How2-4Newbies Ezine - Providing computer skills for fun and work

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What if you or a family member, heaven forbid, were
suddenly struck down in your prime by a crippling disease?

Would you be prepared to face the challenges the future
would bring your way? What would the loss of income and
the ability to raise your family the way you dreamed do to
your ability to accept such a major change to your
lifestyle?

The niece of one of our subscribers has been hit by MS. As
you know, MS or Muscular Sclerosis is a debilitating disease
that slowly eats away at a person's bodily control.

It's progression can be slow but is ultimately defeating. It
usually hits women in the middle 30's but this young lady
was only 28 years old when she was diagnosed and it is
already in the second level of progression.

Plans are in the making for a walk to raise funds to aid this
young woman in her courageous battle to control this disease.
If you can help in some way then ...

If you live in her area, then sponsoring someone who will walk
in this effort to raise funds would be wonderful. If you do not
live in her area, then the information will help you understand
this disease and how you can help others where you live.

If you are in the mood to consider contributions to your
favourite charity, there is no doubt that the MS society would
assuredly appreciate your consideration.

There is no cure, so give from the heart, give hope to those
in need of your caring.

Editor's Comments
MS ... A Plea from a friend.
In this Issue
Answers to our Question:
What's Your Biggest Problem?
Question #1:
Start up problems
Question #2:
What are Bcc and Ccc ...
Question #3:
Creating Folders & Files.
Article #1:
Are you willing to pay to send your emails?
Article #2
How do I ...?
Keyboard Shortcuts
Motivational Pick Me UP
We appreciate you.
Guest Article
Important Information.

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity;
an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

Help please ...?
Why am I having so much trouble starting my computer?
All I do is play games on it and send emails. Why won't it
start properly?
thanks ...
G.P

ANSWER:
You haven't mentioned the dreaded 'Blue" screen nor have you
mentioned that your computer tends to freeze when you are
using it, so I will assume that this problem is a warning of worse
things to come.

As you play games on your computer, the next question that
would normally come to mind is the amount of RAM memory
and the size of your machine.

Games do play much better on Pentiium III machines with at
least 256k, preferably 512k of RAM memory or more.

Anything lower would lead to slow game responses and most
likely cause the occasional freezeup of your computer.

Please keep in mind that a computer is a machine, a tool that
has been set up in the factory to perform in an efficient manner
as long as you follow a few general housekeeping duties.

1. Make sure you exit each program you access, by using the
advised closing method. This applies to all games you play on
your computer. Each game will show you how to save and how
to exit properly.

2. If you have Norton Utilities, run disk doctor to make sure you
are not plagued by a variation of small errors that add up to the
inevitable freezing.

4. In your browser, go to tools, internet options and click on
delete cookies and delete files. This method is applicable if
you run Win 98 or lower.

And for LM who asked How do I empty the history of web
sites browsed that show in my browser address line?

While you are in Internet Option, look near the bottom and
you will see a 'History. link. Click on empty and set your
history to automatically empty every 2-3 days, depending
on how much you surf the net.

I am assuming you do have win 98 or lower as XP offers
you a reboot of the previous running time as well as a warm
or cold boot. If you us XP and have system restore enbaled
then you can also go back a few times before the problem
began.

5. If you do not have Norton utilities to help diagnose any
problems, then use the system tools to check the surface disc
for problems, and disk cleanup BEFORE doing a defrag of
your system.

Go to Start, prgrams, accessories, and on the right part way
down is system tools. You will find disc clean up and scan
disc there.

6. IF you run a firewall as well as a virus protection, check t
o see that it is set up to accept downloading or updating of
existing programs. If it is not, then make the appropriate
change to your settings.

If none of the above improve your computer's operations, t
hen you may have to take it in for some expert clean up
chores.

Following a routine clean up of your computer in respect to
the first 6 items can prevent the majority of freeze ups and a
myiad of other problems, but not all of them and certainly
not all the time.

I learned that trusting the experts is not always the answer
either, as my one year old computer, running win98SE was
struggling furiously to boot and run my programs because
it was never installed properly. Also, if you do run Win 98,
there is a host of critical security patches that need to be
installed to keep your computer running properly.

I learned the value to keeping live updates updated when
I tried to download MSN 'Ver 5 chat only to have my
computer continuously freeze up and refuse to run it after
I finally got it to download.

After doing all of the above, installing the patches and
updating my firewall protection, I am finally back to a
properly operating computer complete with the latest
version of MSN and chat that works great.

Last issue, we discussed email ettiquette. It is great to see that so many
of you have read and made some serious changes to your normal practices.

Isn't it great to receive clean emails from friends minus all the extra
addies you really don't need to see? The following explanations will help
you keep your emails sent very clean and a pleasure to receive.

Now using the send systems to groups of email buddies or business
associates you work with is what To, Cc, and Bcc are all about.

Why? So your friends recognize the email is from someone they know. And, most importantly, you get to check the email and verify that it was sent correctly the first time.

You should always test your emails and send the first copy to yourself
alone. That way you can see that any attachments that should be entered are there as in the original email. Otherwise, follow the tutorial in Issue 1.

Cc means carbon copy ... it is meant for use by business groups, or common groups of people working as a team who need to know
that other members of the team have received the same copy.

Do not use this line to send to everyone you know who is not
associated as a group.

Bcc means BLIND carbon copy, which means each person you
send the email to will only see your addy and their own addy on
the email they receive.

This is where you should enter EVERY email address that is simply going out scads of friends who do not need to know who is receiving your email.

By using the TO line with your email address only in it, and the Bcc line
for everyone else's email address, you prevent other people from seeing and sending unwanted emails to your list.

A lot of people resent this receiving of unwanted emails and can report you for sp*mming them. This will lead to you losing your ISP connection and you will not be able to get back on the internet without finding another company willing to give you Internet privileges.

Please see the link to the article on sp*am practices and the intent to
charge you for sending email. It is a must read for all of us.

I have received requests on how to save this ezine on your own
computer for future use.

I have created a folder on my desktop called How2-4Newbies
Ezine. When I build each issue, I deal with loads of articles
and they all end up in this folder.

To simplify your files, do a copy and paste of the ezine delivered to your
email address, go to start, programs, accessories and notepad. Paste the copy of the ezine onto notepad, go to file and save as Issue #1. or
whatever the issue number is.

If there is a particular article you wish to recall, then add a note about
it such as: Issue #1 Copy & Paste article. When the next issue comes
out, you simply do a copy and paste to notepad again, and save it as
Issue #xx with any additional notes you wish to make in the folder
called How2-4newbies Ezine.

You can save a part or all of this ezine or any article you read creating
the appropriate folder with a name that reminds you what it contains, and
add files to suit yourself.

Editor's Note: We are setting up an archive on our domain, How2-4Newbies.com where you will be able to read each issue as you need to. It should be ready by the time the next issue is ready to be published.

I am sure that most of you have read some pretty serious articles dealing
with spam and the latest trend to start charging you to send each and every email on the Internet.

We now have an International Petition set up to send to the U.S. Congress. I call it "International" because ANYONE can sign it, whether you live in the USA or not. These issues affect International Trade!

This is to petition Congress to outlaw companies that establish any
Pay-to-Send email programs. We also ask for legislation on spam while, at the same time, they protect the ethical, online business owner.

You can read the petition online at the URL below.
You'll find directions there for signing.
PLEASE - make your voice be heard in Washington!

Please take a look at OMPUAC, and think about joining.
And, PLEASE help spread the word and send people to the site!

It IS time to end the reign of terror of the anti-sp^m vigilantes. It's TIME to stand up and save our businesses!

Editor's note: Please go to our How2-4Newbies Resources page to see all the Links to items mentioned in the article.

Letters to Editor

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Article #2:
Configuring Virus Protection Programs

Hi There! Still with us? Great! So those of you who went and got your newer-better anti-virus software - Great Going!

Well now, Let's see what is next on the agenda...

I do believe the proper configuration and updating your software at a consistent timely manner is of utmost importance.

Please do NOT kid yourself that you will never get hacked, slammed by a virus, or hooked by a worm...

It is a Moral Imperative that you use only the very best software... to not only protect yourself, but also your computer.

[Get the FR*E CD offered in the sponsor ad below to see what is really involved in computer security.]

This is a suggestion that if your children have access to your computer... make sure that they are locked out of the sensitive areas on your computer... You can do this with Win XP.

Now back to configuring your anti-virus software. Do you have the manual it came with? Is it either a hardcopy text or is it an online help file that comes as standard gear with the software?

Make sure you read it more than once in order to absorb the information, because if you don't, you are cruising for a brusing!

Also talk to an online tech if one is available for additional advice. Most of the virus software we recommended in our last issue, provide this for you.

TIP:
Type http://Cnet.com in the search window in your browser for great advice and updates on your choice of virus security.

Most of your configuration settings should be set on "Medium". The why of this is that if the settings were on "Low", then the nasties can creep in on you before you know what is happening. If the settings are set too "High", you just might block more than the Spam-Blockers are already doing.

So in conclusion for the moment... get your anti-virus software configured correctly from the get-go. So YOU can surf the web with Peace of mind like the rest of us do.

Next Issue: Firewalls

Is your computer safe from hackers? Is your virus program really enough?
Relax. Be Sure. Get your FR*EE CD with 100% live results.

http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=56506

How do I .....

Keyboard Shortcuts:

Keys: CTRL+X
Replaces: Edit - cut

Keys: CTRL+P
Replaces: FILE - PRINT

Keys: CTRL+INSERT OR CTRL+C
Replaces: Edit - copy

Keys: CTRL+5
Rplaces: FILE - SAVE

Keys: CTRL+V
Replaces: Edit - Paste

Resources:

Go to your virus protection company and check their files of the
latest hoaxes on the net. If it is not there then check it out with
hoax busters such as:

Norton: http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html

Other Hoax Resources:

http://www.snopes.com/
http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/
http://hoaxbusters.org/
http://www.stockhelp.net/virus.html
http://urbanlegends.about.com/mbody.htm

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