COMPUTER TIPS

E-Mail Netiquette - Proper etiquette on the internet

Capitalization - Only capitalize words to highlight an important point, otherwise it is regarded as SHOUTING!

Chain Letters - Are basically a way to get someone else to spam you. Not only are they rude and annoying they are related to Net Hoaxes.

Net Hoaxes - Virus Alerts, Stories of Good Deeds, Bad Deeds, etc - Not only are they often irrelevant but most are false.

Spam - is a message forced on people who would not choose to receive it. Most are advertising for dubious products, get rich schemes or just plain scams.

Virus Free Emails - Viruses are passed via email so use current antivirus software, keep it up to date and don't let it expire.

Use BCC - When emailing 2 or more people use the Blind Copy field (BCC). All names in To and CC fields are seen by everyone who receives the email, and if the email is forwarded over and over, who knows who sees our email address.

Clean Up Forwarded Emails - Make sure you clean up the emails you are forwarding by removing all information that is not the story, joke, etc. No one likes scrolling through a list of everyone else it was sent to, dates sent, etc.

If you don't know how to do this or would like more information on email netiquette send me an email, call or stop by. Think also about taking a computer class. The computer classes here at the center are full of useful everyday computer tidbits.

EMAIL "UNDISCLOSED RECIPIENTS?"

Question: What does it mean when you receive an email message that is addressed to "Undisclosed Recipients?"

Answer: This behavior occurs when the sender uses the Blind Carbon Copy (Bcc) box to address the message and leaves the To: box blank. When you use the Bcc box to send a copy of a message to additional recipients, the recipients’ names are not visible to other recipients of the message. If you address a message using only the Bcc box, the message is addressed to “undisclosed recipients” when the recipients view the message.

E-Mail Hoaxes or Pranks

Have you ever received an urgent e-mail warning of a devastating computer virus, a safety tip for women regarding violent attacks, or urgent warning that if you use your cell phone next to a gas pump you'll blow up?

These are "Urban Legends" which are popular narratives alleged to be true and spread from person to person. These stories always involve some combination of outlandish, humiliating, humorous, terrifying or supernatural events.

They also happen to someone else and for credibility the author relies on good storytelling and the citing of an "authoritative" word-of-mouth source versus verifiable facts. There is always a moral to the story. The story may have been based on fact at one point.

However, since they are spread by so many people no two versions are ever exactly alike. The only way to stop these is to not forward them on to everyone you know.

To find out if it is legitimate or if it deserves to be sent to the trash is by consulting Urban Legends Web Sites.

Some sites are:

Internet Scambusters: www.scambusters.org
The Urban Legend Combat Kit: www.netsquirrel.com/combatkit
The AFU and Urban Legends Archive: www.urbanlegends.com

Restore the "Open Attachment Warning" Dialog Box in Outlook Express

The 'Open Attachment Warning' associated with e-mails in Outlook Express is displayed when the attached file name is clicked on. The user can then choose to 'Open it' or 'Save it to disk'. There is also a check box on the 'Warning' that says; 'Always ask before opening this type of file.'

The 'Warning' is directly associated to the file suffix - for instance: .jpeg, .gif, .eml, ..doc, etc. -- and this 'Warning' is coded for each type of file by the check in the check box. In the image on the right, note that the file extension is ".doc" or a Microsoft Word document. So that, if a user were to inadvertently uncheck the box for '.doc' files, the 'Warning' will still appear for the other file types, but not for .doc files.

How to restore the 'Warning' for a file type, once it has been 'unchecked'.

Windows XP
1. Open My Computer
2. Click the Tools menu
3. Select Folder options
4. In the Folder Options window, click the File Types tab
5. Scroll through the list of file types and select the file extension
6. Then, click the Advanced button
7. In the Edit File Type window, check the "Confirm Open after
Download" option.

Windows ME
1. Open My Computer
2. Click the Tools menu
3. Select Folder options
4. In the Folder Options window, click the File Types tab
5. Scroll through the list of file types and select the file extension
6. Then, click the Advanced button
7. In the Edit File Type window, check the "Confirm Open after Download" option.

Windows 95 / 98
1. Open My Computer
2. Click the View menu
3. Select Folder options
4. In the Folder Options window, click the File Types tab
5. Scroll through the list of file types and select the file extension
6. Then, click the Edit button
7. In the Edit File Type window, check the "Confirm Open after Download" option.

Note: Some file types are shown by their extension, some by the programs that the extension is associated with. For instance, the .doc extension in our example image above left is associated with Microsoft Word, so the .doc extension is found under Microsoft Word.

You will need to do this with each file type extension that has been unchecked.

Horrible, No-Good, Nasty, Worst-Ever Virus

From Tony Bradley of www.about.com

Quick! Tell Everyone You Know And Even People You Don't Know

If you receive an email entitled "Bedtimes" delete it IMMEDIATELY. Do not open it. Apparently this one is pretty nasty. It will not only erase everything on your hard drive, but it will also delete anything on disks within 20 feet of your computer. It demagnetizes the strips on ALL of your credit cards. It reprograms your ATM access code and screws up the tracking on your VCR and uses subspace field harmonics to scratch any CD's you attempt to play. It will program your phone auto dial to call only 900 numbers. This virus will mix antifreeze into your fish tank. IT WILL CAUSE YOUR TOILET TO FLUSH WHILE YOU ARE SHOWERING. It will drink ALL your beer. FOR GOD'S SAKE, ARE YOU LISTENING?? It will leave dirty underwear on the coffee table when you are expecting company! It will replace your shampoo with Nair and your Nair with Rogaine. If the "Bedtimes" message is opened in a Windows 95/98 environment, it will leave the toilet seat up and leave your hair dryer plugged in dangerously close to a full bathtub. It will not only remove the forbidden tags from your mattresses and pillows, it will also refill your Skim milk with whole milk.
******* WARN AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN. *******
And if you don't send this to 5000 people in 20 seconds, you'll fart so hard that your right leg will spasm and shoot straight out in front of you, sending sparks that will ignite the person nearest you. Send to everyone. For those who may not have caught on yet- THIS IS A JOKE!

I received the joke hoax above from a friend and thought it illustrated the point well. It sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? Of course you wouldn't fall for that. Even if you were hooked into thinking that maybe there really is something called "subspace field harmonics" that can scratch your CD's from afar, you hopefully realized that this was a joke by the time you got to the part about it drinking all of your beer.
While this is an extreme example, it isn't that far off from some of the chain-mail and spam hoaxes that people fall for every day. The little boy in England dying of cancer does not want you to send him any more greeting cards. Congress will not be voting any day now on a bill to implement a modem tax. Neither Microsoft nor Disney has implemented any next-generation email tracking system that will make you rich if you just forward the email.
So- the joke cited above may be a little on the extreme side, but the fact of the matter is that people receive these messages frequently and for whatever reason- superstition, gullibility or just because they think its humorous- they propagate it to everyone they know and continue clogging the email boxes of the world with more junk.
The bottom line is this- if a message implores you to send it on to everyone you know there is a 99.9% chance it is a hoax or some other form of spam. Before you fall victim and continue the cycle of ridiculously meaningless email being propagated around the world, try validating the truth of the message at a site like the Snopes.com Urban Legends References or the About.com Antivirus Hoax Encyclopedia.

MESSAGE FROM COLLEEN:

Please heed the advice above about not sending these messages on to everyone you know. Take the time to verify if the email is legitimate or a hoax. There are many web sites that can provide that answer for you. Here are a few more: www.symantec.com Security Response, www.mcafee.com Virus Information, www.urbanlegends.com and www.vmyths.com. If you are still unsure give me a call here at the Senior Center and I can help you.