'Of Mice and Megabytes' Supplement


		“Of Mice and Megabytes Supplement” QUICK TIPS Opening multiple browser windows Adjusting browser font size Protecting your laptop Clean out temporary Internet files Turning off Outlook Express’s anti-virus feature Phone number reverse lookup Removing coffee from your keyboard Is your computer vulnerable to outside attacks? Removing data from your hard drive Password suggestions ePrompter utility File name positioning for frequently used files Data recovery services OPENING MULTIPLE BROWSER WINDOWS There are occasions when opening multiple browser windows is not only time saving but easy to accomplish. Here’s the set-up: Suppose you find yourself at Google’s site performing a search for the term “marigolds.” From the results list, you click on the first link only to be only to find it’s not what you’re looking for. So, you click the browser’s “back” button, and then you do it all over again with the next link, ad infinitum. Instead, try this: Place your cursor over the first link, RIGHT click, then from the appearing menu, select “Open in New Window.” Then repeat with the next search result link, and so on. In each newly created browser window the clicked-on Web page link will be displayed and you can view all of them almost simultaneously. (This tip applies to Windows users.) This feature adds convenience, but for Internet Explorer (IE) users, your screen will soon be cluttered with numerous instances of browser windows. Netscape users, however, can take advantage of its “tabbed browsing” feature if, when right clicking, you instead choose “Open link in New Tab.” (For Mac users, press Cmd+T.) Now, all your clicked link Web pages will appear in one Netscape window which can be accessed by individual tabs. Much cleaner and easier to deal with. ADJUSTING BROWSER FONT SIZE If you’re using IE and a Web site’s type size is too small, you can increase it by clicking on View\|Text Size. In Netscape, select View\|Text Zoom. Remember, however, changing the font size in IE will also affect the font size in Outlook Express when you print e-mails. PROTECTING YOUR LAPTOP Laptops have become the computer-of-choice for many including salespeople and students alike. Usually lugged around in their telltale cases, they’re also the item-of-choice for many thieves who favor the grab-and-go approach. If you own one of these mobile marvels, you may want to consider some protection such as insuring it (at safeware.com) or registering the serial number free at Stolen Computer Registry (stolencomputers.org). The cleverest of ideas, however, is installing tracking software onto your laptop’s hard drive. If stolen, the thinking goes, the thief (or buyer of your stolen computer) will sooner or later go on-line. That’s when the tracking software broadcasts a unique identifier enabling the police to easily trace its location. Here are some companies that offer these services: Stealth Signal (stealthsignal.com), $45/year for Mac and PCs; Ztrace (ztrace.com), $49/year for PCs only; Cyber Angel (cyberangel.com), $60/year; LapCop (homepage.mac.com/sweetcocoa/lapcop.html), $15/year for Mac OS X machines. CLEAN OUT TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES An excessive amount of temporary Internet files can adversely affect Web page downloads. It’s a good practice to occasionally clear your hard disk of these files. (This is according to a Microsoft support techie.) Keep in mind, too, some Web sites will deny you access if cookies aren’t enabled. TURNING OFF OUTLOOK EXPRESS’S ANTI-VIRUS FEATURE If you’re an Outlook Express (OE) user you may have tried to read an e-mail only to be greeted by an ominously worded message: “OE has blocked this message because it may contain a virus.” This is Outlook Express’s built-in anti-virus protection at work, but unfortunately its overly aggressive approach sometimes results in wrongly quarantining innocent messages (false positives). Luckily, you can turn off this feature. In OE, click Tools\|Options, then the Security tab. Make sure the box is unchecked next to the line “Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus.” I would suggest you consider turning off this feature ONLY if you have updated anti-virus software installed on your computer. PHONE NUMBER REVERSE LOOKUP There’s an e-mail circulating that warns about search site Google’s inclusion of “street address and phone number lookup” information. What this means is if you enter your phone number in Google’s search box, Google will return a mapped location of your address. Now, anyone in the U.S. can locate your residence if he/she knows the phone number. (Unlisted numbers are safe.) There is a way to remove your name from Google’s database, but as Google’s site warns, removing your phone number from their site does nothing to eliminate the same info from sites such as anywho.com, reversephonedirectory.com, smartpages.com, whitepages.com, or phonenumber.com. This sounds scary but reverse look up phone books have been in existence for decades. I think what’s really disturbing is the ease in which this information is now available. REMOVING COFFEE FROM YOUR KEYBOARD If you’ve ever spilled coffee onto your keyboard, here’s a possible fix. Liberally douse the entire keyboard with isopropyl alcohol and thoroughly slosh it around into every nook and cranny. (You may want to do this outside.) Let it dry completely before using again. I read about this tip but don’t know if it’ll actually work. However, the article did warn that you should try this only “after you’ve already decided to buy a new keyboard.” IS YOUR COMPUTER VULNERABLE? Test your computer’s vulnerability to outside attacks by visiting Gibson Research Corp.’s Web site (grc.com). On the home page, scroll down, then click the “ShieldsUP!” link. After reading the lengthy explanations, click the button “All Service Ports” located in the ShieldsUP! services box. The resulting report will indicate if your computer is vulnerable. If so, consider purchasing a personal firewall to protect you and your computer. REMOVING DATA FROM YOUR HARD DRIVE What procedures are necessary for removing data from a hard drive when donating or giving away a computer? Well, merely formatting the drive isn’t enough. A good computer geek can retrieve your drive’s contents even if it’s been re-formatted. The hard disk needs to be written and re-written numerous times with random 1’s and 0’s. There are many products available and Norton Utilities is one that comes to mind. Their deletion utility can safely remove data following specifications set forth by the Dept. of Defense. Whatever brand you decide upon, however, make sure the re-formatting program can be run from the CD. After all, you can’t run the program from an erased hard drive. PASSWORD SUGGESTION … From my past experience as a Network Administrator, I know that many users create passwords falling into one of three categories: The name of their spouse or significant other, the name of their pet, or their birthdate. This is not a good thing. Whenever creating a password, consider the following: Generally, passwords are case sensitive, so capitalize some of the letters. Also think about adding numbers before, after, or in the middle of the word. Or, how about using two or three words strung together with no spaces? I also like using punctuation but that’s not always allowed. The bottom line: Try to make it somewhat difficult for a would-be password hacker. Another suggestion: Don’t use the same password for important, delicate information such as your bank account that you would for creating a recipes account. Lastly, there are utility programs designed for maintaining your password list. They’re easy to install, a snap to learn, and many are free. I downloaded Password Safe and it is more than adequate. Visit www.cnet.com or www.download.com and use their search function to locate this and other password utilities, or click here. EPROMPTER I wrote about a nifty utility, ePrompter, last year but this e-mail tool deserves another mention. ePrompter (Windows only) automatically checks one or several e-mail accounts, and then displays the new messages. You can also designate specific e-mails to be deleted the next time it performs its check thereby eliminating those pesky, sometimes offending spam messages before they reach your inbox. ePrompter performs its duties automatically on a schedule you determine and works with dial-up, DSL, cable, and LAN connections. It’ll check POP3 and AOL accounts, as well as many other popular Web-based accounts. And, it’s free. For more information and to download this handy tool, go to www.eprompter.com. Installation is simple and aided by a configuration “wizard.” FILE NAME POSITIONING To find and open regularly used documents quickly, preface the file names with a tilde (~) or plus-sign (+). Then, when selecting that file from a long list displayed in ascending order by name, the file will be displayed at the top. You can also use an exclamation mark, pound sign, dollar sign, hyphen, or a word space (the space bar). (NOTE: On Macs, the tilde sign lists the file name at the bottom.) DATA RECOVERY SERVICES I previously wrote about the need to back up your hard drive but after reaching my 500 word limit I was unable to add this bit of helpful information: Luckily, if your hard drive fails, data recovery services are available that may -- MAY -- be able to restore some or all of its contents. A quick search via Google for the term “hard drive data recovery service” produced a number of results. Here’s a sampling: drivesavers.com (recovery estimate by phone, located in SF Bay area), actionfront.com (“no data, no charge” service, fees start at $500 for hard drives), and www.harddriverecovery.org So, if you experience a hard drive crash and you absolutely, positively need the stored data, you have viable options, albeit expensive ones. Re-printed from various Rafu Shimpo issues. Copyright©2000-2003 Rafu Shimpo. All rights reserved.

“Of Mice and Megabytes Supplement”

QUICK TIPS