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Welcome to today's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, June 3, 2001
In this Issue:
June 1 Virus Hoax Supplement: What to Do if You Fell for the June 1 Virus
Hoax
Featured Computer Term: Select
Topic: Word Processing
Progressive Learning Series: Using a Specialized Photo Editing Program
Featured Website: Ehow
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If you fell for the June 1 virus hoax and deleted the SULFNBK.EXE file from your Windows operating system, do not fear. Chances are good that you won't notice that the file has been removed, its loss won't harm Windows, and the file can be easily replaced.
Several sites are already offering advice on how to restore the SULFNBK.EXE file, including McAfee.com in Sunnyvale, California, and Securityportal.com, an online service provided by AtomicTangerine in San Francisco.
Visiting either of these sites will give you information on how to restore the deleted files to your hard drive. Check below in the links and links for AOL users sections below to go directly to these sites.
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Today's Featured Computer Term: Select
Select is to choose an object so that you can manipulate it in some way.
In graphical user interfaces, Windows, for instance, you usually need to select an object -- an icon, file, folder, and so on -- before you can do anything with it. To select an object, you move the pointer to the object and click a mouse button.
In many applications, you can select blocks of text by positioning the pointer at an end-point of the block and then dragging the pointer over the block.
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Today's Topic: Word Processing
Word Processing means using a computer to create, edit, and print documents. Of all computer applications, word processing is the most common. To perform word processing, you need a computer, a special program called a word processor, and a printer.
A word processor enables you to create a document, store it electronically on a disk, display it on a screen, modify it by entering commands and characters from the keyboard, and print it on a printer.
The great advantage of word processing over using a typewriter is that you can make changes without retyping the entire document. If you make a typing mistake, you simply back up the cursor and correct your mistake. If you want to delete a paragraph, you remove it, without leaving a trace. It is just as easy to insert a word, sentence, or paragraph in the middle of a document. Word processors make it easy to move sections of text from one place to another within a document, or to another. When you have made all the changes you want, you can send the file to a printer to get a hardcopy.
Word processors vary considerably, but all word processors have the following basic features:
Insert Text: Allows you to insert text anywhere in the document.
Delete Text: Allows you to erase characters, words, lines, or pages as easily as you can cross them out on paper.
Cut and Paste: Allows you to remove (cut) a section of text from one place in a document and insert (paste) it somewhere else.
Copy: Allows you to duplicate a section of text.
Page Size and Margins: Allows you to define various page sizes and margins, and the word processor will automatically readjust the text so that it fits.
Search and Replace: Allows you to direct the word processor to search for a particular word or phrase. You can also direct the word processor to replace one group of characters with another everywhere that the first group appears.
Word Wrap: The word processor automatically moves to the next line when you have filled one line with text, and it will readjust text if you change the margins.
Print: Allows you to send a document to a printer to get hardcopy.
Word processors that support only these features (and maybe a few others) are called text editors. Most word processors, however, support additional features that enable you to manipulate and format documents in more sophisticated ways. These more advanced word processors are sometimes called full-featured word processors.
Full-featured word processors usually support the following features:
File Management: Many word processors contain file management capabilities that allow you to create, delete, move, and search for files.
Font Specifications: Allows you to change fonts within a document. For example, you can specify bold, italics, and underlining. Most word processors also let you change the font size and even the typeface.
Footnotes and Cross-References: Automates the numbering and placement of footnotes and enables you to easily cross-reference other sections of the document.
Graphics: Allows you to embed illustrations and graphs into a document. Some word processors let you create the illustrations within the word processor; others let you insert an illustration produced by a different program.
Headers, Footers, And Page Numbering: Allows you to specify customized headers and footers that the word processor will put at the top and bottom of every page. The word processor automatically keeps track of page numbers so that the correct number appears on each page.
Layout: Allows you to specify different margins within a single document and to specify various methods for indenting paragraphs.
Macros: A macro is a character or word that represents a series of keystrokes. The keystrokes can represent text or commands. The ability to define macros allows you to save yourself a lot of time by replacing common combinations of keystrokes.
Merges: Allows you to merge text from one file into another file. This is particularly useful for generating many files that have the same format but different data. Generating mailing labels is the classic example of using merges.
Spell Checker: A utility that allows you to check the spelling of words. It will highlight any words that it does not recognize.
Tables of Contents and Indexes: Allows you to automatically create a table of contents and index based on special codes that you insert in the document.
Thesaurus: A built-in thesaurus that allows you to search for synonyms without leaving the word processor.
Windows: Allows you to edit two or more documents at the same time. Each document appears in a separate window. This is particularly valuable when working on a large project that consists of several different files.
WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get): With WYSIWYG, a document appears on the display screen exactly as it will look when printed.
The line dividing word processors from desktop publishing systems is constantly shifting. In general, though, desktop publishing applications support finer control over layout, and more support for full-color documents.
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Progressive Learning Series: Using a Specialized Photo Editing Program
If you're interested using your computer to work with photographs, programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro let you remove red eye reflections caused by camera flashes, despeckle stray color spots, crop your photos using irregular shapes, add simulated picture frames in a variety of sizes, and do many other corrections and enhancements.
You could use a general purpose graphics program that comes with the scanner or digital camera, but they're normally harder to work with for these specialized tasks and usually do not provide adequate instructions and documentation. Many photo printers include a dedicated photo-editing program (though it's often a scaled-down "special edition"), so you may want to shop for a photo printer and photo-editing program at the same time.
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Today's Featured Website: Ehow.com
Thanks to Computer Kindergarten Newsletter subscriber Bridgett for recommending the following Website:
I found a very useful Website called ehow.com. It has thousands of ways to do things!! It’s very helpful and I'm sure everyone can find something they need help with doing.
http://www.ehow.com/ |
