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Welcome to this week's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, May 11, 2008
To all the Moms, have a Very Happy Mother’s Day!
From all of us at Sharper Training Solutions.
In this Issue:
Special Feature: Special Feature: Identity Theft on the Internet – Protect Yourself
Tip # 7: Never Use Easy to Guess Password
Tips & Tricks: Google Reverse Phone Number Lookups
This Week's Topic: Alphabetize Desktop Icons
Question: Changing Fonts in Outlook Express
Websites of Interest: Mothers Day; Aging Well; Place U.S. States; Kings of Africa
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Special Feature: Identity Theft on the Internet – Protect Yourself
Tip # 7: Never Use Easy to Guess Password
Passwords protect your security on the Internet. Email, shopping, and online banking are a few examples that require you to log in using a username and password. It is very important to choose a good password, especially for services where you are providing financial and sensitive information.
A good password cannot easily be cracked by a hacker with password breaking program.
Tips on Safeguarding Your Password
Never give your password to anyone.
Make your password something you can remember. Do not write it down.
Make your password difficult for others to guess.
Never change your password in response to an email you receive. If a website requires you to periodically change your password, you will be notified of that when you log into that website, not by email.
Change your password periodically.
Never store your password in a program.
If a website or service assigns you a temporary password, change it as soon as possible.
If someone contacts you via telephone claiming to be from your bank, Internet Service Provider, or any other service or organization, never give them your password. If they ask for it, hang up, look up the phone number of the organization and call them back.
Bad passwords
The following types of passwords offer little or no protection in case of a hacker attack on your computer.
Passwords shorter than 7 characters.
Words in the dictionary. Password breaking programs have huge databases of information and can try every word in the English language, for example, in a matter of seconds.
Words in other languages. Password breaking programs can contain millions of words in many different languages.
Your user name or a modified version of your user name.
Patterns or repetitive sequences Ex. 12345, abababab
Common misspellings of dictionary words. For example, replacing an L with a one or an O with a zero. Many of the password breaking programs include both common misspellings and words with letters replaced with similar looking numbers.
Names. Password breaking programs have hundreds of thousands of names that can be tried in seconds. This includes Rover, Spot, Fluffy and the like.
Locations. Towns, cities, states, countries can all appear in the databases of password breaking programs.
Never use account numbers or your Social Security Number
Any of the above, with a single numerical character before or after it. Ex. USA1, 5snoopy.
Any of the above, reversed. Ex johnnhoj
Any of the above, capitalized.
Good Passwords
Choose a password that is at least seven or eight characters long.
A good password will have a mix of lower- and upper-case characters, numbers in a random sequence, and, if the website allows, punctuation marks.
Your password must be easy to remember. Pick a phrase and use the first letter of each word with every other letter in uppercase. Here is an example: I use online banking to pay my bills. Make your password iUoBtPmB. Several more examples: I met my spouse on March 1, 1980. ImmsoM11980. We got married on June 25, 1983. WgmoJ251983
Handling Large Numbers of Passwords
Many people have multiple email accounts and use different Internet sites, all requiring passwords. Using the same password in different locations can be very dangerous; if the password is compromised in one place, it can be use elsewhere as well.
Here are some suggestions for handling multiple passwords:
Consider what the password is protecting when choosing a password. You can use a single password for all sites that do not contain sensitive data or give you access to your email.
Create a core password and then add a prefix or suffix for the website or service you are using. For example, use the phrase My birthday is January 1, 1960. The core of your password will be MbiJ11960. And then add several characters for the specific site you are working with. Ex. for ebay, use MbiJ11960eb. For yahoo, use MbiJ11960ya.
The passwords protecting your most sensitive information should always be different from other passwords. Create completely different passwords for online banking or accessing any websites that contain financial or personal information.
This article is Part 7 and the last of our series, Identity Theft on the Internet – Protect Yourself. We hope you enjoyed it and will use the tips provided to stay safe on the Internet. To read our previous tips, please visit our newsletter archives:
Tip #1 Never Put Personal or Financial Information In An Email
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/033008.html
Tip #2 Beware of Phishing Attempts
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/040608.html
Tip #3 Never Post Personal Information Online
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/041308.html
Tip # 4 Never Click on Pop Up Advertising Windows
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/042008.html
Tip # 5 Never Put Personal Information on an Insecure Website
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/042708.html
Tip # 6 Never Leave Information on a Public Computer
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/050408.html
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Tips & Tricks: Google Reverse Phone Number Lookups
If you just have a phone number and are looking for a name or address for it, use Google to find out. Enter the phone number, along with the area code and Google will display the name and address for you. The phone number can be entered with or without hyphens.
And, Google adds an extra little bonus for you. Click the Map link next to the search result and you will see a map of the location. Once you are there, you can even get driving directions.
Note: This will only display listed phone numbers. If the phone number you are searching for is unlisted, you will not see any results returned.
Please visit our archives for the Google Tips and Tricks we featured in previous editions of our newsletter:
Google Dictionary
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/021008.html
Google Stock Watch
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/021708.html
Google Calculator
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/022408.html
Google Weather
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/030208.html
Google Worldwide Clock
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/030908.html
Google Measurement Conversion
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/041308.html
Google Facts
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/042008.html
Google Flight Status
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/042708.html
Google Phone Directory
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/050408.html
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Today's Topic: Alphabetize Desktop Icons
Question: I have a lot of icons on my desktop. Can I put them in alphabetical order? It would make it so much easier to find what I am looking for.
Answer:
Yes, you can sort the icons. Right click (press the right mouse button) on a blank spot on the desktop. A menu will open; point to Sort by.
A menu will display to the side. You will see several choices. Click Name to display the icons in alphabetical order.
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Question: Changing Fonts in Outlook Express
I know how to change the font in an Outlook Express email, just for that email. How can I permanently change it for every email?
Answer:
Open Outlook Express. Click Tools on the menu and then click Options.
The Options window will open, click on the Compose tab at the top. In the Mail area, click the Font Settings button.
Select the font and the font size that you want. Click the OK button to close that window and then click the OK button again to close the Options window.
When you open a new email, it will now be the font and size you selected.
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Websites of Interest:
Mothers Day
Today is Mothers Day. Visit our website for many fun and interesting links for and about Mom.
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/mom.html
Aging Well
This is a site for baby boomers trying to start and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
http://agingwell.state.ny.us/
Place U.S. States
How well do you know the U.S.? Take this online quiz where you have to drag each state to its proper location. How well did you do?
http://www.games1.org/games/place_states.swf
Kings of Africa
Take a look at stunning pictures, and read about the history of the dynasties and kingdoms that once ruled Africa.
http://www.tamarin.com/king/kindire1.html |
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