Welcome
to this week's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, March 1, 2009
In this Issue:
Special Feature: Tips to Protect
Against Identity Theft
Tips & Tricks: Twenty Five Most
Important Rules of Email Etiquette: 10. Let People Know
Their Mail Has Been Received
Featured Computer Term: Keystroke
Logging
This Week's Topic: Cleaning Up Your
Hard Disk: Remove Unused Applications
Question: Microsoft Word: Red, Green and Blue Squiggles
Question: Product Review –
Video Professor
Websites
of Interest: National Women's
History Month; Weatherbug; Thesaurus; The
World’s Healthiest Foods
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Special Feature: Tips to
Protect Against Identity Theft
Every
3.5 seconds in the United States, someone's identity is
stolen. Many people think identity theft only occurs online. While there are many viruses and online scams, far more identity theft occurs from offline threats,
including thieves digging through garbage and stealing wallets.
You
can reduce your risk by following these steps:
Do
not carry more credit cards than you will need and cancel accounts you do not
use anymore.
Never
carry your social security card. Do
not give out the number unless necessary.
Shred
documents that contain financial information.
When
you pay for something, make sure you take the receipt.
Keep
a good grip on your bag or wallet, especially in crowded places.
When
you are away, stop papers and mail delivery.
Online,
only shop at sites you know.
Familiarize
yourself with scams so you don't become the next
victim.
Keep
your computer secure. Use antivirus and anti spyware programs and keep them up
to date.
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Tips & Tricks: Twenty Five Most Important Rules of Email Etiquette: 10. Let People Know
Their Mail Has Been Received
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.
Let
People Know Their Mail Has Been Received
So you've collected all the information, packed it into an
email, added a nice salutation and sent it.
No reply is necessary, of course... but... have they
received the carefully crafted message at all? Probably.
But maybe not?
Do
Let People Know Their Mail Has Been Received
Sometimes,
emails get lost or fall prey to overeager spam filtering.
* If it is not obvious to
the sender that you have gotten their message (because you move forward a
project in which they are also involved, for example),
* do send a quick note back,
possibly involving an informal thank-you, to acknowledge receipt even if no
reply is necessary otherwise.
Even
if you do plan to reply later, an email acknowledging receipt and letting the
sender know when you will get back to them can be welcome.
To
read previous editions of this series, please visit our newsletter archives:
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/etiquette.html
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Featured
Computer Term: Keystroke
Logging
Question: What is keystroke logging? I have read about this in relation to
spyware.
Answer:
Keystroke
logging, also known as keylogging, records the keys
pressed by the user. While it can be used for good, such as finding system errors, and is
used frequently by law enforcement, it is seen more frequently being used by
hackers trying to get into someone’s computer and steal information.
Some
spyware will contain keystroke loggers.
If a computer is infected with this type of
spyware, all the information typed by the user can be sent back to the hacker.
If
you have an antivirus program, antivirus software and a good firewall, your
computer will be safe from keystroke loggers and other spyware.
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.
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Today's Topic: Cleaning Up
Your Hard Disk: Remove Unused Applications
Today's
computers come with hard drives that have amazing amounts of disk space. But no matter
how big, new programs, caches, and temporary files can use up this free space
pretty quickly and cause clutter on the drive and computer slowdowns.
You
will see many programs out there offering to help you free up hard disk space,
for a fee. Windows has built-in
tools that will do just as thorough a job in cleaning up your hard drive
– and, they’re free!
This
is the third article in our Cleaning Up Your Hard Disk
series. Over the next several
editions of this newsletter, we are going to show you how to use the Windows
tools to clean up your hard drive.
Remove
Unused Applications
The
longer you have your computer, the more programs you'll
have installed. These will take up
space on your hard drive and many you just don’t
use anymore. In this article, we
will show you how to uninstall the programs you no longer need.
Double-click
the Computer or My Computer icon on your Desktop. A window will open, listing the drives
found on your computer. We are
going to clean up the C: drive, which is the primary hard disk on your
computer.
Right
click on the C: drive. A menu will
display, left click on Properties. This will open the C Properties window. You will see the amount of used space
(blue), the amount of free space (pink) and the total capacity of the hard
drive. Below that, you will see a
pie chart diagram showing you the amount of used and free space.
Click
the Disk Cleanup button, which is found right below
the pie chart. Windows will
calculate how much space can be freed up. This may take a few moments, depending
on the size of your hard drive.
When
Windows is done with the calculation, the Disk Cleanup
window will display. At the top of
this window, click the More Options tab.
If
you have Windows XP
Look
for the Installed Programs area in the window you now see. Click the Clean up button. This will open the Add/Remove Program
Properties screen. Click to select the program you want to delete, and then
click the Add/Remove button. It may take a few moments for a program to be completely removed.
Continue doing this for all the programs you no longer need.
If
you have Windows Vista
In
the Programs and Features area, click the Clean up button. The Uninstall or change a program window
will open. Click to select the
program you want to delete, and then click Uninstall on the toolbar above the
list of programs. It may take a few
moments for a program to be completely removed. Continue doing this for all the programs
you no longer need.
In
our next newsletter: Delete Restore
Points
To
read our previous articles in this series, visit our newsletter archives:
Windows
Disk Cleanup
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/020809.html
Remove
Unnecessary Windows Components
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/022209.html
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Question: Microsoft
Word: Red, Green and Blue Squiggles
In
Microsoft Word, what do the red, blue and green squiggly underlines mean?
Answer:
When
you see a word underlined in a red squiggle, it means that Word cannot find it
in its Spell Check dictionary. If
the word is misspelled, right click on it and Word will suggest some possible
correct spellings. Left click on
the spelling you want and Word will replace the incorrect word with the correct
one.
If
it is a proper name, and is spelled correctly, you can
add it to Word’s dictionary so that it is not always marked as an
error. Right click on it and then
left click on Add to dictionary.
A
green squiggle means that Word detects a grammar issue. Right click on the word again for
suggestions that Word may have.
A
blue squiggle, which is new to Word 2007, notifies you of words that may be
incorrect in the context used. An
example of this is using the right word but wrong spelling. Once again, right click for Word’s
suggestions.
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Question: Product Review – Video
Professor
Question: What do you think of Video
Professor? They advertise computer training videos. Do you think these are useful?
Answer:
Before
buying any product you are not familiar with, always do a little research. Open your favorite search engine (Google
and Yahoo are examples of good search engines) and type in:
review product name
In
the results, you should be able to find websites that give a good description
of the product and what other consumers think of it.
Here
are a couple of sites returned from a product review search of Video Professor:
http://www.infomercialscams.com/scams/video_professor
http://www.epinions.com/review/mvie_mu-1105407/content_69518528132
http://www.infomercialratings.com/product/video_professor
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Websites of Interest:
National Women's History Month
March
is National Women's History month.
Visit this website to learn all about history, events, achievements and
much more.
http://www.nwhp.org/
Weatherbug
Get
live, local weather forecasts right on your desktop.
http://www.weatherbug.com/
Thesaurus
Want to perk up your writing a little? visit
thesaurus.com.
http://thesaurus.com
The
World’s Healthiest Foods
Take a look at this website for the healthiest foods in
the world and great advice and recipes on how to prepare them.
http://www.whfoods.com/