Welcome
to this week's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, March 15, 2009
In this Issue:
Special Feature: Beware the
Neighborly Charity Fraud
Tips & Tricks: Twenty Five Most
Important Rules of Email Etiquette: 12. Talk About One Subject per Email Message
Featured Computer Term: Add Gadgets
to the Sidebar in Windows Vista
This Week's Topic: Cleaning Up Your
Hard Disk: Empty the Recycle Bin
Websites of Interest: St. Patricks Day; Health Square; Newseum;
PDF Online
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Special Feature: Beware the
Neighborly Charity Fraud
The
following is from scambusters.org
Charity
fraud come in many guises, and clever scammers are constantly inventing new
"twists" on old routines.
They
also know that certain scams are harder to resist.
After all, it's one thing to screen telemarketers,
delete suspicious emails and toss out junk mail, but quite another to refuse
appeals from wide-eyed students "raising money for sick children."
And it's even harder to turn down a
"student" who's one of your neighbors, right?
We
recently learned of instances where "college students" went
door-to-door, soliciting money for a legitimate-sounding charity. The scammers
introduced themselves as a "neighbor" (obviously, this works best in
larger neighborhoods) and convinced victims to buy magazines or books for
children suffering from one of several diseases.
The
alleged scammers even showed victims glossy brochures featuring different
magazine and book titles, and then asked the person to donate some to the sick
children.
In
one neighborhood, some of those targeted only became suspicious when they later
compared notes, and realized that:
--
The people selling the books and magazines didn't
actually live in the neighborhood.
--
Some victims were asked to make out their checks to
the salesperson, not the charity.
--
Some victims were shown photocopies of sales brochures;
others actual brochures.
We
can't be sure, but it's possible that scammers got
their hands on the materials and receipts of a legitimate charity and/or
photocopied them. The scammers may even have been approached by the legitimate
fundraisers earlier, and then decided to sign up as "salespeople,"
keeping the money for themselves.
Whatever
the case, please follow the tips below to avoid being ripped off by charity
fraud.
1.
Get the name, address and phone number of the organization. Also, ask if it is
registered. If the solicitor claims that it is, get the registration number.
The Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance offers information about
national charities on their website.
http://www.give.org
2.
Verify with the office of the real charity that there is indeed a door-to-door
campaign going on, and the person at your door is actually a representative. If
you are shy about verifying this information in the rep's presence, ask him to
return later, and then place the call.
3. Never pay cash, and always make out your check to
the charity, not to the person who knocked on your door.
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Tips & Tricks: Twenty Five Most Important Rules of Email Etiquette: 12. Talk About One
Subject per Email Message
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 do not mean to) and
misunderstandings (like being offended when you are not meant
to).
These
core rules of email etiquette help us communicate better via email.
Talk
About One Subject per Email Message
When
I write emails, my thoughts tend to go wild. I think of this and that, and I
should probably mention this, and — aah!
— I wanted to tell you that.
This
is certainly great. But, like mixing work and play,
packing too many different subjects into one message can make things pretty
confusing.
Talk
About One Subject per Email Message Only. Start a new message when you start
writing about a new subject.
The
new subject is also reflected in the Subject: header
field of the new message and it makes organizing mail a lot easier when you
know from the Subject what to expect in a message.
What
About Emails to Friends?
Of
course, this is not a rule that is always applicable.
If you are writing an email letter to a friend or family member
— and the point of a letter may well be that you are jumping from
one subject to the next and back again, then start anew somewhere completely
different —, forget about it. But if you're about to hide an important
piece of information that your friend needs to act on or reply to swiftly,
remember it again and send a separate email with that information quickly.
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: Add
Gadgets to the Sidebar in Windows Vista
You
can customize your Windows Vista desktop by adding gadgets to the Sidebar, such
as news feeds, clocks, weather, and more. Adding gadgets to your Vista Sidebar
allows you to check this information quickly and access tools you use often.
You can even add multiple instances of the same gadget on your Sidebar so you
can keep track of two different time zones or view multiple months from a
calendar.
Click
the plus sign at the top of the Sidebar, which opens the Gadget Gallery. If you
want to view additional gadgets, click Get more gadgets online.
Double-click
a gadget. It will
be added to the Sidebar at the top.
If you prefer it in a different location on the sidebar, point to it and
drag it down.
Click
the Close button to close the dialog box.
If you add more gadgets than can be shown in the single
Sidebar, use the Previous and Next arrows at the top of the Sidebar to move
from one set of gadgets to the next.
You
can detach gadgets from the Sidebar and place them on the desktop. If you then
close the Sidebar, you can still work with those desktop gadgets. To move a
gadget, just drag the gadget where you want it.
NEXT
WEEK: How to Use the Notes Gadget
in Windows Vista
Visit
our Newsletter Archives to read previous articles in this series:
The
Windows Sidebar in Windows Vista
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/030809.html
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: Empty the Recycle Bin
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 fifth 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.
Empty
the Recycle Bin
That
little garbage can on your desktop is an important feature of the Windows
Operating System. Whenever you delete a file in Windows
it goes, by default, into your Recycle Bin. The exceptions to this would be
files deleted from an external hard drive or USB drive.
When
you open the Recycle Bin by double-clicking on that trashcan icon, you see what
looks to be much like a standard open Windows folder. All the files you have deleted are displayed.
Managing
your Recycle Bin involves understanding what happens to the files that you send
there. It's important to note that these files still
exist on your computer until you empty your Recycle Bin. If you don't empty it from time to time you can take up quite a bit
of your hard disk. Over time this will slow up the
performance of your computer and eventually could cause you to run out of disk
space.
Emptying
Your Recycle Bin
You
can permanently delete all the files in your Recycle Bin by double-clicking on
the icon and choosing Empty Recycle Bin from the File menu. Remember that once
you perform this step files deleted in this manner cannot be
recovered by Windows. Be sure that you no longer want any of them.
Recovering
Files
The
Recycle Bin can serve a valuable purpose for a Windows user. Sometimes we
delete files by mistake, or change our minds about a deletion at a later time. With the Recycle Bin, it's
a very simple process to recover one of these files.
Double-click
on the Recycle Bin icon to open the folder. Highlight the file(s) that you wish
to recover and select Restore from the File menu. You can also right-click on a
file and select Restore from the context menu. By default, this will restore a
file to its original location. (If you delete a folder, the folder will be recreated, too, along with any subfolders that
contain restored files)
You
can restore a deleted file to an alternate location by selecting it with your
mouse and dragging it to the location to which you wish to recover it, for
instance, your desktop.
Taking
Control of the Trash
There
are some important ways that you as a user can manage your Recycle Bin. Right-clicking on the icon and choosing Properties from the
drop-down menu will bring up the Recycle Bin Properties sheet. You will find
several user-definable options there.
If
you get tired of Windows asking "are you
sure" every time you trash a file, deselect this option by clicking in the
box next to Display delete confirmation dialogue, removing the check mark. You will still be asked to confirm when you empty the Recycle
Bin.
If
you find yourself running out of hard disk space, you might want to decrease
the amount of space Windows allocates for the Recycle Bin. In the Properties sheet you will find a slider that allocates, on a percentage
basis, the Maximum size of Recycle Bin. You can free up disk space by dragging
the slider to the left and decreasing this percentage.
If
you decide the Recycle Bin isn't for you -- period --
you can configure Windows not to move files there, but immediately delete them
from your drive. Click in the box in the Properties sheet to select Do not move files to the Recycle bin. Remove files
immediately on delete. If you go this route, be very sure about any files you
delete, as you will no longer have the safety net Recycle Bin provides.
A
Final Word of Caution
Files
deleted from an external hard drive or USB drive DO NOT go to the Recycle Bin.
The moment they are deleted they are gone. There is no
built-in Windows method for recovering such files, although recovery is
sometimes possible with certain third-party disk utilities. Make sure you keep
backups of these files updated when you make changes.
In
our next newsletter: Defrag the
Hard Drive
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
Remove
Unused Applications
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/030109.html
Delete
Restore Points
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/030809.html
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Websites of Interest:
St. Patricks Day
Visit
our website for some fun, recipes, cards, great graphics and
information on St. Patrick and why the holiday is celebrated.
http://computerkindergarten.com/html/stpat.html
Health Square
Use this comprehensive website to get detailed information about prescription
drugs.
http://www.healthsquare.com/
Newseum
Front pages of newspapers from over 500 papers in 49 countries. See how papers all
over the world are covering a stories.
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/default.asp
PDF
Online
Upload
the document you want to convert to PDF, input your email address, and you will
have your file done in no time!
https://www.pdfonline.com/convert_pdf.asp