INSIDE
THE TIMES
Hardware
Helper
Say
What!?
Software
Search
Surfin'
Safari
Tips
& Tricks
Web
Wary
FREE
ASSESSMENTS
For
Your Information
ScamBusters
Hoaxkill
HoaxBusters
Urban
Legends
Vmyths
CNET
Google
|
 THANK
YOU FOR YOUR FEEDBACK
We would like to thank all of you who have given us feedback
on The WindowWalk Times. Some of the things you told us are: "This
is the only email newsletter I keep and return to through the month."
and "The articles in your newsletter are wonderful, but it is a
lot to consume at once".
After a few more comments about the vast amount of
information we, in our zeal to share, send to you each month, we decided
to maintain the original format of our newsletter and send it to you
every two months instead.
We would also like to invite everyone to visit our
newly updated and refreshed web
site. There are some new pages and updated course outlines as well
as business and personal resources. Let us know if you have any ideas
or topics that you would like to see either on our web site or in our
newsletter.
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 and Home Software Assessments for Small Business Owners
and Home Users.
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 |
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Every
fan has something to say. SportsFilter provides a great outlet to
unleash those passionate views. It's a community web log (blog)
where you can post sports-related links, offer comments, or just
read the opinions of others. |
|
Yes,
you can get free software for your computer! This site seems to
have it all. Browse through the categories and try out some of the
programs. Shop here first for your new software. |
|
This
great site from the American Veterinary Medical Association can
answer all your pet questions. There are sections on pet health,
travel advice, and a kid's corner. Have a look around and see what
you can learn. |
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to Top
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WHAT
DOES IT DO? |
Quick
Descriptions of Popular Software |
SETI@HOME |
|
This interesting screensaver doubles as a science experiment.
SETI@home (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence at Home) uses
the idle time of hundreds of thousands of computers to analyze
data about radio or light signals emanating from the vicinity
of 30,000 sunlike stars that might indicate intelligent life.
The analysis of the data results in a colorful readout on your
desktop, with graphs as well as status displays of your computer's
part in the project. The allure, of course, is that your computer
may be the one to finally make contact with other life forms.
Whether the project succeeds or not, this screensaver provides
some nice-looking graphics, a way to get involved in science,
and a great conversation starter when others look at your desktop.
Visit Seti@home
for a free download of this cool screensaver/science project.
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SAY
WHAT!? |
Sound
Like a Computer Wizard |
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| Spam |
Spam
is unwanted, unrequested email (junk mail). It is typically sent
out in bulk to huge address lists that are automatically generated
by various robots endlessly searching the Interent for email addresses.
The legality of spam is a topic of much debate; it is, at best,
only borderline legal. |
| Bitmap
(BMP) |
A
bitmap is a simplistic representation of an image on a computer,
indicating whether or not pixels are on or off, and sometimes indicating
their colour. Often fonts are represented as bitmaps and many graphics
are created originally as bitmaps. |
| Plug-In |
A
plug-in is a piece of software designed not to run on its own, but
rather work in co-operation with a separate program to increase
that program's abilities. Many software programs have plug-ins available
at their web sites. |
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HARDWARE
HELPER |
TOP
5 DIGITAL CAMERAS |
|
| Canon PowerShot A75 |
CNET
Rating:
8.0 Very Good |
The
high-speed capture, very good image quality, and manual
exposure controls of this low-cost Canon will appeal to
snapshot photographers who like to get creative. An excellent
3-megapixel choice if you value versatility over compactness. |
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| Konica Minolta
Dimage Xg |
CNET
Rating: 7.8
Good |
Compact
and slim design; easy to use; fast; good battery life; cool
automatic features; good image quality. Snapshot photographers
looking for portability, ease of use, and style won't go wrong
with this sleek little camera. A solid, very pocketable snapshot
camera. |
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| Canon
PowerShot S1 IS |
CNET
Rating: 7.8
Good |
Optically
stabilized 10X zoom; high-quality video; solid image quality;
strong enthusiast-oriented feature set; fast continuous
shooting; variety of optional accessories. The PowerShot
S1 IS's stabilized 10X zoom is a deal maker for enthusiasts
who like to handhold distance shots but don't want to make
large prints. |
|
| Leica
D-LUX |
CNET
Rating: 7.8
Good |
Compact,
stylish design; solid image quality; high-quality camera
case and extra battery included; choice of personal engraving
or three-year warranty. This 3.2-megapixel model is essentially
a slicker, slightly better-built version of Panasonic's
much less expensive Lumix DMC-F1. |
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| Canon PowerShot
A70 |
CNET
Rating: 7.6
Good |
Broad
feature set for the money; speedy and efficient performance;
accepts accessory lenses. Even though the A70 is targeted
at the snapshot crowd, enthusiasts will love the Canon's advanced
features - and price. |
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SOFTWARE
SEARCH |
OmniPage Pro 14
Office |
|
In
the leapfrog game of professional optical character recognition
(OCR) packages, ScanSoft jumps ahead of the competition with OmniPage
Pro 14.0 Office. Recognition accuracy and page-format retention
are incrementally improved over its predecessor, but OmniPage Pro
14.0 Office's support features show the largest improvement. Anyone
with batch and repetitive scanning tasks will appreciate OmniPage's
Batch Manager and work flows, which streamline procedures. Bar-code
cover sheets for hard-copy and electronic documents can automatically
signal OmniPage to launch a specified work flow and send you an
e-mail message when the job is finished. Other enhancements include
expanded PDF support and better text-to-speech for voice read-back.
You can even use speech recognition to control work flows or make
proofreading corrections. And in spite of all these additions, OmniPage
remains easy to use. |
| ScanSoft packs a number
of new and enhanced features into OmniPage Pro 14.0 Office, each one
valuable to the document conversion process. We tested OmniPage with
various documents, and the recognition accuracy and formatting retention
were noticeably better than those of its predecessor as well as those
of Abbyy FineReader 7.0. In particular, a magazine page with two columns
of text mortised around a circular image came out well in Word format
and was nearly identical to the original. This was clearly better
than the results obtained with FineReader. |
Perhaps
more important than accuracy are some of OmniPage's new features.
Not only is its text-to-speech feature (for voice read-back) much
improved, you can now use it to generate WAV files that you can
record to an audio CD for later playback. It's like having your
own electronic assistant to read aloud the latest sales report or
research during your morning drive. |
CNET
Rating: 8.0 out of 10
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|
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| The
Good |
Accurate page
recognition; powerful automation features; broad PDF support.
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| The
Bad |
Some
features, such as voice control, aren't well documented; features
don't always work reliably. |
| The
Bottom Line |
OmniPage
Pro 14.0 Office clearly remains the OCR app to beat, especially
in office environments needing automated batch processing. |
| See
the full review at www.cnet.com/reviews. |
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WEB
WARY |
Viruses,
Hoaxes, and Scams on the Internet |
FOREIGN
LOTTERY SCAMS |
|
There's
a new lottery scam making the rounds, and it works like this: you
get a formal-looking email from some important sounding person from
overseas who claims that you've won millions of dollars. |
It can
start like this: |
TO
THE MANAGER
FROM: THE DESK OF THE PROMOTIONS MANAGER,
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT,
REF: OYL /25410460082/03
BATCH: 25/01319/IPE |
The
email goes on to tell you how you entered (even though you didn't),
and how names were drawn -- again making it sound very official. |
You
are next assured that your money is waiting for you, but you are
asked to keep it a secret "until your claim has been processed
and your money remitted to your account." |
There's
a deadline to act, and of course you need to contact the contest
manager with a bank account number so they can deposit your winnings. |
What
should you do if you get an email like this? |
|
Nothing.
Delete the email! It's a scam. You did not really win anything. |
Legitimate
organizations do NOT ask for your personal or banking information
via email. And never click on any links in the email. |
Action:
Never, ever, ever respond to emails that ask for personal info. |
| Always use common sense. |
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ASK
TIZZIE |
From
the Email Files of our Resident Computer Monster |
|
When
I open a new document in Word I always have to change the font type
and margins. Is there any way to change the settings on new documents? |
Yes, there is! You
can change most of Word's default options, including the blank
document template. To change the font that is displayed when you
open a new document, click Format on the menu, then click Font.
Select the font you want to use and any other font changes and
click the Default button at the bottom of the Font dialog box.
Click Yes to accept the change when the Office Assistant appears.
To change the margins and other page layout options, click File
on the menu, then Page Setup. Make your changes and click the
Default button at the bottom of the Page Setup dialog box. Click
Yes to accept the change then click the New button on the toolbar
to see your new document template.
To view or change other
default options in Word, click Tools on the menu, then click Options.
Click the various tabs to see what options you would like to change.
For example, you could change where Word saves your documents
from My Documents to any other folder you choose.
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TIPS
AND TRICKS |
Organize
Your Favorites Folder |
|
It's not enough to
stuff random links into your Favorites list. You'll need to be
able to find them later, which means organizing them into folders.
From the menu bar in Internet Explorer, select Favorites, then
click Organize Favorites. You'll see a dialog box listing your
current bookmarks and offering several button options. From there,
you can create new folders and rename, move, or delete folders
and bookmarks.
This can also be done
in other web browsers, such as Netscape, Firefox, Opera, etc.
The name may be Bookmarks rather than Favorites, but the organization
features are similar.
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If
you would like a link to your business on our website, please click
here. |
|
You
are receiving this message because we have either done business in the
past, we exchanged business cards or you are a present or past student.
WindowWalk Computer Education will never lend, sell or give your personal
information to any third parties. |
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