Welcome to this week's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, February 7, 2010

We will be taking next Sunday off to celebrate Valentine’s Day with our loved ones. We wish you a very Happy Valentine’s Day! See you in two weeks.

In this Issue:
Special Feature: Warning: Valentine's Day Scams
Tips & Tricks: Do Not Unsubscribe from a Spammer's List!
Featured Computer Term: Cookies

Tips & Tricks: Shortcut Keys ABCs
This Week's Topic: Speed Up a Slow Computer – Disable Unnecessary Windows Services
Question: Hard Dive Free Space
Websites of Interest: Presidents Day; Valentine’s Day; Abraham Lincoln: Collected Works; TimeIs; Olympics

**********************************

Special Feature: Warning: Valentine's Day Scams

The following article is from fraudguides.com.

Valentine's Day is a day of romance and expressions of love but if you're not careful you could fall victim to a Valentine's Day scam.

Valentine's Day Phishing Scams

As February 14th approaches we come to expect marketing pitches and eCards to arrive in our mailboxes related to Valentine's Day. Crooks are well aware of this and they use this time of year to trick the unwary into divulging their personal and financial information. One such phishing scheme involves an email indicating that the flowers you ordered for your sweetie won't be delivered unless you log in and re-enter your credit card

What are the chances that a significant number of these messages are going to reach people that have ordered flowers? No one wants their loved one to think they've forgotten them on Valentine's Day! If you click the link in that email and enter your credit card number you could have a real problem once you get your next statement. Even if you think a message like this is real, go directly to the florist's website or call them on the phone.

The same rules apply all year long. Treat any email message like this skeptically and always go directly to the website rather than clicking a link in an email no matter how legitimate it seems.

Online Dating Scams

As Valentine's Day approaches many singles turn to online dating websites to find true love. What many find is anything but. Scam artists often create fake profiles designed to match a certain kind of person, the kind of person they think will fall for their ploy. Once they make contact with you the scam begins. Whether you are chatting in a chat room or instant messages or through emails it slowly becomes clear that you've hit the jackpot. This new person you've met is perfect in every way. They have the same likes and dislikes as you and most importantly, they really dig you.

It's not hard to see how this works. They let you tell them something first. Agreeing with whatever you say is simple. Someone that does this for a living is going to be very good at it so it will be hard to detect unless you are skeptical by nature. Anyone looking for love online should always be skeptical.

What happens is that the criminal is slowly grooming you, trying to develop enough trust in them that you won't notice when they bilk you out of your money. This attempt will come when it's time to finally meet. Your true love won't have enough money for the trip and need you to wire funds for a plane ticket. Another common variation on this scam is that either your online paramour becomes sick or has a relative or child that needs medical attention. This works well because themoney is needed quickly and you won't have time to think about it. Time is of the essence. If you can't help someone might die.

Use your head if this ever happens to you. This is a very old and common scam. If you fall for it you will have to deal with both heartache and wounded pride.

Valentine's Day eCard Trickery

Be careful opening eCards on the web! If you have downloaded all of your patches and feel that your computer is safe you may have forgotten the biggest vulnerability: you! One message I received directed me to click a link which took me to a reasonable facsimile of American Greeting's website. Once there I was presented with a message telling me that I didn't have the latest Flash player and if I wanted to view the eCard I would have to install it. I didn't fall for it. For one, the web address or URL of the website was close but not identical to americangreetings.com and I pay careful attention to details like that. Second, I am positive that my Flash player is up-to-date and no phony eCard website is going to fool me into thinking otherwise. Third, the email message that told me to retrieve my eCard didn't have my name on it which tells me that it could have gone out to millions of people in the hopes that a few might fall for it.

All of those are red flags. If you didn't pay attention to them and clicked the link you became the weak link in the security chain and might have installed a trojan on your computer. Trojans are little programs that can give someone besides you full access to your computer and the files on it. You certainly don't want that to happen. So pay attention when you click links like this in your email messages or you might end up providing a window into your computer that anyone can crawl through.

**********************************

Tips & Tricks: Do Not Unsubscribe from a Spammer's List!

Once you have identified a message as spam, don't believe a single word in it, least of all any unsubscription information it contains.

Spammers don't remove addresses from their list. If you try to unsubscribe, the best that can happen is nothing. More than likely, though, you'll get more spam afterwards, since you have just verified that you do indeed receive messages at that email address.

**********************************

Featured Computer Term: Cookies

Question: Can you explain "cookies"? What is their use? Someone told me I can delete them as they take up space?

Answer:

A cookie is a piece of information unique to you that your browser saves and sends back to a Web server when you revisit a Web site (the Web server is the computer that hosts a Web site that your browser downloads or sees). The server tells your browser where to put the cookie on the server. Cookies contain information such as log-in or registration information, online shopping cart information (your online buying patterns in a certain retail site), user preferences, what site you came from last, etc.

The main purpose of cookies is to identify users and possibly prepare customized Web pages for them. When you enter a Web site using cookies, you may be asked to fill out a form providing such information as your name and interests. This information is packaged into a cookie and sent to your Web browser, which stores it for later use. The next time you go to the same Web site, your browser will send the cookie to the Web server. The server can use this information to present you with custom Web pages. So, for example, instead of seeing just a generic welcome page you might see a welcome page with your name on it. This can be very convenient if you shop frequently at a particular website; the cookie remembers your information such as name, address, credit card number, and you won’t have to input that information each time you purchase something.

The name cookie derives from UNIX objects called magic cookies. These are tokens that are attached to a user or program and change depending on the areas entered by the user or program. Cookies are also sometimes called persistent cookies because they typically stay in the browser for long periods of time.

To see all the cookies that your browser has stored on your computer, click the Start button, choose Run, type Cookies in the Run box, and press Enter. Each cookie is stored as a separate file that includes your username, an @ sign, and the name of the site that stored the information. You can double-click on any cookie to open its file in Notepad, and you can use the Delete key to get rid of any cookie you decide you don't want or need.

Question: How do you know which cookies to keep and which to delete?

Answer: You can delete all the cookies if you want. The only thing they do is hold information about your activities and account information with a particular website.

For example if you frequently shop at a specific website, a cookie from this website identifies you and will include your name and items you might be interested in when you visit their website.

If you delete this cookie, the website will show you a generic page and you will have to log in each time using your username and password before you can access your account with them. When you order, you may also have to manually type in your name, address, and any other necessary information that the cookie would put in for you.

To delete all the cookies, click Start and open Control Panel. Open Internet Options. On the General tab, click on the button that says Delete Cookies.

If you’re using Windows Vista, click Start and open Control Panel. Open Internet Options. On the General tab, in the Browsing history area, click the Delete button. In the next window, click the Delete Cookies button.

Is there a computer term or phrase that you'd like to see an explanation of? Email it to info@computerkindergarten.com and we'll put the term and its definition in an upcoming newsletter.

**********************************

Tips & Tricks: Shortcut Keys ABCs

Shortcut keys provide an easier and usually quicker way of giving commands. They are used by holding down the Alt, Ctrl, Shift, and/or Windows keys and then pressing and releasing a single letter key. For example, Ctrl+c means hold down the Ctrl key, press and release the c key, and then release the Ctrl key.

Some keyboard shortcuts:

Alt + F Opens the File menu in the active program.

Ctrl + A Selects all the text in the active program.

Ctrl + C Copies the selected text.

Ctrl + V Pastes the selected text.

Ctrl + Home Moves to the beginning of the document

Ctrl + End Goes to the end of the document.

Alt + Tab Switch between open applications.

Ctrl + Esc Open the Start Menu

Alt + F4 Closes the active window

**********************************

Today's Topic: Speed Up a Slow Computer – Disable Unnecessary Windows Services

As your Windows computer ages, its speed can decrease. You will notice an increase in response time when you give commands to open programs, files or folders, use the Internet and other tasks. There are several things you can do to speed up your computer.

In our ongoing series, Speed Up a Slow Computer, we will present articles discussing some of the steps you can take to speed up your slow computer.

Important: Before making any changes to your system, always create a Restore Point. If anything goes wrong with the changes you make, this will allow you to revert back to a point when the computer was operating correctly. Please visit our Newsletter Archives to read our article, All About Restore Points:

http://computerkindergarten.com/html/040509.html

Note: It is recommended to turn off only one or two items at a time, write down the changes you made, and then use the computer for several days or a week to make sure everything is working fine. If problems do occur, the items that were changed can simply be changed back again.

Speed Up a Slow Computer – Disable Unnecessary Windows Services

A Windows service is a program that performs specific functions and is designed not to require user intervention. This means that the program starts up automatically when the computer is turned on and runs behind the scenes. The computer user does not have to do anything to start or work with the program and, most of the time, does not even see the program running.

Some of these services are for networked computers, ex. computers in an office that are connected to each other. They are unnecessary for the home user. Turning off these unnecessary services can improve the performance and speed of the computer.

To access Services in Windows XP, click on the Start button and open Control Panel. In Control Panel, open Administrative Tools (If you do not see Administrative Tools, click Classic view on the left). Open Services.

To access Services in Windows Vista, click on the Start orb (bottom left) and open Control Panel. In Control Panel, open Administrative Tools (If you do not see Administrative Tools, click Classic view on the left). Open Services.

To see more information about a particular service, click on it. A description of that service will appear to the left of the Name column. The Startup Type column displays Automatic, Manual or Disabled. Services marked Automatic start up when the computer is turned on and remain on and running while the computer remains on. These are the services that can be slowing the computer down.

To stop a service from automatically starting, right click on the service name. Left click on Properties. The Properties window for that service will open. To the right of Startup Type, a drop down box will display Automatic. Click the down arrow to the right and then click Disabled. Click the OK button.

To determine which services are unnecessary for your computer, visit some of the websites listed below. These lists are compiled by Windows experts who have tested computers with and without these services running.

Windows XP

http://www.ss64.com/nt/syntax-services.html

http://beemerworld.com/tips/servicesxp.htm

http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm

Windows Vista

http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/service411.htm

http://www.speedyvista.com/services.php

http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm

Important: It is strongly advised to disable only two services at a time. Note the services you disable and then use your computer for several days or a week. If there are no adverse effects after full usage of your computer, go back into Services and disable two more. If you do experience an adverse effect, go back into Services and change the services you disabled back to Automatic.

In our next edition, Defragment Your Hard Drive

Please visit our Newsletter Archives for previous articles in our Speed Up a Slow Computer series:

Speed Up a Slow Computer - Clean the Desktop

http://computerkindergarten.com/html/040509.html

Speed Up a Slow Computer - Uninstall Unused Programs

http://computerkindergarten.com/html/041909.html

Speed Up a Slow Computer – Turn Off Auto Start Programs

http://computerkindergarten.com/html/042609.html

Speed Up a Slow Computer – Turn Off Auto Start Programs - MSCONFIG

http://computerkindergarten.com/html/050309.html

**********************************

Question: Hard Dive Free Space

My computer is getting older and I am concerned about space. Can I look up how much space I have left?

Answer:

Yes, you can. To see how much space you have left, follow these steps:

Double click the Computer (My Computer) icon on the desktop.

In the My Computer window, right click on the C: drive icon. In the resulting menu, left click Properties.

The properties window for the drive will appear. This window will display the used space, free space and total capacity on the drive. This information will also be displayed in a pie chart.

**********************************

Websites of Interest:

Presidents Day

Next Monday is Presidents Day. Visit our website for links to sites with biographies, timelines, articles, e-cards and much more.

http://computerkindergarten.com/html/presidents.html

Valentine’s Day

Next Sunday is Valentines Day. Visit our website for fun Valentines links, information, graphics and much more.

http://computerkindergarten.com/html/valentine.html

Abraham Lincoln: Collected Works

While Abraham Lincoln is most famous for his opposition to slavery, his "Emancipation Proclamation", and his role in helping to end the Civil War, he also did some writing. At this site you can browse through his speeches, correspondence, debates and more.

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/

TimeIs

This site gives the exact time at almost any point in the world. It checks your clock’s accuracy and how far off it is.

http://time.is/

Olympics

This is the official site for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

http://www.vancouver2010.com/