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Welcome to this week's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, January 9, 2005
In this Issue:
Special Feature: Password Security
Tips & Tricks: Outlook – Check for New Email
This Week's Topic: Insert Today’s Date
Questions: Disable MSN Messenger
Websites of Interest: Best Places To Live; Concierge; Email Translator; Transistor Radios
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Using Links
A Link is a reference to a website. In this newsletter you will see links to
many worthwhile, informative and fun websites. Here are the instructions on
how to use links:
A link will be used one of two ways, depending on your email program.
If you see the link in blue, underlined text, all you have to do is click on
it and a window with the Website in it will automatically appear on your
screen.
If you see the link in plain text, you can copy and paste it into the address
bar on your browser. Highlight the link with your mouse, click Edit up on
the menu bar, and then click Copy from the menu that you just opened up. Open
your browser (click the Start Button, point to Programs, click on Internet
Explorer); click on the address bar. Click Edit up on the menu bar, and then
click Paste from the menu that you just opened up. Press the Enter key on the
keyboard and this will take you to the Website.
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Special Feature: Password Security
(The following is from dummies.com, copyright 2004. Used with permission.)
How complex does a password have to be in order to provide a sense of security? The answer to this question really depends on the possible characters that comprise the password, and how many characters the password contains.
If you only use the 26 characters of the English alphabet and your password is only 2 characters long, then you have only 676 (26 to the power of 2) possible passwords. A password-cracking computer program can guess any password of this length that you create from two letters in a fraction of a second.
If you choose your password from both lowercase and uppercase characters, numbers, the ten number keys, and the 32 special characters on your keyboard, such as the comma and the asterisk, then the number of distinct passwords increases to 9,216 (96 to the power of 2), which is still a low number.
However, if you make sure that the password consists of at least 7 characters, then the number of possible combinations increases to over 75 trillion, or to be exact — 75,144,747,810,816 (96 to the power of 7). It would take a hacker over 2,300 years to try every possible combination if the password-cracking program tried 1,000 possible passwords every second.
Using a very powerful computer that tried one million passwords every second, it would still take 2.3 years. If you change your password every month or two, the password will most likely be different by the time the hacker has cracked it.
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Tips & Tricks: Outlook – Check for New Email
Manually check for new messages by clicking the Send/Recv button on the toolbar. This also sends any messages that may be in your Outbox.
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Today's Topic: Insert Today’s Date
In most word processing programs, you can input today’s date without having to type it in. Here's how to do it with some of the more popular ones:
In Microsoft Works, Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, or Windows WordPad:
Click to put the insertion point where you want the date to appear in your document. Click Insert on the menu and then click Date & Time. This will open the Date and Time dialog box which will show you many different date formats. Click the one you want to use and then click the OK button. The date will now appear at the insertion point.
In Windows Notepad:
Click to put the insertion point where you want the date to appear in your document. Press the F5 key (found on the top row of the keyboard).
There is a date shortcut in Microsoft Word:
Type the date. After you type the first four letters, you will see the name of the month appear in a tool tip window. Press Enter on the keyboard and the current month will be inserted. Press the Space bar and today’s date will be displayed in a tool tip window. Press Enter again and the rest of the date will be inserted.
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Question: Disable MSN Messenger
I just got a new computer with Windows XP . MSN Messenger keeps opening. I do not use it and would like to know how to get rid of it? By the way, I love this email you send. Thank you for all the help you give.
Answer:
MSN Messenger is a built-in default feature in Windows XP. If you do not use it, you can disable it. Here is how:
Open Messenger. Click Tools on the menu and then Options. Click the Preferences tab.
Click to un-check the boxes marked Run this program when Windows starts and Run this program in the background. Click the OK button and then close the program.
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Websites of Interest:
Best Places To Live
Where are the best places to live in the United States? How does your town compare?
http://money.cnn.com/best/bplive/
Concierge
A travel information site.
http://www.concierge.com
Email Translator
Translate emails to French, Spanish, German, Italian or Portuguese.
http://www.t-mail.com/
Transistor Radios
Do you remember transistors? Visit this site for pictures, info and more.
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Atrium/1031/trans/1trans.html |
