INSIDE
THE TIMES
Hardware
Helper
Say
What!?
Software
Search
Surfin'
Safari
Tips
& Tricks
Web
Wary
FREE
BUSINESS SOFTWARE ASSESSMENT
For
Your Information
ScamBusters
Hoaxkill
HoaxBusters
Urban
Legends
Vmyths
CNET
Google
|
The world of computers is a rapidly evolving and changing
world. It is difficult for most of us to stay on top of the changes
and even more difficult to know what changes will affect our lives and
our businesses. As a computer education company, we want everyone who
uses a computer to gain the full benefit of their "monster"
and to understand and avoid the pitfalls of the wonderful information
sharing technology we call the Internet.
In the spirit of sharing, we would like to invite you
to send in any interesting web sites you have visited, any computer
terms you find confusing, or any new software or hardware you have come
across. We would be pleased to research and answer any questions you
may have.
WindowWalk Computer Education offers on-site courses
and hourly training ranging from the basics to advanced "power
user" features. We pride ourselves in making your computer education
a fully personalized, comfortable, and convenient experience.
Find out more about our Free
Business Software Assessment for Small Business Owners.
Visit on
the web , send an
email , or call 830-9336 to give us your comments
and suggestions or to learn more about our effective software training.
|
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SURFIN'
SAFARI |
Some
Useful and Interesting Web Sites |
|
|
This
is the place to find your destiny. There are lots of free sample
readings and even more full paid-for readings. Check out the western
stars and the eastern horoscopes in a daily email - just for you. |
|
Read
your local paper online. Paper subscribers can log in and access
the entire paper. Classifieds and many other sections are available
for non-subscribers. When you are on the go, click for the news. |
|
Visit
this site to find out everything you need to know about your health.
They have sections for treatments, drugs, and healthy living as
well as many educational links. Get your health advice from the
experts! |
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WHAT
DOES IT DO? |
Quick
Descriptions of Popular Software |
NERO
BURNING ROM |
|
Nero Burning ROM can handle nearly any CD or DVD burning task.
It has multiple interfaces for all skill levels, including the
incredibly easy-to-use Nero Express. You can create audio CDs
of your favorite songs to play in your home CD player, or save
your important computer files on a data CD that can be read on
any computer. You can even use InCD to drag and drop files directly
to and from your CD. Nero makes CD burning a breeze.
Visit www.nero.com
for a free trial download of the latest version, Nero 6.0 Ultra
Edition..
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SAY
WHAT!? |
Sound
Like a Computer Wizard |
|
| Shareware/Freeware |
Shareware
is software written by independent developers. They offer their
products on a trial basis and usually have a very reasonable price
to purchase if you find the program meets your needs. Freeware is
software that is available for free with no strings attached. The
quality is often superb as the authors are generally users as well. |
| FTP |
The
File Transfer Protocol is one of the most commonly used methods
for uploading and downloading files to and from the Internet. It
has its origins on UNIX machines, but has been adapted to almost
every type of computer in existence and is built into most browsers.
|
| Intranet |
An
intranet is a private network. Many large businesses and organizations
have an intranet in place to connect every computer and share all
the company's data. Most intranets are also connected to the Internet
via gateways. |
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HARDWARE
HELPER |
TOP
5 PERSONAL LASER PRINTERS |
|
| Samsung
ML-1710 |
CNET
Rating:
8.0 Very Good |
The
Samsung is a simple, compact laser printer that offers high-speed,
good-quality text printing. It's ideal for personal and
home-office use. |
|
| Brother
HL-5140 |
CNET
Rating: 7.5
Good |
The
Brother HL-5140 is an affordable laser printer that will grow
with your small business or home office. |
|
| HP
LaserJet 1012 |
CNET
Rating: 7.5
Good |
The
affordable HP LaserJet 1012 delivers good print quality
and speed, but it's best suited for short reports and graphs. |
|
| Okidata
Oki B4250 |
CNET
Rating: 7.1
Good |
The
Oki B4250 is an affordable home-office monochrome printer,
but it won't work with Macs or hook up to a network. |
|
| Samsung
ML-1740 |
CNET
Rating: 7.0
Good |
Decent
single-user printing for basic black-and-white documents such
as text reports, memos, and spreadsheets. Samsung's affordable
ML-1740 home-office laser printer is great for small/home
offices but too limited for large office work. |
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SOFTWARE
SEARCH |
Corel WordPerfect
Office 12.0 |
|
Microsoft
Office dominates the productivity-suite market and has become the
de facto standard in the corporate realm. Yet it has been unable
to wipe out Corel's WordPerfect Office suite, a powerful, less-expensive
alternative that has managed to prosper. WordPerfect Office 12.0
retains the package's core strengths - the venerable WordPerfect
word processor, the Quattro Pro spreadsheet app, and the Presentations
app - while adding several interface enhancements, including the
ability to mimic the interface and keyboard shortcuts of Microsoft
Office's main apps, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. |
All
isn't perfect, however. WordPerfect Office 12.0 is still dreadful
at importing Microsoft Office documents, particularly Excel and
PowerPoint files. We're not saying that WordPerfect Office 12.0
is a poor product - far from it. In many ways, it's easier to use
than Microsoft Office, particularly for users who frequently upload
PDF, HTML, and XML documents to the Web. |
Corel
WordPerfect Office 12.0's best enhancements are interface related.
Topping the list is the clever Workspace Manager, a pick-your-interface
menu that pops up when you open WordPerfect, Quattro, or Presentations.
Designed to ease the transition from Microsoft Office, Workspace
Manager mimics the keystrokes, menus, and toolbars of Microsoft's
suite. Another handy new tool is the Compatibility Toolbar, which
allows one-click conversion to HTML, PDF, XML, Excel, PowerPoint,
or Word. |
In
addition to the Workspace Manager's interface enhancements, the
new OfficeReady Browser makes it a breeze to view and select a WordPerfect,
Quattro Pro, or Presentations template. OfficeReady, a standalone
application, features an Explorer-like tree that organizes template
folders by task: Academic, Company Finance, Family & Home, etc.
|
CNET
Rating: 7.3 out of 10
|
|
|
| The
Good |
Workspace
Manager simulates Microsoft Office interface and keyboard shortcuts;
Compatibility Manager allows one-click conversion to popular Internet
and Microsoft formats. |
| The
Bad |
Poor
conversion of Microsoft Office documents, particularly Excel and
PowerPoint files; no e-mail client. |
| The
Bottom Line |
WordPerfect
Office 12.0 offers a feature-rich and affordable alternative to
Microsoft Office for SOHO users but suffers from poor file conversion. |
| See
the full review at www.cnet.com/reviews. |
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to Top
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WEB
WARY |
Viruses,
Hoaxes, and Scams on the Internet |
TSUNAMI
SCAMS ABOUND |
|
Within
hours of the earthquake and tsunami that have already claimed more
than 210,000 lives, tsunami scams began appearing online and offline.
Scammers posing as tsunami victims or their relatives are already
using many different pitches to get people to give them money and
to download viruses and trojans. |
Types
of Scams |
Phishing
scams |
Fraudulent
websites have been set up pretending to be legitimate tsunami relief
organizations. These sites request charitable donations, but in
fact steal financial information and may be used for identity theft
as well. Contributions go into the pockets of the scammers. |
| Variants of the
Nigerian fee scam |
Unsolicited
email (spam) is sent with the supposed purpose of retrieving large
amounts of money tied up in areas devastated by the tsunami disaster. |
| Viruses and trojans |
Spam
is sent that includes photos of disaster areas or individual survivors,
and these attachments contain computer viruses. |
| Fee-based spam |
Unsolicited
emails offer, for a fee, to locate loved ones who may be disaster
victims. |
To
Avoid Getting Scammed |
|
Never
respond to an email request for a donation — there is almost
a 100% chance that it is a scam. |
Do
not open attachments (including supposed pictures of disaster areas)
-- they may well include viruses. |
Check
to make sure any charity is legitimate before contributing. |
| Always use
common sense. |
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to Top
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ASK
TIZZIE |
From
the Email Files of our Resident Computer Monster |
|
How
do I change the start up and shut down sounds in Windows XP? |
You
can change the start up and log off sounds in Windows XP very easily.
Click the Start button, click the Control Panel and then click Sounds
and Audio Devices. A small window will open with tabs at the top.
Click the Sounds tab. There is a list in the middle of the window
with the events to which you can assign sounds. Scroll through the
list (under Windows) until you see Start Windows (just under that
is Windows Logoff and Windows Logon). Click Start Windows and the
box below will light up with the name of the sound. Scroll through
the list until you find the sound you want, click it, and click
Apply. You can also preview the sounds before you close the window.
Windows XP
has very few sounds available for you, you may have to collect
(or make) some sounds of your own. These sounds are stored in
the Media folder under Windows on your local hard drive.
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TIPS
AND TRICKS |
Multiple
Item Clipboard in Microsoft Office |
|
The Office
Clipboard can collect and paste more than a dozen items. For example,
you can copy text in a Word document, switch to Excel and copy
a drawing object, switch to PowerPoint and copy a bulleted list,
switch to Access and copy a datasheet, then switch back to Word
and paste the collection of copied items.
To use the
Clipboard in Word XP, select View then Task Pane in the menu.
Click the down arrow at the top of the task pane, and select Clipboard.
In Word 2000, select View then Toolbars then Clipboard. When the
Clipboard is open, anything that you cut or copy will appear in
it. You can then choose to Paste All or select the item(s) you
want to paste. The items stay in the Clipboard until you remove
them.
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