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Welcome to this week's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, September 23, 2007
In this Issue:
Special Feature: Email Scam Warnings
This Week's Topic: Using CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs
Question: USB Flash Drive
Websites of Interest: Take Me Fishing; Official U.S. Time; The Medline Plus; History
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Special Feature: Email Scam Warnings
IRS Survey Scam
Recently an email has been going around claiming to be a customer satisfaction survey from the IRS. It says that you will receive an $80 tax credit if you respond to the survey. The e-mail contains the IRS logo, refers to the IRS in the from line and in the subject line and looks like it legitimately could be from the IRS.
This is an identity theft attempt. The IRS never contacts taxpayers this way. You can read more about this scam at the IRS website:
http://tinyurl.com/3bchh2
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Scam
The FDIC has issued a warning about a recent phishing email. The email claims to be from the FDIC. The from line will say Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the subject line will say IMPORTANT: Notification of Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. This is a scam; the FDIC will never contact anyone or release news in this manner. Do not even open the email.
You can read more about this scam at the FDIC website:
http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/alerts/index.html
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Today's Topic: Using CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs
In the past week, we have gotten many questions on copying files from the computer to a CD and vice versa. The following articles, taken from our newsletter archives, address some of these questions.
Putting Files on a CD-ROM Disk
Computers that have CD writers generally come with CD writing software. Since CD writing programs vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, the following steps will be very general, but, hopefully, will help you get started.
The first step is finding your CD writing program. Open the Start menu and look under Programs. Look for CD writing, burning or something similar. Open the program.
If you get choice for writing manually or using a wizard, pick the wizard. If not, proceed to the next step.
You will have to choose what type of CD you want to create, music/audio or data. If you want to put files on the CD, choose Data.
The next step would be selecting the files you want to put on the CD. Most programs will show the Windows file structure, with the folders and files in one pane, where they can be selected and then added to the Write list. You may see an Add button, or be able to drag and drop the file into the pane to create your Write list.
Once you have added all the files you want, look for the option to write to the CD.
Some CD writing programs will give you the option to test the CD. You may want to test the CDs the first few times you use the writer. If they always test ok, in the future you can skip this step.
While the CD is being written to, do not work with your computer, especially opening or closing programs. The CD writing process can be interrupted, causing what is called a buffer underrun error, and it could make your disk unusable.
The CD Writing program will usually let you know when the process is complete. You can then close the program and remove the disk from the drive.
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Copy to a CD with Windows XP CD Copier
Question: How do I put my files onto a CD? I use Microsoft Word and Windows XP.
Answer:
If you are using Windows XP, you do not need to buy expensive CD-recording software. If your computer has a CD-RW or DVD-RW drive, Windows XP comes with built in CD burning software that will do the job for you.
When you insert a blank disk in your ROM drive, Windows XP will ask you if you want to open a writable CD folder. Click OK.
This folder is where you will temporarily store files that you want to put on a CD. You can copy files to this folder by dragging and dropping them or open Windows Explorer, copy the file and paste into the temp folder.
When you have all the files you want to put on the CD, you are ready to write to the disk. Click on Write these files to CD, which you will see on the left side of the CD folder window. All the files that you put into the temporary folder will be copied to the CD.
Note: files can be copied to a CD-R disk only one time while a CD-RW disk can be used over and over. If you are using a CD-R disk, make sure that you put all the files you want to copy into the temporary folder. Once you have put these files on the CD-R, you will not be able to add any more.
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Copy Files from a CD to Your Computer
Question: How can I copy the contents of a CD to my hard drive?
Answer:
First, make a place on the hard drive to store files from the CD. For now, make a folder on the desktop. That will be easy to find later. And, in the future, if you want to move it to the My Documents folder, all you have to do is drag it in.
To make a folder, right click on a blank spot on your desktop. In the menu that you now see, point to New and then click Folder. A folder will appear on the desktop with the name New Folder highlighted in blue. Type a name for your folder, and it will replace the highlighted name.
Now you have a folder on the hard drive for the CD files. Double click on it to open it.
Put the CD in the drive and close it. A window should open automatically, listing all the files on the CD. If it does not open, double click on the My Computer icon, and then double click on the CD drive.
There are now two windows open on your desktop; one has the contents of the CD, and the other is the empty folder on the hard drive.
Arrange the windows so they are side by side, each taking up approximately half of the screen. To do this, right click on a blank spot on the taskbar (the bar across the bottom of the screen). From the resulting menu, click Tile Windows Vertically. The two windows will now line up next to each other.
In the window with the CD files, click Edit on the menu, and then click Select All. All the files will be highlighted. Point to any of the highlighted files, hold down the left mouse button, and drag into the other window (the empty folder on the hard drive). Give the files a few moments to copy.
The files from the CD will now be in the folder on the desktop. You can remove the CD from the drive.
To open any of the files you copied from the CD, double click on the folder icon, and then double click on the file you want to open. The file will open in the appropriate program.
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Question: USB Flash Drive
What is a USB drive?
Answer:
A USB drive is a small device about the size of your thumb. It is used for storing files externally or moving files from one computer to another.
You will hear these referred to as a thumb drive, flash drive, USB drive, data stick or memory stick. They are about the size of an average thumb.
It plugs into the USB port on a computer and operates just like a hard drive. There are, however, some significant differences between a USB flash drive and an external hard drive:
Unlike a hard drive, a USB flash drive has no moving parts so expect it to last much longer than any hard drive would.
USB flash drives are much smaller than external hard drives.
Because it has no moving parts, a flash drive is not as likely as an external hard drive to break if dropped.
Flash drives also have advantages over recordable CDs and DVDs:
Reading or writing to a flash drive is much faster than to a CD or DVD.
Files can be added and deleted at any time. With a CD-R or DVD-R, files can be added only once; once a disk is burned, files cannot be removed.
A flash drive is smaller than a CD or DVD disk.
Sizes of flash drives on the market right now range from 32 MB to 4 GB.
Prices vary greatly due to different features such as size. Many electronics stores, computers stores and office stores offer sales and rebates on these devices.
To use with Windows Vista, XP or ME, simply plug the drive into the USB port. Windows will find the drive and do the setup for you. Using Windows Explorer, the flash drive will appear just like the floppy drive, hard drive or ROM drive. Files can be dragged to or from the flash drive window. In programs, files can be saved to or opened from the flash drive.
Using Windows 98, depending on the flash drive, it is possible that the computer may need additional software installed in order to use the device. The flash drive manufacturer would supply this software. Once installed, though, the device will be available for use in Windows Explorer or programs as detailed in the above paragraph.
See next weeks newsletter for an article on Backing Up to a USB Flash Drive
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Websites of Interest:
Take Me Fishing
Do you like to fish? This website can provide all the information you need about where and how to fish.
http://www.takemefishing.org/
Official U.S. Time
Check this website for the accurate time.
http://www.time.gov/
The Medline Plus
This website, created by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, is a comprehensive guide that will explain everything you want to know about Herbal Medicine.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/herbalmedicine.html
History
If you enjoy reading about history, you will love this website. It has links to over a thousand websites major historical topics from Pre-History to Modern History and everything in between.
http://www.besthistorysites.net/
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