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Welcome to today's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, June 16, 2002
To all the Dads,
Happy Father's Day!
from all of us at Sharper Training Solutions.
In this Issue:
Featured Computer Term: Fonts
This Week's Topic: Ways To Stop Or At Least Minimize Spam
Question: Opening a Link in Another Window
Learning Series: Microsoft Word - Mail Merge
Featured Website: Father's Day
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Links
You will see links to many worthwhile, informative and fun websites in this newsletter. 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 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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Today's Computer Term: Font
A font is a design for a group of characters. A font is the combination of typeface and other attributes, such as size, pitch, and spacing.
For example, Times Roman is a typeface that defines the shape of each character. Within Times Roman, however, there are many fonts to choose from -- different sizes, italic, bold, and so on. There are two categories of typefaces: serif and sans serif. Sans serif typefaces are composed of simple lines, whereas serif typefaces use small decorative marks to embellish characters and make them easier to read. Helvetica is a sans serif type and Times Roman is a serif type.
The height of characters in a font is measured in points, each point being approximately 1/72 inch. The width is measured by pitch, which refers to how many characters can fit in an inch. Common pitch values are 10 and 12. A font is said to be fixed pitch if every character has the same width. If the widths vary depending on the shape of the character, it is called a proportional font.
Most applications that support text enable you to choose from among many fonts.
You can look at and print a graphical explanation and instructions on working with fonts at our website. http://www.stsico.com/html/word10.html
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Today's Topic: Ways To Stop Or At Least Minimize Spam
Spam, unsolicited junk email, is a problem. We all get it in our mailboxes and inboxes almost every day. Here are some things that you can do to stop, or at least minimize, the junk.
You should never respond to spam; if you do, you're letting the advertiser know that theres a real, live person at the end of the email address and you may get even more junk email. Unless you actually respond, advertisers who send spam have no way of knowing whether or not you open and read their messages.
Junk email often have details about how to remove your name from a mailing list in the body of the message. This can be anything from replying to the sender with the words unsubscribe in the subject line to going to a Web site. Never respond to spam! While advertisers from legitimate businesses will usually take your name off their mailing lists, with spammers, when you try to unsubscribe youre really just confirming your e-mail address and you're likely to wind up on more spammers' lists of valid accounts.
Consider using other email addresses -this will at least minimize spam in your main in-box. Most ISPs (Internet Service Providers) offer five to seven free e-mail accounts with their basic service, and there are always free email accounts that you can sign up for.
If you use extra addresses you can keep your main address almost completely spam-free. Only give it out to people you know, such as friends and family.
Dont use your main e-mail address or screen name in chat rooms, message boards or other public places. Use one of the other e-mail addresses on shopping sites. If you reserve your main address for personal and business emails, it's much less likely to get into the hands of spammers.
Set up an address exclusively for fun and worthwhile activities online that are spam magnets--such as discussion boards. If you set up an address just for these, you can then give out that address--instead of your main address--any time you do something that may generate Spam.
Use it when you register at Web sites, enter a chat room, or post messages to discussion lists or newsgroups. If you keep this address just for junk mail, you'll only have to check the mail there occasionally, to delete all the spam.
If the spam in your in-box has gotten out of control, you might think about creating a brand new e-mail address.
Your email address can play a big role in the amount of Spam you receive. If your e-mail address has a combination of letters and numbers it will make it harder for spammers to get. Adding numbers to your email address--preferably between your first name and last name--can sometimes outwit spammers who use auto-generators to try to guess every combination of common names, like "John,â "Jon"," " Johnny," "Jonny," "John101," etc.
For most people, spam is somewhat irritating, but to Internet Service Providers, it's a huge problem. All that spam takes a tremendous amount of resources (which, of course, increases the prices that we have to pay for Internet access). If you'd like to help stop spam, you can do so.
Before you do anything else, report spammers to your ISP. If you are an America OnLine member, you can forward junk mail that comes from other AOL members to screen name TOSEmail1. If the spam comes from a non-AOL account, forward the message to TOSSpam. If you get a message with a suspicious-looking file attachment or an inappropriate graphic, forward the entire e-mail TOSFiles.
For other email services, check with your Internet Service Provider for any steps they may have that can be used to report Spam.
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Question: Opening a Link in Another Window
The following is a question from a newsletter subscriber:
If I am at a web site and there is a link that I want to click on, but want to keep the existing page open, how can I get the new link on another screen ?
Answer:
You can open another browser window to follow a link while keeping the original site on the screen.
Right click on the link, and from the list that appears click on "Open in New Window".
There is no limit on how many windows you have open, as long as your computers memory can handle it.
This works the same way in Netscape and Internet Explorer.
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Progressive Learning Series: Microsoft Word - Mail Merge
The following is a question from a newsletter subscriber:
I need to send out the same letter to many recipients. Someone told me there's a fast way to do this on Word. Can you tell me how?
Answer: Word's Mail Merge feature allows you to mass produce letters, envelopes, mailing labels and other documents so they appear to be personalized. To create a form letter, you merge a main document with a data source document.
The main document, sometimes called the form letter, contains the text and other items that remain the same in each version of the form letter, envelopes, or mailing labels. You can use a new or existing document as a main document. The data source document contains the actual names and addresses of those who will receive the letters.
There are three steps in the mail merge process:
1. Create a main document containing the text that will not change and the codes where variable information will be inserted.
2. Create a data source document that contains the variable information (the actual names and addresses of those receiving the letter).
3. Merge the main and data source documents to create individual, personalized letters.
You can look at and print a graphical explanation and instructions on Mail Merge at our website:
http://www.stsico.com/html/merge.html
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Today's Featured Website: Father's Day
Enjoy Father's Day on the Net with stories, music, animation, and puzzles. http://www.holidays.net/father/
Kid's Domain Father's Day has coloring pages, crafts, games, and cards.
http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/dad/index.html
For history of the day, dedications to fathers, poetry, links and more, take a look at the Marvelicious website.
http://www.marvelicious.com/fathersday.html
For kids young and old: leave a message for your Dad at this website. All the children on the Net are invited to visit this site and leave their Father a Happy Father's Day message.
http://www.heathersholidaze.com/dads-day/index.html
For history of and quotes about fatherhood and Father's Day, visit the Wilstart website.
http://wilstar.com/holidays/fathers.htm |
