"Daylight-saving time will take effect in just two months, so
it's not too soon for consumers and businesses to check computers
and electronic devices to make sure they are updated to accommodate
the earlier start and later end dates," said John Venator, president
and chief executive officer, CompTIA. 
| I hear about
programs having "skins"—what does that mean? |
 Before
all of our animal loving readers start typing angry email to
me, animals are not harmed in the making of "skins" for
programs (although you can get animal patterned ones). These
"skins" are graphic files used to change the appearance of
the user interface to a program. They are sometimes called
"themes" and are like wallpaper for your browser, media
player, or other programs. You can often download them for
free from the software developer, a user group, or even a
fan site.Popular media players like WinAmp, MusicMatch, RealOne, and Windows Media Player all offer skins. They are available for most browsers like Netscape, Opera, and Internet Explorer. Every program has a different way to acquire and apply skins. Usually you need to look under Options or Preferences, then choose "Change skin" or "Choose theme"—something like that. For example, in Netscape (6 and higher) you go to the View menu, "Apply Theme" and "Get New Themes". This will take you to the Netscape "Theme Park" where you can choose a new skin for your browser. Once downloaded you can change the theme whenever you want to. One word of warning though: some sites that offer skins try to install Hotbar or other spyware/adware on your system. Hotbar is one company that offers oodles of neat browser skins for Internet Explorer, however, their privacy statement clearly explains that they collect and store information about the web pages you view and the data you enter into search engines. They are also nice enough to send you "targeted" pop-up ads. Another one to be aware of is a browser called NeoPlanet that offers hundreds of skins, but upon reading their privacy statement you will find that they collect information (like email address and browsing habits) that they pass on to their "partners" (anyone with a check book) so they can send you email advertisements (a/k/a s-p-a-m!). Just remember that "free" isn't always FREE—the money to design these skins has to come from somewhere. As always, carefully read the privacy statement before you download anything. If you don't mind giving up a little privacy, there's all kinds of neat stuff out there. Being cool does have a price sometimes. But, if done wisely, you can make that boring browser or media player your own with a cool new skin! |
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New Trojan Small.DAM Warning
This is REAL .... This is IMPORTANT
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Here's An Outlook Express Tip
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When you "delete" email in Outlook Express, they aren't really deleted! If you ever upgraded one version of Outlook Express to a newer version you probably experienced that: after upgrading you notice a lot of old email you thought you had deleted "returned". Outlook Express just removes the "pointers" to the actual email from the index, but to actually remove the email itself, you need to run the Compact Folder function. You can access this function from the Outlook Express menu: File > Folder. You can choose either Compact or Compact all Folders, the difference is that the first one only compacts the folder currently selected. |
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Potential Tech Headache Looms When Daylight Savings Time Returns The expansion of daylight-saving time in the United States and Canada later this year has the potential to impact the operations of computers and other electronic devices with time zone features, the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) warned. Within the U.S. and Canada, computers, personal digital assistants, video cassette recorders, digital video recorders, phones, and any other electronic devices that have a time zone setting will require a small software update to accommodate the change in daylight-saving time. Otherwise, the internal clocks in the devices could be off by one hour for three weeks in the spring and for one week in the fall.
In 2007, daylight-saving time will begin at 2 a.m. (local time) Sunday, March 11 and end at 2 a.m. Sunday, November 4. The start date is three weeks earlier than in 2006, and the end date is one week later. The expansion of daylight-saving time in the U.S. was included in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Arizona, Hawaii, and parts of Alaska and Indiana are unaffected since they do not observe daylight-saving time. The same start and end dates will be observed in Canada in 2007. All major computer operating systems have released a software patch to reflect the change of the start and end dates for daylight-saving time. Computers using an operating system automatic update feature will soon receive the software patch if it hasn't already. Most cable and satellite television tuners and digital video recorders will receive an update automatically with the current show schedule. However, many computers and other electronic devices will require the manual installation of a software update. This includes almost all computers, PDAs, VCRs, and mobile phones which are not connected to the Internet. Voice-over-IP phone systems, GPS navigation systems, alarm clocks, and other "smart home" appliances may also be affected. Users will have to check the settings on these devices to determine if they recognize daylight-saving time; and if the correct start and end dates are present in the settings. If not, consumers should contact the service provider or product manufacturer to find out how to update the settings for each affected device. |
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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.
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New Series
Top 10 Dumb Things Users Do That Can Mess Up Their Computers
We all do dumb things now and then, and computer users are no exception. Inadvertently pressing the wrong key combination or innocently clicking OK in the wrong dialog box can change important settings that alter a computer’s behavior or even crash the system.
Nervous newbies are often fearful that one wrong move might break the computer forever. Luckily, short of taking a sledge hammer to the box, the consequences aren’t usually quite that dire. Even so, users often do create problems for their computers and for your network. In this series we'll examine a description of common missteps (in no particular order) you can use to help steer clear of preventable problems.
Open all attachments
Some folks just can’t help themselves: Getting an e-mail message with an attachment is like getting an unexpected gift. You just have to peek inside to see what it is. But just as that package left on your doorstep could contain a bomb, that file attached to your mail message could contain code that will delete your documents or system folder or send viruses to everyone in your address book.
The most blatantly dangerous attachments are executable files--those that run code--with extensions like .exe, .cmd, and many others (see http://antivirus.about.com/od/securitytips/a/fileextview.htm for a list of file extensions for different types of executables). Files that aren’t themselves executables, such as Word .doc files and Excel .xls files, can contain embedded macros. Scripts (Visual Basic, JavaScript, Flash, etc.) aren’t directly executed by the computer but are run by other programs.
It used to be that you could assume plain text (.txt) or graphics (.gif, .jpg, .bmp) files were safe, but not anymore. File extensions can be “spoofed”; attackers take advantage of the Windows default setting that doesn’t display common file extensions to name executables something like greatfile.jpg.exe. With the real extension hidden, it shows up as greatfile.jpg. So the recipient thinks it’s a graphic, but it’s actually a malicious program.
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Last Updated
04/13/2007 06:41 AM
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