better.

BITS

BYTES

Every
Thursday
at
6:00 pm

WLSS Radio
am930

My Special Guest
on April 28th will be

Steve Bass

Steve is a contributing
writer for PC World
and the author of
PC Annoyances

To subscribe to
Steve's E-Newsletter
click here

Clicking on Dave will take you to the

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Here's A Security Tip

Phishing

Using email to leverage your trust in a company, brand, or person and trick you into providing personal financial information or access vehicles (passwords, account names, email addresses) to an unknown person or group.
If you receive an email that you think is a “phish”, the tips below can keep you from taking the bait.

1. Know thyself: Know the online companies you deal with. When a suspect email arrives, remember: it could be fraud, it's definitely spam, and it is definitely not for you. Delete it.

2. Subject matters: Consider the subject line of an email carefully. Citibank will never send you an email headed “_Citiibank_account_update ACT-N0W”. These messages may get through spam filters because they appear to come from a reputable source, but that doesn’t mean it’s really from Citibank.

3. Learn the language: Understand how the companies you deal with want to interact with you. For example, banks usually want you to access your account through their website–not an email link. “Phishing” emails stand out because they don’t follow the rules.

4. Browsing around: Practice safe browsing. Open a new browser window each time you log on to a web site that displays personal information. When you are done at that site, log out and close that browser window.

5. Spelling counts: Be sure to read emails that say they are from companies you know. Sometimes a real email will have a spelling or grammatical error, but anything more than one error is suspicious.

6. Mousing around: Scroll over the links in emails you receive and check them. In some email systems, you can scroll over the different links in an email and see the actual contents of the link. If the email says PayPal, but the link content says “ www.paipall.com”, be careful. And note: URLs can be disguised—so don’t take a suspect link at face value.

7. All form, no function: Never enter your personal or credit information into a form in an email. If you feel the email is legitimate, call the company or visit their web site and log in to provide the requested information.

8. It’s personal: Expect good customer service. Unless your name is “eBay User” or “johndoe99”, most “phishing” emails are not personalized. If you receive a “Dear Customer” email, it may be time to move on. Stay on Guard

9. Make a statement: Read your statements – every one, every month to ensure your charges and debits are
correct. Often information obtained through phishing is not used right away. Stay vigilant and report any
suspicious activity immediately.

10. Stay current: Use and maintain your email protection software for spam blocking, fraud blocking, and anti-virus. If you have any questions, there are many fine web sites which can provide the latest information on the latest virus, “phishing” attack, or on-line scam.

"Phishing" schemes will continue to get more sophisticated and harder to detect. A combination of technology and consumer awareness is the key to keeping the “phish” at bay and making your email good again.

Here's A Google Search Tip

Google SafeSearch filtering

Many users prefer not to have adult sites included in search results (especially if their kids use the same computer). Google's SafeSearch screens for sites that contain explicit sexual content and deletes them from your search results. No filter is 100% accurate, but SafeSearch should eliminate most inappropriate material.
You can choose from among three SafeSearch settings:
Moderate filtering excludes most explicit images from Google Image Search results but doesn't filter ordinary web search results. This is your default SafeSearch setting; you'll receive moderate filtering unless you change it.
Strict filtering applies SafeSearch filtering to all your search results (i.e., both image search and ordinary web search).
And finally…
No Filtering, as you've probably figured out, turns off SafeSearch filtering completely.
You can also adjust your SafeSearch settings on the Advanced Search or the Advanced Image Search pages on a per search basis.

Here's A Special Offer From

CompUSA and I wish to thank all of the attendees at the FACUG Spring Regional Conference for welcoming us in and stopping by at our booth! We hope to keep the momentum going by offering all members exceptional savings! Spread the word! All SPCUG members get a discount by contacting me or logging on! Go to www.compusabusiness.com - our business access website. Enter email login: usergroupmember@compusa.com and password: 636237 to gain entry. Or call Victor K., at 813-350-7034 and identify yourself as a member to receive your discounts AND speak to a live representative!

Spread the word! Members at the show asked for it and here it is: go wireless! Unadvertised special for March & April:

ParkerVision (our booth attendee at the show) Wireless Router-our part# 315987 and wireless PC LAN card #315989. Both for $167.77. This all you need to take a laptop away from your desk and to the couch! You must call Victor K. at 813-350-7034 for the special price! Offer thru our location only.

Access Encarta Articles For Free

Lots of people took issue with the fact that some of the articles aren't available for free on the Web. But did you know that you can read and edit all of our articles when you search for them through MSN Search?

http://beta.encarta.msn.com/

The "Bytes" Beg, Bargain & Barter Basement

Got something "computer related" to sell? Looking for that rare peripheral? If it's computer related you can submit a short classified ad for exposure in Dave "Bytes". Be sure to include your name and e-mail address in the ad. You can also include a picture of the item. Now some would suggest that there be a charge for this feature but alas, since my bookkeeping skills leave much to be desired I've determined that this will be a free service to all SPCUG members in good standing. "Bytes" is currently sent to almost 1500 homes in the area. Ad requests will be included as soon as possible. I assume absolutely no responsibility as to the accuracy or completeness of supplied info. All transactions are between consulting adults which leaves me entirely off the hook. Please let me know by clicking HERE when your merchandise is sold so that I can remove it from the listing. I will try to run each ad for a month.

Click Here To Submit Your Ad

19 Formatted ZIP Disks

Best Offer

Chris Blunt

imoos84@comcast.net

Logitech QuickCam Pro 3000 Web Camera

Originally $99.00
Asking $40.00

E-mail: dave_bytes@comcast.net

And Now Here's

Dave's Cool Download

Adobe Acrobat Reader Speedup ia a simple utility that was created to help make the loading time of Adobe's Acrobat/Reader software bearable for everyday use.
AR SpeedUp only needs to be used once (a process taking only a few seconds) and then your Reader will be transformed forever. There are also some tweaking options available.

Thanks to SPCUG Lifetime Member Curt West for this submission

While Wandering The Web

Google Fight

This site is really cool! Put in any two keywords and have them duke it out. How do they win? Well, this site searches to see how many listings there are for the words and then the one with the most wins the fight.

I put in tea vs. coffee and coffee won with a grand total of 53,500,000 results to tea's measly 37,200,000.

You can also check out the last 20 fights by clicking the option for it on the side menu. This will show you what other words are fighting it out. Or you can choose the Classics. The Classics consists of the following:

God vs. Satan
Pen vs. Sword
Tony Parker vs. Michael Jordan

Those are just a few. Check out the rest by visiting the Classics. My favorite section though is Funny Fights. Here "Me" fights "Myself" and Me wins by a landslide (probably thanks to the Windows OS), or Alpha vs. Beta and Beta wins by a slimmer margin.

You should check "Fight of the Month" too, where Pro vs. Con, The vs. One, while the Beatles and The Rolling Stones duke it out. To find out who comes out on top you'll have to visit the section and watch them battle it out.

Pit your favorite words or people against each other, or even your favorite animals. I was surprised at the slim margin that Lion won over Penguin. This is just a lot of fun and you can keep it as versatile as you want by changing up what you use to fight it out. You should put names in quotes to get more exact results.

From people, places, things, words—you name it—if it is on the web you can have it fight right before your eyes.

http://www.googlefight.com/

SPECIAL OFFER FOR SPCUG MEMBERS

WebEyes® Easiest way to read the Web™

20% DISCOUNT AVAILABLE TO SPCUG MEMBERS*

Seniors and others across the country have purchased Web Eyes to help them read on the Web.

Web Eyes ALLOWS THE READER TO EASILY INCREASE THE FONT SIZE ON ANY WEB SITE (UP TO 144 PT) ; AND ELIMINATES SCROLLING--scrolling documents are "Read like a Book", just turn the pages.

AND THE BEST NEWS----IT COSTS SPCUG MEMBERS LESS THAN $20!

Web Eyes has received RAVE REVIEWS from the WSJ, USA Today, and others----including Sandy Berger, lead technology consultant for AARP--the link is: http://www.aarp.org/learntech/computers/software/Articles/a2004-09-30-webeyes.html

FOR A 15-DAY FREE TRIAL AND DETAILS ON THE KEY FEATURES---GO TO www.WebEyes.us

*SPCUG members can purchase this simple, easy to use software at a 20% discount:*

$ 19.95 downloaded (members save $5.00)

$ 27.95 CD, plus s/h (members save $7.00)

To purchase at the discount price, go www.WebEyes.us and click on “BUY NOW”. Complete the information for purchase of a CD (mailed to you) or a downloaded version. Enter the Promotion Code APCUG to receive the 20% discount.

Feds Prefer WordPerfect

Many US Government agencies use WordPerfect and they’re still buying it in thousands.

Earlier this month the Department of Justice (DOJ) licensed more than 50,000 "seats" with WordPerfect Office 12 and the once-dominant word processor still has a place in many federal bureaus, despite the emergence of Microsoft’s Word as the market-leading writing tool, after the pencil.

WordPerfect is "the tool of choice for the legal arena," said Mary Aileen O'Donovan, Program Manager for the Justice Management Division at the DOJ. "Corel has consistently shown that they really understand how enterprise agreements should work–we pay once and then go forth in use. Corel understands our needs and that makes our life a lot easier,"
she effused in a Corel press release.

Federal courts still require case documents to be filed in WordPerfect and many government agencies still favor the software.

WordPerfect was the dominant word processor for many years, especially when PCs still ran DOS. Its demise coincided with the rise of Windows and the licensing of WordPerfect to Borland, which tried - and failed - to launch an office suite to rival Microsoft's Office. Corel finally picked up the pieces and has since brought WordPerfect Office to version 12.

Here's A "Neat Net Trick"

Here's A Special Offer For All SPCUG Members From Smart Computing

Every current member of SPCUG will be given a free 3 month subscription to Smart Computing Magazine

Current subscribers will receive a copy of the new “How To Use eBay” Reference Series issue.
You can check it out online here

http://tinyurl.com/3mctl

This very cool offer to our members comes with no strings attached but I believe that once you've had a chance to read Smart Computing magazine you'll begin to understand why, those of us who do subscribe, continue to do so year after year.

By the way ...
The 3 month free subscription also comes with unlimited access to www.smartcomputing.com

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Here's A Downloading Tip

When downloading a file off the internet you should first hit the button that says "Save", then a window comes up that says "Save As" at the top.
In this window you can navigate to the folder where you want the download to go.
I often send them to the desktop or a "Downloads" folder in My Documents. That way I'm not searching around for the file.

Pause For Thought