Dave "Bytes"

Please remember to use your thinker, before you tinker!

November 29, 2006

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

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Support SPCUG

Last Chance To Get Yours At The Annual SPCUG Holiday Social
December 6th

Click Above To Order Your 2007 Entertainment Book for all Major Cities in the US
They will also be available at each SPCUG General Meeting through December

Get Yours Today !!!

Did You Hear The One About The Exploding Laptop Battery?
(click the "play" button)

Stay Safe During The Holiday Shopping Season

BY J.W. ELPHINSTONE
AP BUSINESS WRITER

As the holiday shopping season gets into full swing, identity thieves have more opportunities to scam consumers.

"This time of year should be filled with festivity and celebration, but sadly, retailers aren't the only ones busy during the holidays," said Kirk Herath, chief privacy officer at Nationwide. "Identity thieves see prime opportunities for stealing and using financial information as consumers make more trips to the mall and spend more online."

Herath offers the following tips to foil their plans:

Look over your shoulder: Thieves often grab credit card numbers or personal information while customers wait in long checkout lines. Shield your wallet from wandering eyes and watch for techie thieves using camera phones to snap pictures of your credit cards.

Check out the checkout clerk: Thieves behind the register can run a card through an unauthorized, second machine to scan personal information, a practice called "skimming." Try to pay with cash whenever you can. If you're using a card, watch the clerk closely and double check your statements for counterfeit charges.

Online vigilance: Don't give out your Social Security number to any Internet retailer. No legitimate business would ask for the information. Also, don't trust e-mails asking you to update billing information via a link.

BITS

BYTES

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Here's A Microsoft Word Tip

Create White-on-Black Text
To produce dramatic white-on-black text, you must first create a black background. Second, you create white-colored text. Here's how you create a black background:

Mark (select) your text as a block.

It's best to start with text you've already written. At some point here, you will have black text on a black background, which you cannot see.
If you already have the text written, it is easier to see after you're done.

Choose Format, Borders and Shading.

Make sure that the Shading panel is forward. (Click the Shading tab if it's not.)

Click the black square in the Fill area.

That's the first square in the fourth row. (The word Black should appear in the box to the right of the color grid.)

Click OK to exit the Borders and Shading dialog box.

Now you don't see anything on-screen because you have black text on a black background. (Actually, with the block highlighted, you see what looks like a large white block floating over a black block.)
With the block of text still highlighted, click the Font Color icon on the formatting toolbar.
This icon looks like a capital A underlined with a thick bar.

Choose White (the last square in the palette, bottom right).

Unhighlight your block. The text appears in white letters on a black background.

Click The Banner To Visit

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.

Click Here To Submit Your Ad

Peachpit User Group Program

The Sarasota PC Users Group is part of the Peachpit User Group Partner program.
They offer our members a discount on books purchased from them. If you are interested in seeing what Peachpit has to offer you, be sure to read the following information which is from their newsletter, and then visit their web site at: http:// www.peachpit.com

USER GROUP COUPON CODE
They provide our group members a 30% discount off the list price of any of thier books. At checkout, right before they put their credit card number in, you must enter the user group coupon code UE-23AA-PEUF (case-sensitive). This coupon code is an exclusive offer that may not be used in conjunction with any other coupon codes.

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.

Neglect to run or update antivirus and anti-spyware programs
Let’s face it: Antivirus programs can be a royal pain. They’re always blocking some application you want to use, you often have to disable them to install new software, and they have to be updated on a regular basis to do any good. Seems like the subscription is always expiring and prompting you to renew it--for a fee, in many cases. But in today’s environment, you can’t afford to go without virus protection.
The malicious programs that AV software detects--viruses, Trojans, worms, etc.--can not only wreak havoc on your system but can spread via your computer to the rest of the network. In extreme cases, they can bring down the whole network.
Spyware is another growing threat; these are programs that install themselves on your computer (usually without your knowledge) and collect information from your system that is then sent back to the spyware program’s author or vendor. Antivirus programs often don’t address spyware so it’s important to run a dedicated spyware detection and removal program.

While Wandering The Web

Click Above To Visit

If you have an interesting site that you would like to share you can submit it to:
dave@bitsandbytesradio.com
Please give a short description of the site