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Welcome to today's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, March 2, 2003
In this Issue:
Special Feature: Firewalls
Featured Webpage: How Do I Download a file?
Featured Computer Term: Digital Divide
This Week's Topic: Eliminating Junk Email with Microsoft Outlook
Question: Copying a Picture from a Web Page
Question: Copying Files from Floppy Disk to Hard Disk
Learning Series: Microsoft Word - Spell Checking Your Document
Featured Website: Mardi Gras; International Women's Day; Women’s History Month
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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: Firewalls
A firewall is system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network or user. Firewalls can be implemented in both hardware and software, or a combination of both.
Firewalls are frequently used to prevent unauthorized Internet users from accessing users connected to the Internet. All messages entering or leaving the network pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the specified security criteria.
If you’re using a high speed internet connection that is always on, i.e. Optimum Online, it’s a good idea to use a firewall to prevent hackers from accessing your computer. Windows XP has a firewall as part of the program, but it has to be enabled (turned on).
To do so, click on the Start button, then Control Panel, then Network Connections. Locate the connection that you’re using and under the Network Tasks tab, click to change settings of this connection. Under the Advanced Tab and Internet Connection Firewall, choose the option to protect my computer and network by limiting or preventing access to this computer.
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Featured Webpage: How Do I Download a file?
Learn how to download a file, and how to find it once you've downloaded it.
http://stsico.com/html/download.html
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Today's Computer Term: Digital Divide
Digital divide is the term used to describe the discrepancy between people who have access to technology, such as a computer and the Internet, and people who do not have the resources and access to the technology. it also describes the difference between those who have the skills, knowledge and abilities to use the technologies and those who do not.
The digital divide may exist between people living in rural areas and those living in urban areas, between the educated and uneducated, between economic classes, and on a global scale between more and less industrially developed nations.
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Today's Topic: Eliminating Junk Email with Microsoft Outlook
One of the attributes of Spam (junk email) is that it generally is not addressed directly to you. If you open a junk email, you’ll usually notice that your email address will appear in the bcc area rather than in the To area. This can be helpful in filtering out junk email; Microsoft Outlook can be customized to keep out any email that does not have your email address in the To area.
An easy way to eliminate some spam in Outlook Express is to use Outlook Express' message filtering. To set this up, choose File from the menu, then Folders, then New. Select Local Folders and type Spam into the Folder name entry box. Click OK to continue. This step creates the folder where the unwanted junk email will go into.
Now choose Tools from the menu, then Message Rules, then Mail. Click New and then select the check box labeled Where the To line contains people. Next, select the check box labeled Move it to the specified folder. This will move all emails into the Spam folder that you created.
Next, under Rule Description, click Contains People and then type in your e-mail address and click Add. Now click Options and select the radio button labeled Message does not contain the people below and click OK. The prior step moved all emails into the Spam folder -this step tells the program to NOT move emails that have your email address in the To line.
Back in the New Mail Rule dialog, click specified under Rule Description and double-click your Spam folder. Now, click OK to close the dialog box. In Message Rules again, click OK to close the dialog and record your new rule.
Outlook Express will now send all e-mail that arrives without your e-mail address in the To box to the Spam folder where you can check to see if you need it. This will be an easy way to keep all the junk in one place, and delete it all in one step.
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Question: Copying a Picture from a Web Page
Question: I occasionally see pictures on the Internet that I’d like to put in the newsletter that I do for my group. Is it possible to do this?
Answer: Yes, it is. Here’s how:
Right-click on the image. From the menu box that pops up left click on Save Image As or Save Picture As. You’ll see a window pop up which is asking you where you want to save the image to.
In the Save In box, drop down the menu and locate the folder on your hard drive where you want to save it to. (Suggestion: save to My Documents so you know where to look for the file later)
Give it a name in the File Name box - or leave the name that’s already in there.
Click Save.
Note: Using the steps above, you are able to copy and use pictures from the Internet. However, many graphics and pictures are copyrighted. You might want to browse around on a website and look for copyright information before copying a graphic you see there. There are many sites you can go to that offer copyright free images. Just try your favorite search engine and type in Free Images.
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Question: Copying Files from Floppy Disk to Hard Disk
This newsletter is great - thank you! I want to know if there is a way to copy pictures from a floppy disk to the hard disk inside my computer? I've been trying but can't seem do it.
Answer:
Click on My Computer from your desktop, insert the floppy disk, and then double click the A drive (the A drive is usually the floppy drive). A window will open displaying the contents of the drive. You’ll be able to see all of your picture files there.
Click on Edit on the menu and then Select All. This will highlight all of the files on the floppy. Next, click on Edit and then Copy. This will copy the files to memory. You can close this window.
Go back to the My Computer windows and double click the C: drive.
Browse your C drive to find the folder you want to copy the files to. Double click on that folder and then click Edit, and Paste.
The pictures will automatically copy from the A drive to the folder on the C drive you selected. Because you chose Copy instead of Cut, there will also still be a copy of the pictures left on the floppy disk.
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Progressive Learning Series: Microsoft Word - Spell Checking Your Document
Microsoft Word provides a built-in spelling check you can use to proof your document. This tool doesn't check just spelling, but it also checks for proper capitalization and duplicate words. To run the spelling checker, follow these steps:
Move the insertion point to the beginning of the document. Choose Spelling and Grammar from the Tools menu. Word begins to check the spelling of your document, displaying the Spelling and Grammar dialog box as it discovers potential errors. Respond to the suggestions, as appropriate.
You don't have to spell check an entire document; you can run the spelling checker on a selection of text, as well. To do so, do the following:
Select the text to be checked. Choose Spelling and Grammar from the Tools menu, or press F7. Respond to the suggestions, as appropriate. When the spelling check of the selection is complete, Word displays a dialog box asking if you want to check the rest of the document. Click on No to end the spelling check.
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Today's Featured Websites:
Note: if you're not sure how to use the following links to websites, take a look at the instructions on using links at the beginning of this newsletter.
Tuesday is Mardi Gras. This event is celebrated all over the world but nowhere like it is in New Orleans. You can watch the celebration right on the Internet at this site:
http://www.mardigras.com/
What is Fat Tuesday all about? Learn more here:
http://www.fattuesday.com/home.htm
For the traditional history of Mardi Gras, visit this site:
http://www.icorp.net/carnival/history.htm
Take a look at this website for an interesting timeline of New Orleans and Mardi Gras history:
http://www.mardigrasdigest.com/html/mardi_gras_history__timeline.htm
Send an online Mardi Gras card.
http://www.holidays.net/mardigras/cards.htm
Saturday, March 8, is International Women's Day. Take a look at the United Nations’ site for more information about this day.
http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/women/womday97.htm
March is Women’s History Month. For history, timelines, quotations and quizzes, visit the Fact Monster website.
http://www.factmonster.com/spot/womenshistory1.html
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