Computer Corner This page was last edited on

These days every program seems to put its icon in your system tray. (Those icons in the lower right bottom of your Windows bar. The icons do more than just fill up the taskbar, though. Each icon in the system tray represents a running program that’s using RAM and other system resources. High use of System Resources often makes the system act like it is short on RAM memory To identify the program associated with an icon, hold the mouse pointer over it until a title pops up.

Now ask yourself if you need that program running at all times. If its something like a firewall or an anti-virus program’s auto protect module that does something constructive while it’s in background, the answer is yes. But if it’s like the little AOL icon that merely gives you yet another way to launch its service, you probably can do without it. Right click the icon and examine the menu that pops up. There’s often an Exit or Close option. When you select this, you may be asked whether you want the program to restart the next time you restart Windows; tell it you don’t.

Add more memory to your computer. With Windows 98, having only 64 Megs on your computer is like dressing in a coffin. Having 128 megs is like dressing in a closet with the door closed. You need at least 256 megs.

If you are using Windows XP you need at least 256 Megs as bear minimum. A suggested minimum is 512 Megs. Better to have 1280 Megs. With even this it is suggested you get rid of ALL of the available programs running in the background. To determine this, do the following:

At the Start button press RUN then type in msconfig. Open this program and make the window about 1/2 of your screen. Select the last tab called Startups. Here you will see all of the programs running in your background and taking up your valuable resources (RAM). As I told you before, you did not have as much RAM as needed anyway. You need to uncheck the boxes of all programs not needed.

You need to go through this list with a heavy hand, but be careful not to eliminate needed programs.

this the second screen on your desktop. Now you should have two windows, one showing msconfig and the other with the internet. On the internet the page will tell you what each programs does for you and help you decide to eliminate the program.

Even though you uncheck the box and eliminate it from startup, you can come back and reinstall it again by rechecking the box.

When you view the running programs, you might also discover that some of them are viruses or Worms.

If you have a website, eliminate all reference to your E-Mail address at the website. Junk mailers have software that scans a vast number of websites and automatically picks up E-Mail addresses.

Go to your internet service provider (ISP) and look up your E-Mail preferences.

You can block all E-Mail with key words in the title that you want to filter, ie, sex, investments, money, etc. This works poorly.

Set your preferences to block all incoming mail THAT DOES NOT HAVE A RETURN ADDRESS. Almost all junk mail will not have a return address.

Another method is to ask all of your friends not to send jokes to everybody in their address book. History has shown that this does not work for me.

A new method for spammers is to collect addresses is by filtering the chain emails for addresses. They have special software to separate the addresses. So, do not Forward email unless you cut off all of the addresses. If you forward email like this send everyone a BCC: (Blind Carbon Copy)

Many websites add spyware to your computer that can transmit your address book back to them.

Spyware can also send back your sensitive data and they can use it for illicit reasons. Go to Ad-Aware.com and download their spyware killer.

This applies to ALL of us who send e-mails.

Do you really know how to forward e-mails? 50% of us do; 50% do NOT.
Do you wonder why you get viruses or junk mail? Do you hate it? Every time you forward an e-mail there is information left over from the people who got the message before you, namely their e-mail addresses & names.
As the messages get forwarded along, the list of addresses builds, and builds, and builds, and all it takes is for some poor sap to get a virus, and his or her computer can send that virus to every e-mail address that has come across his computer. Or, someone can take all of those addresses and sell them or send junk mail to them in the hopes that you will go to the site and he will make five cents for each hit. That's right, all of that inconvenience over a nickel! How do you stop it? Well, there are two easy steps:

1) When you forward an e-mail, DELETE all of the other addresses that appear in the body of the message. That's right, DELETE them.
Highlight them and delete them, backspace them, cut them, whatever it is you know how to do. It only takes a second. You MUST click the "Forward" button first, then you will have full editing capabilities against the body and headers of the message. If you don't click on "Forward" first, you won't be able to edit the message at all.

2) Whenever you send an e-mail to more than one person, do NOT use the To: or Cc: columns for adding e-mail address. Always use the BCC: (blind carbon copy) column for listing the e-mail addresses. This is the way that people you send to only see their own e-mail address. If you don't see your BCC: option click on where it says To: and your address list will appear. Highlight the address and choose BCC: and that's it, it's that easy. When you send to BCC: your message will automatically say "Undisclosed Recipients" in the "TO:" field of the people who receive it. (Note: If the BCC does not appear on your Send options, click on the Help menu and search the topics under BCC and that should show you how to make it visible.)

If you open an attachment, you are taking a chance on affecting your system with a possible virus so don't open attachments from those you don't know.
This is another reason not to forward forwarded email.

Finally, here's an idea!!! Let's send this to everyone we know. (but strip my address off first). This is something that SHOULD be forwarded. Hope you find the above info useful and helpful

If one or two come through from non-friends, you can also block specific senders.

http://www.buymailmarshal.com/mailmarshal.htm

Other Email tips include: Don't open attachments from strangers.

Make sure you run antivirus software that updates itself daily. Antivirus software is worthless if you use only the definitions that came on the disk.

Make sure you run a firewall. ZoneAlarm is good. www.zonealarm.com

Don't spam your friends. An email that implores you to "forward this to everyone in your address book" is almost certainly junk.

Always check the box that says "Don't e-mail me anything" when you register for a site. Better yet. Do not register software.

Don't click the "opt-out of this spam message" link at the bottom of most spam's. That just confirms to the spammer that they found a real, live e-mail address.

Don't post your real e-mail address on any web site or online forum. The ramm.org smudges your email address by using AT instead of @.

The World Wide Web is a good place to investigate which article to consider for purchase and what the costs should be. Once you have done your research you have a basis of comparison. There are many websites available, but two that I use are www.amazon.com and Buy.com.

Www.amazon.com has specifications and many reviews by users that give an idea of some of the research that others have made on the product. The specifications can be compared to different products and a better-informed decision can be made. Print out the specifications and a detailed review can be made. It is difficult to obtain the specifications in a local store and do a comparison this thorough. The comments are useful, but remember that some comments are biased because they have already purchased the product. Read the comments of some of the competition.

Sometimes the price locally is about the same as can be purchased on the web so do not just automatically buy it on the web. Most of the time a local purchase will allow you to return the product if found defective. If the local merchant says there is a restocking fee for return, be cautious. Returning a product by mail is more of a bother. Consider also that locally you will have to pay a 6% state sales tax.

If you use www.pricescan.com you can find the lowest price on the web. Often the prices vary by about 20%.

If you purchase from the lowest price vendor you may find that the product is either out of stock or there may by a 2-week delivery time. This means that it is out of stock. If you can wait 2 weeks, you may save 20%.

If you do decide to purchase on the web, make sure you visit a local store and touch and feel the product. Specifications alone may not give you the product that makes you happy. It may not fit your lifestyle or may be too complex to operate.

When you go to sites such as www.ebay.com, www.microsoft.com, www.amazon.com you get pop-up and pop-under adds. Pop-up adds grabs attention from your browser window. Pop-under ads appear behind your browser window, leaving you alone until you close the browser window.

To get rid of the pop-up and pop-under ads, head to www.panicware.com and download Pop-Up Stopper. the free version is more than sufficient for day-to day pop-up extermination. The more advanced version is $20.

A free version of a pop-up stopper is available at http://www.lavasoft.nu/index.html. Bring joy to yourself by installing one of these popup stoppers and turn on the sound. Listen to all of the scumware being rejected from your computer.

Mozella Firefox is an alternative to Internet Explorer. It has its own blockers built into it. I prefer it to Internet Explorer.