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Welcome to this week's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, August 6, 2006
The editors of this newsletter will be taking vacation for the remainder of the summer. We will resume publishing the newsletter on Sunday, September 10. Enjoy the rest of the summer!
In this Issue:
Special Feature: Warning: A New Scam
Special Feature: Choosing a Good Password
Tips & Tricks: America Online Spam Folder
This Week's Topic: Clean Up the Start Menu
Question: Outlook Express Blocked Attachments
Websites of Interest: Pets Welcome; Comparative Shopping; AutoWeb; Collectibles; Bankrate
Special Feature: Warning: A New Scam
While this scam is not computer related, we like to warn our newsletter subscribers of any new cons and dangers from those preying on the unsuspecting. Please be wary of emails, phone calls or any other communication you receive where you are asked to provide any personal or financial information.
The following is from snopes.com:
Here's a new twist scammers are using to commit identity theft: the jury duty scam. Here's how it works:
The scammer calls claiming to work for the local court and claims you've failed to report for jury duty. He tells you that a warrant has been issued for your arrest.
The victim will often rightly claim they never received the jury duty notification. The scammer then asks the victim for confidential information for "verification" purposes.
Specifically, the scammer asks for the victim's Social Security number, birth date, and sometimes even for credit card numbers and other private information — exactly what the scammer needs to commit identity theft.
So far, this jury duty scam has been reported in Michigan, Ohio, Texas, Arizona, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington State.
It's easy to see why this works. The victim is clearly caught off guard, and is understandably upset at the prospect of a warrant being issued for his or her arrest. So, the victim is much less likely to be vigilant about protecting their confidential information.
In reality, court workers will never call you to ask for social security numbers and other private information. In fact, most courts follow up via snail mail and rarely, if ever, call prospective jurors.
Action: Never give out your Social Security number, credit card numbers or other personal confidential information when you receive a telephone call.
This jury duty scam is the latest in a series of identity theft scams where scammers use the phone to try to get people to reveal their Social Security number, credit card numbers or other personal confidential information.
It doesn't matter *why* they are calling — all the reasons are just different variants of the same scam.
Protecting yourself is simple: Never give this info out when you receive a phone call.
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Special Feature: Choosing a Good Password
Many websites and Internet accessed services. 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.
Below 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.
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Tips & Tricks: America Online Spam Folder
Remember to check your SPAM folder each time you check your email. In their attempt to block junk email, AOL will frequently divert good email to your SPAM folder. Don’t miss an important email from someone you know!
To check your SPAM folder, sign on to AOL and open your mailbox as usual. At the bottom of the window, you will see Spam Folder with a number next to it in parenthesis. If there is a number other than 0 in there, click on Spam Folder to review the emails that are in there. If you find an email that is not spam, click the This is Not Spam button. Click the Delete All to remove all the spam emails.
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Today's Topic: Clean Up the Start Menu
Question: When I click the Start button, there is so much junk in there. All I want to do is open a program and occasionally get into the Control Panel, but I have to wade through My Pictures, My Documents, My Music, etc. I would like to remove all of this. Is this possible or are those things locked there?
Answer:
Yes, you can clean up the menu. Right click the Start button. In the resulting menu, left click on Properties. This will display the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties window.
Next to Start Menu, click the Customize button. This will display the Customize Start menu window.
To clean up the right side of the Start menu, click the Advanced tab at the top.
In the middle of the window, you will see Start menu items. Scroll down to access the items.
You will notice the option Don’t display this item is available for Control Panel, My Computer, My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, Network Connections and System Administrative Tools. To remove any of these items from the menu, click the small circle to the left of Don’t display this item. Note: these can always be displayed again by following these steps and selecting Display as a link or Display as a menu.
Note: these items can always be displayed again by following the above steps and selecting Display as a link or Display as a menu.
To remove Favorites, Help and Support, My Network Places, Printers and Faxes, Run command, Search and Set Program Access and Defaults, click the small square to the left of the item; this will remove the checkmark.
Note: these items can always be displayed again by following the above steps and clicking the small square to the left of the item to replace the checkmark.
Click the OK button to close the Customize Start menu window. Click the OK button to close the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties window.
The left side of the Start menu contains links to programs you use most frequently. To open any of these programs, simply click on the program name. To clean up the left side of the Start menu, right click the Start button. In the resulting menu, left click on Properties. This will display the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties window.
Next to Start Menu, click the Customize button. This will display the Customize Start menu window. Click the General tab at the top.
In the middle of the window, you will see the number of Programs that display on the left of the Start menu. If you would like fewer programs displayed here, click the small down arrow to the right of the number. You can remove all the programs there by decreasing this number to zero.
Click the OK button to close the Customize Start menu window. Click the OK button to close the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties window.
To remove the Internet and Email links, open the Start menu. Right click on Internet. In the resulting menu, left click Remove from This List. Repeat these steps for Email.
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Question: Outlook Express Blocked Attachments
I recently switched to Optimum Online and I am using Outlook Express for email. I can receive and send email, but it blocks attachments. Can you offer any advice?
Answer:
By default, Outlook Express automatically blocks attachments that could contain a virus. You can turn this feature off and start receiving attachments.
Open Outlook Express. Click on Tools on the menu and then Options. This will display the Options window. Click the Security tab at the top.
Under Virus Protection, click to remove the check from the box labeled Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus.
Click the OK button.
You will now be able to download all attachments. Make sure you keep your virus program updated and run a virus scan every week.
Remember, never download an attachment from someone you do not know. In fact, do not even open the email if you do not know the sender.
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Websites of Interest:
Pets Welcome
This website is a good resource for info on traveling with your pets.
http://www.petswelcome.com/
Comparative Shopping
This site is one of the best online comparative price shopping guides.
http://www.mysimon.com/
AutoWeb
This site can help you buy or sell a car.
http://www.autoweb.com/
Collectibles
From the National Association of Collectors, this site has everything including classified ads, show calendars, flea market directories, auctions and much more.
http://www.collectors.org/
Bankrate
Visit this website for tips to save money, personal finance and bank rate information
http://www.bankrate.com |
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