Previous Tips

PDA's Need Backing Up, Too

While computer users regularly back up (or should) the data on their desktops and laptops, they often forget about the data on their PDA's (Palm Pilots, Pocket PCs, etc.). If these tools are lost or become inoperable, the data they hold is gone.

Whereas individuals need to be diligent about backing up their personal devices, the exercise becomes difficult to manage for corporations with a "fleet" of devices in the hands of employees. As we head into a new year, corporate IT managers would be wise to take this time to review their company policies on mobile device usage, data back up, and security.

Don't Let Your Computer Catch A Virus

It's a fact of life. Viruses have become ubiquitous. They damage or destroy computer data. They can cripple an entire company network and cost major dollars in system downtime, lost data, data recovery, and system repairs. And that's not even getting into the production, customer service, sales and other business issues.

As we take precautions to prevent ourselves from becoming ill, so, too, we must protect the health of our computers. It's imperative that every computer have anti-virus software. However, since new viruses are created every day, the software needs to be upgraded at least once a week in order for it to be effective.

Then again, as good as anti-virus software is, it's not perfect. Here are some additional safety measures:

•  Back up all data at least weekly (at the end of each work day for critical data) onto an external hard drive, disks, CDs or tape. (Keep a copy of critical data in a location other than the office in case of fire or other disaster.)

•  Never accept software downloads from strangers.

•  Don't put disks from home, or disks from other sources, into your office computer.

•  Never open unexpected e-mail attachments without first verifying them with the sender.

•  Scan attachments and web downloads for viruses before opening.

•  Scan the entire hard drive regularly.

•  Use a firewall, especially if you have high-speed, always-on Internet access.

Create Additional Space on Hard Disks

If you’re running out of disk space, you’ll not only have file storage problems, but your computer won’t operate properly. Freeing up space is easy; it just takes getting around to it. Here are some suggestions:

• Keep the Trash or Recycle Bin empty. (For Recycle Bin, right-click the Bin and choose Properties, Global. Lower the percentage of your hard disk space set aside for the Bin to 4% or less.)

• Review all files on your disk and delete any that are no longer needed.

• Delete any old software programs, or remnants still lingering of versions you’ve replaced, that you’re absolutely sure you don’t / won’t use any longer.

• Move old, large and backup files to an external storage medium (CD, Zip disk, etc.). You should be doing this anyway as a means of backing up files.

• Compress or zip large files that you want to leave on the hard disk.

• Delete temporary files that are automatically created in the background. (Do a file search for "temporary," "TMP" or "TEMP.")

• Clean out all e-mail boxes / folders of unneeded / junk messages and / or attachments.

• Empty your Internet browser’s cache (found in Preferences).

Word of caution: Don’t delete files you haven’t created if they aren’t familiar to you. They could be operating system or program files that are necessary for your computer’s operation.

Once you’ve done all of the above, you should optimize your hard disk by running a program such as Norton Utilities to detect and fix problems, eliminate wasted disk space and defrag the disk. You should also rebuild the desktop. But first! Be sure to back up all files you don’t want to lose.

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Filename Extensions 101

If you're curious what those three (and sometimes four) letters after the dot in a file name mean, we define the common ones here:
SYS System file
DOC Microsoft Word document
EXE Executable file
TXT Plain Text document
WPS Microsoft Works Word Processor file
XLS Microsoft Word Excel file
ZIP Compressed file
BMP BitMap Picture
EPS Encapsulated PostScript
GIF or GIFF Graphics Interchange Format
JPG, JPE or JPEG BitMap image (Joint Photographic Experts Group)
PDF Package Definition File
PIC Bitmap image
PPS PowerPoint Slide show
SWF ShockWave Flash
TIF or TIFF Tagged Image File Format
MOV Apple QuickTime MOVie
MPEG Movie (Motion Pictures Experts Group)
MID or MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface
WAV WAVe PCM Sound
But you say you don't always see the extensions in the file names? That's because Windows, by default, hides most extensions. However, you can change that.
Windows XP and ME users: double click on "My Documents," go to "Tools," then "Folder Options," then "View" and uncheck "Hide Extensions for Known File Types."
Windows 98 users: go to "View," then "Options," then "View" and uncheck "Hide Extensions."

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Create Crawling Text in PowerPoint Presentations

To add crawling, or scrolling, text to PowerPoint presentations (97, 2000) begin by typing all the text in a single block and format it for your needs. Be sure the text flows off the screen. Otherwise, you may not have enough text to make much of an impact.

Position the bottom of the text box to the point where the text should disappear. For example, place the bottom of the text block up above the top of the slide if you want the text to roll up completely from the bottom of the slide and off the top of the screen.

Now click on the 'Slide Show' menu and choose 'Custom Animation.' In the 'Custom Animation' dialog, put a check mark next to the 'Text' object to be animated (in PowerPoint 97, highlight it). Click the 'Effects' tab and choose 'Crawl, From Bottom' as the 'Entry Animation' effect. If you want the entire block of text to appear, choose 'All At Once' under the 'Introduce' text section. Now the block of text will appear to crawl off the screen.

To have the text disappear in the middle of the slide, insert a rectangle from the drawing toolbar that extends from the top of the slide down to the point where the text should disappear. The rectangle should have no border and the fill should match the background of your slide.

When finished, preview your work by clicking on 'View, Slide Show' or pressing the F5 key.

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How to handle pesky automatic hyperlinks in Microsoft Word 97, 2000

A common difficulty users face has to do with the automatic hyperlinks that are created at the most inopportune times. But there is relief. You can disable this feature either permanently or temporarily.

To make the change permanent, go to the Tools menu and choose "AutoCorrect." Click on the "AutoFormat As You Type" tab and in the "Replace As You Type" section, deselect the Internet and Network Paths with Hyperlinks setting.

To keep the option enabled but temporarily disable it for newly created hyperlinks, press Ctrl-Z immediately after the link is generated.

Note: If your document has already been created and contains hyperlinks that you wish removed, either right-click on the link or press Ctrl-K with the link selected and choose "Remove Hyperlink."

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Break the Chain (Letter)

Have you received, forwarded or started an e-mail chain letter that promises financial gain, especially if participants send money to others on the list? Beware! The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) may be watching. Not only will you receive little or no money from your "investment," but you could get into serious trouble. According to the FTC, it is illegal to participate in an e-mail chain letter that promises any kind of return or reward. Those who do are committing mail fraud which is punishable by a fine and possible prison sentence. Further, the FTC may sue the perpetrators, as seven people from RI to CA and FL to ND found out earlier this year.

The FTC recommends that anyone receiving chain e-mails should report them to their Internet Service Provider and state consumer protection agency or Attorney General's office. In addition, the FTC invites recipients of chain and other unsolicited spam e-mail to forward them to the agency at uce@ftc.gov. Not only does the FTC keep its federal eye on Internet activities, but the agency also maintains a junk e-mail database compiled largely from consumer complaints.

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If You Choose to Send This E-mail...

News stories about high-profile lawsuits and investigations of corporations and criminal activities show that information entered into a computer is often retrievable, even though it's been deleted. A document created on a hard disk is one thing, but consider e-mail. Once a person sends a message over the Internet, it has legs way beyond the sender's hard disk. The message is on the hard disk(s) of the recipient's or recipients' computer(s), the e-mail server, and possibly tools used to back up systems and store files. Then there's the possibility that the recipients may forward the message to others...

While there's no way to completely destroy the existence of e-mail messages on computer systems, there is software that can make finding those messages extremely difficult. Some companies have developed online systems for making e-mail "disappear." Features of the software include scrambling e-mail messages then limiting access to the key that unscrambles them and with access to the key withdrawn after a period of time. The software also can restrict recipients from forwarding, printing, copying and screen-capturing the messages.

Companies offering e-mail destruction software include:

AbsoluteFuture, Inc.
Authentica, Inc.
Atabok Inc.
Omniva Policy Systems

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Creating Icons Using MSPaint in Windows (all versions)

You can create your own custom icons by following these steps:

• Open Paint by clicking on Start, Program, Accessories or click on Start, Run and type MSPAINT.EXE and click OK.
• Select the Image menu and choose Attributes.
• Change both the Width and Height to 32 pixels or pels (picture elements).
• Create your icon image using the drawing and text tools.
• Note: Windows treats all pixels that match the color of the upper left most pixel as transparent. This feature allows you to create icons with a transparent background.
• Save the file with an .ICO extension so that it's easier to find when you go to assign it to your shortcut.

Now you're ready to begin using your new icon.

• Right click any shortcut and choose Properties.
• Switch to the Shortcut tab and click on Change Icon.
• Click on the browse button and navigate to your icon file or type in the full path and filename of your icon.
• Click OK and you're done!
  

Shortcuts with the Windows key to save time

To save time when performing functions, here are some common key strokes for Windows users:

windows+e Brings up Windows Explorer

windows+f Brings up 'Find Dialog' box

windows+r Brings up 'Run Dialog' box

windows+pause/break Brings up 'System Properties' box

windows+m Minimizes all open windows

windows+shift+m Restores all minimized windows

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Right Mouse Button Explained

Submitted by Claudia Luiz, SOFTEACH instructor

The right mouse button only does ONE THING…it gives you a mini-menu. But, it's very powerful because it's context sensitive. It can guess the commands you need depending on what you click on. For example, if you click on "toolbar," you'll get a mini-menu of toolbars; if you click on a word, you'll get a mini-menu of what you can do to that word, etc. PLUS, the right mouse button works in all Windows programs!

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