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Welcome to this week's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, December 7, 2008
In this Issue:
Special Feature: A Bad Economy is Good for Scammers: Technicians at your Home Scam
Special Feature: Online Shopping Safety Tips
Tips & Tricks: Twenty Five Most Important Rules of Email Etiquette: 2. Properly Formatted Email Replies
Keyboard Shortcut: Fast Moves with the Arrow Keys
This Week's Topic: Minimizing Spam – Stop the Forwarding Fiend
Question: Copy and Paste
Websites of Interest: Pearl Harbor Day; Changing the Present; Cookie Recipes; Package Tracker
To our readers:
We’ve gotten thousands of emails thanking us for our articles on computer safety and online and offline scams and hoaxes. We wish we had the time to answer each one. We appreciate your thanks and are glad we can help!
Here at Sharper Training Solutions, one of the things we are very dedicated to is educating all of our friends as to the identity theft and computer dangers that are out there. We’ve found that some of these scams can be pretty clever and can easily fool most of us. Because of that, we encourage you to pass on our newsletter articles to your friends and family to educate them as well.
And don’t forget, you can always email us with any questions or issues you may encounter.
Stay safe out there !
Please consider the environment before printing this email.
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Special Feature: A Bad Economy is Good for Scammers: Technicians at your Home Scam
The following is from http://www.bottomlinesecrets.com. Reprinted with permission.
Rising unemployment rates, sky-high fuel prices, a plunging stock market and falling home values have landed many Americans in difficult financial straits. This makes people psychologically predisposed to jump at a potential solution -- without stopping to consider whether this solution is truly as appealing as it seems.
Here is a recently reported scam that is designed to take advantage of America's current economic problems...
Technicians at your Home
Two technicians from your oil, gas or electric company unexpectedly arrive on your doorstep.
They say they have reason to believe there is a minor problem with your furnace (or gas line or some other component of your heating or electrical system) that is causing it to burn fuel faster than it should or causing you to be billed for more fuel than you are using.
These technicians really are thieves. If you let them into your house, one will distract you while the other steals from you.
Home owners normally are careful about whom they allow into their homes, but anxiety over high fuel prices makes the promise of lower heating bills too appealing for many to pass up.
What to do: If utility company technicians visit your home when you have not arranged a service call, ask them to wait outside (keep your door locked) while you phone the company to double-check their story.
Do not back down even if they claim that they do not have time to wait. While you're making the call, the scammers most likely will disappear, but if not, call the police.
In the next edition of this newsletter: A Bad Economy is Good for Scammers: Work-at-Home Scam
Visit our Newsletter Archives for previous articles on A Bad Economy is Good for Scammers
Unpaid Fuel Bill
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/111608.html
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Special Feature: Online Shopping Safety Tips
The following is from worldstart.com
Online shopping is a quick and easy way to get what you need for the holidays, but in doing that, you're also taking a security risk. Don't get me wrong, most companies have top notch security for their Web sites, but there are still some things you need to look out for. Below, you will find the top five tips for safe online shopping. Read through them and then put them to practice.
1.) Know Who You're Dealing With - The first thing you need to be aware of is the merchant you are buying from. There are a lot of companies out there that run completely off of their Web site, which means you probably won't be as familiar with them as a store you could visit at the mall. In that case, you should take some time to learn about them and the reputation they hold. You can do that by searching them out on the Internet. Use a search engine to see if you can find any reviews about them from other consumers and try to find an information page on them. If previous shoppers really like or dislike a company, chances are, you'll be able to find some comments about them somewhere on the Web. If you take the time to do this before you order from a new business, you'll be much better off in the end.
2.) Protect Your Privacy - When you're shopping online, you have to think about yourself first and that means doing whatever it takes to protect your privacy. Before you do any ordering, you should be aware of what information the merchant is asking of you, how it will be used and if they have any intention of sharing it with others. The best way to do all of that is to check out the company's Web site. If they're a legit site, they should have a Privacy Policy posted there. You should take the time to read through that and make sure you're comfortable with everything they say. It's a good idea to look for seals from privacy enforcement organizations, such as TRUSTe and BBBOnLine, as well. If you're asked to enter in such things as your social security number or bank account information, do not do it! Those things are red flags and they are not needed to make an online purchase. If you pay close attention to what you're doing, you will be just fine.
3.) Know All the Details - When you're shopping online, you should always check out the complete details of your purchase. For example, make sure you know all about delivery dates, shipping and handling costs, warranties, return policies, etc. It's also a good idea to get a company's contact information before you finalize your order. They should have a telephone number or e-mail address on their Web site that you can keep on hand in case you have any questions or problems once you receive your items.
4.) Use a Credit Card - I know that may not sound like the safest thing to do, but it really is a good way to keep yourself safe. If you do business with a reliable credit card company, they will protect you if anything happens while you're making online purchases. Most credit card companies provide liability agreements, so if your card information is stolen, they will be able to put a hold on your card and issue you a brand new number. That way, whoever has your number is stopped from being able to use it. So, if you suspect any suspicious activity after you make an online purchase, call your credit card company right away and they'll be able to handle everything for you. Also, when credit card companies see unusual activity on your card, they will inform you about it.
When you're using your credit card online, make sure you look for the yellow padlock at the bottom of your Web browser or for the "https" in the URL. Those are two signs that a site is secure and that your credit card information will transmit safely. You should also always use strong passwords when you're logging in to certain Web sites and make sure you don't share them with anyone.
5.) Keep It On Record - The last thing you should always do is keep good records of your purchases. Make sure you either print out the receipt for your transactions or save it somewhere on your computer. Most companies send confirmation e-mails, so it's a good idea to save that and print it out as well. In doing that, you will be able to keep better track of your total price, shipping and handling fees and shipping dates.
There you have it! Now, I know I mostly talked about online companies in this article, but these five tips go for every store you shop with online. It goes for all the "big box" stores, the department stores, grocery stores and so on. No matter where you're doing your shopping, you need to be aware of your surroundings and make sure your number one priority is keeping yourself safe. Online shopping is even better when you're smart about it.
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Tips & Tricks: Twenty Five Most Important Rules of Email Etiquette: 2. Properly Formatted Email Replies
This article is part of our ongoing series on Email Etiquette. With the help of Heinz Tschabitscher from about.com, we are taking an in depth look at email etiquette. To read previous editions of this series, please visit our newsletter archives:
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/etiquette.html
The rules of email etiquette are not rules as much as they are guidelines that help avoid mistakes (like offending someone when you don't mean to) and misunderstandings (like being offended when you're not meant to).
These core rules of email etiquette help us communicate better via email.
2. Properly Formatted Email Replies
Proper Email Quotations
If you reply to an email, it should be clear what you are replying to. That's why the text of the original message is usually quoted in a reply. So much is clear, but the best way to quote text in an email is not.
There is a very sensible quasi-standard for doing the right thing. It makes you quote just as much as is needed in a way that lets the recipient of your reply see exactly what you are reacting to. If all email clients (or email users) comply, the messages always look clean and neat, and they are easy to read.
Quoting in the suggested way is the proper thing to do, but it is also some work to trim the quoted text and make it look nice. Is that really necessary for a quick and brief reply? And if you try to quote using proper indentation in an email program like Outlook, you will either sit for an hour over a response or fail miserable (or, most probably, both).
Easy, Still Correct and Good-Looking
Fortunately, there's always more than one way to do something. Typically, these options are all not perfect, but there can easily be more than one proper approach. Now, here's the more relaxed but still perfectly readable and acceptable and compatible — and proper — way to reply to an email.
To format an email reply properly:
* Start your message right at the top of the reply.
* Include the original message you are replying to below. Make sure your signature is above the quoted text.
* Do not make any changes to the quoted material. You can, of course, cut excessive length and (should often remove) inline attachments. Replace them with "[...]".
* Do repeat, in as few words as possible, questions you are answering. Instead of a mere "Yes.", try "You asked whether we want apples. Yes we do." or "We want apples, yes.".
* Make sure the quoted text is not indented, neither using '>' characters nor quotation bars.
* If you reply to the reply of a reply, you can remove old, now unnecessary messages from the bottom.
In email clients and services like Gmail that automatically archive and thread discussions intelligently, this style of reply works particularly well. Since all the quoted text is in one place, it can be hidden easily and without disturbing the coherence of the message while inter-message context is establish through the original emails.
To read previous editions of this series, please visit our newsletter archives:
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/etiquette.html
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Keyboard Shortcut: Fast Moves with the Arrow Keys
This will work in your word processing program and some email programs.
Hold down the CTRL key and press the left or right arrow key. Instead of moving the insertion point one space at a time, you'll move it to the previous (left arrow) or next (right arrow) word.
Hold down the CTRL key and press the up or down arrow. Instead of moving up or down one line, the insertion point will move to the previous or next paragraph.
If you hold down the Shift key while pressing CTRL and arrow, for example, hold down Shift and Ctrl and press the arrow key, you select text as you move along.
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Today's Topic: Minimizing Spam – Stop the Forwarding Fiend
Create an email address just for shopping online, registering at websites and any other places that might sell your email address to a spammer. Give your main address to no one except your friends and family.
But there is a problem with that, too. Do you know someone who forwards absolutely everything that comes through their inbox? That can be the source of the spam you get. Look at a forwarded email; see all those email addresses in it? Spammers are now finding forwarded emails, harvesting all of the addresses throughout the email and putting them on their address lists.
That means that you as well as all the other people who are getting these forwarded emails will probably soon be receiving a whole lot of junk! It might be hard to ask your friend to stop forwarding everything to you, but you can suggest that they use BCC. That means that your email address will be hidden from all the other addresses. Here is how you do that (and you might want to send this article to any forwarders you know):
Click Forward in the email like you usually do. Some email programs will have a BCC box. If yours does, input all the emails address you want to send to in the BCC box. If your email program does not have a BCC box, click in the CC or Copy to box, type an Open Parenthesis (Shift 9) input all the email addresses and then type a Close Parenthesis (Shift 0). Input your own email address in the To box. Send the email as usual.
Each recipient will receive the email but no other email addresses will display. If the recipient decides to send it on, none of the other email addresses will go out with the email.
In the next edition of this newsletter: Minimizing Spam – Never Respond to Spam
Visit our Newsletter Archives for previous articles on Minimizing Spam:
Minimizing Spam - Create a New Address
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/110908.html
Minimizing Spam – Registering Online
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/111608.html
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Question: Copy and Paste
Can you explain how copy and paste works?
Answer:
By using the Cut and Copy functions, you can reorganize the contents of your document in any way you wish.
Cut and Paste is used to move a block of text, a sentence, paragraph, page or column to another location in the same document or another document. Copy and Paste leaves text in its original location while placing a duplicate in a different location in the same document or another document.
To use Cut or Copy and Paste:
1. Open the document and select the section that you want to copy or move. (Note: to select text, point to the first character to be selected, hold the left mouse button down, and drag across text. To select a graphic, right click on the graphic, left click on copy in the resulting menu.
2. While the section is selected, open the Edit menu and click Copy or Cut. This copies the selected material into a special area of the computer's memory, called the Clipboard. (Note that with Copy, the selection also remains where it was in the document; it doesn't disappear.)
3. Move your cursor to the place or document where you want to paste the material that is now in the Clipboard. Click when your cursor is in the correct spot. A flashing line will appear where you clicked.
4. Open the Edit menu and click Paste.
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Websites of Interest:
Pearl Harbor Day
December 7 is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. At the National Geographic website, you can read survivors stories and learn more about the ships and planes.
http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/pearlharbor/
Visit this website for an overview and history of the events:
http://www.ccdemo.info/PearlHarbor/PearlHarborDayRemembered.html
From the Library of Congress, this is a descriptive account of aftermath of the attack.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/dec07.html
Changing the Present
If you are all out of ideas on what to give that person who has everything, take a look at this website. Changing The Present is a non-profit organization that enables people to give charitably on behalf of friends and family. Browse for causes meaningful to you or search for your favorite charity. Many worthwhile causes and reputable charities are listed
http://www.changingthepresent.org
Cookie Recipes
It is time to start thinking about the upcoming holidays and cookies are always a big part. Visit this website for some good recipes, decorations, tips and ideas.
http://www.cookie-recipes.net/
Package Tracker
Are you mailing gifts for the holidays? At this website, you can track packages from any of the major shippers.
http://www.packtrack.com/
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