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Welcome to this week's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, July 20, 2008
In this Issue:
Special Feature: Worst Email Scams
Tips & Tricks: Display Volume Icon
This Week's Topic: Locating the Mouse Pointer
Question: Windows Vista: Change Text Size
Websites of Interest: National Hotdog Day; Cheeseburgers; Hockey; Insults
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Special Feature: Worst Email Scams
According to a survey conducted by Gartner Market Researchers (www.gartner.com), in 2007 almost 4 million U.S. citizens have been scammed by email scams, with losses over 2 billion dollars.
With help from Joshua Fruhlinger at switched.com and Carol McKay of the National Consumers League (www.nclnet.org), over the next several editions of this newsletter, we are going to highlight the worst email scams out there right now. We will give you information on how to spot a hoax and protect yourself, your computer and your finances from fraud and scams.
The following is from switched.com:
Usually, scammers attempt to trick you into filling out forms on rogue sites. Rogue sites usually look legitimate (some are even replicas of legitimate sites you trust), but they are set up to spread a virus, collect names for spammers or grab your personal information. Other scams try to get you to reply to e-mails requesting your personal data like passwords and bank account numbers. Once you've given up the info, criminals can siphon your cash, make purchases and get out before you even have a chance to track them down.
Scam #1: Investment Pump & Dump
The Come-On
Everyone wants to be in on the ground floor when it comes to investing, so it's no surprise that millions of people go for this one: You receive an e-mail from someone claiming to be a power broker containing a hot tip on a penny stock that promises to double, even triple, in short time. So you go for it, only to see it tumble within hours. One such e-mail we received just this week looks like this:
Subject: Your 221.43% - breaking results
DarkLord: DWPI Hits The Street, Price Climbs 221.43%
Distributed Power Inc.
Symbol: DPWI Price: $0.40 (+0.31)
News hits the streets!!! DPWI acquires huge oil reserves, drills deeper on current wells increasing production, and now opens Asian division. Investors go nuts today and price rockets 221.43%. Act fast, read the news and get on DPWI first thing Tuesday!
The Scam
Turns out the people who send you the e-mail in the first place are waiting for a few people like you to get the stock up so they can get out before you even have a chance.
What You Can Do
Carol says: "Legitimate investments are risky, and legitimate brokers will admit that to customers. Be especially wary of offers that arrive via e-mail, offshore investments or commodities, and high-pressure sales tactics. And, if you can't afford to lose all your money, don't invest any of it."
Be sure to read our next newsletter to learn how to avoid the Cancel This Order! scam.
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Tips & Tricks: Display Volume Icon
Question: I used to have a little speaker icon next to the clock that I would use to change the volume on the computer. I no longer see it and there are times when I would like to turn the sound on or off. Can you help?
Answer:
Click the Start button and open Control Panel. Open Sounds, Speech and Audio Devices. Click on Sounds and Audio Devices. The Sounds and Audio Devices Properties window will open the Volume tab.
In the Device volume section, click to place a checkmark in the box to the left of Place volume control icon in the taskbar. Click the OK button and close Control Panel.
You should now see the volume icon by the clock.
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Today's Topic: Locating the Mouse Pointer
Question: I do not have good eyesight and have trouble locating the mouse pointer on the screen. Do you have any helpful tips for me?
Answer:
Yes. You can change the mouse settings to help you find the pointer. Here are the steps:
Click on Start button and open Control Panel. Open Printers and Other Hardware and then select Mouse.
In the window that you now see, click on the Pointer Options tab. In the Visibility section, click the small box to the left of Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key. A checkmark will appear in the box, which activates that selection. Click the OK button to save your changes.
Now, when you want to find the mouse pointer, press the CTRL key on the keyboard. A bulls eye like target will briefly appear around the mouse pointer.
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Question: Windows Vista: Change Text Size
I would like to make the text bigger on my new Vista computer. I was able to do this in XP, but cannot figure out how in Vista. Can this be done?
Answer:
Yes, it can. Here are the steps:
Right click on a blank spot on your desktop. In the resulting menu, left click on Personalize. This will open the Personalize Appearance and Sounds window.
in the left pane, click on the Adjust font size (DPI). A window will pop up asking for your permission to continue; click the Continue button. (This is a security precaution that Windows Vista takes. Something is being changed on your computer and Vista wants to confirm that it is you, and not a hacker, initiating the change)
The DPI Scaling window will open. Click the option that says Larger scale (120 DPI) - make text more readable. Click the OK button and then close the Personalize Appearance and Sounds window.
You will need to restart your computer to see the larger font size take effect.
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Websites of Interest:
National Hotdog Day
Wednesday is National Hotdog Day. Take a look at this fun website for information about this observation.
http://www.hot-dog.org/
Cheeseburgers
Get recipes and read the complete history of the cheeseburger.
http://www.cheese-burger.net/
Hockey
Visit this website for everything you have ever wanted to know about hockey.
http://www.hockeydb.com
Insults
Just for fun, this is a great list of classic one-line insults and criticisms from legendary figures.
http://tinyurl.com/jg69d
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