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The Monthly Edition Of The k-Byte Newsletter |
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| v. 25, n. 3 March 2008 | Users Helping Users | |
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The Monthly Edition Of The k-Byte Newsletter |
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| v. 25, n. 3 March 2008 | Users Helping Users | |
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Contents 1 Evaluating Your Anti-Spyware Program - Vinny La Bash 2 About k-Byte 4 Moving on to Vista - Part 3 - Neil Stahfest 5 Tip of the Month - How to Make Hyperlinks Easy to Use-and Make Them Work-In Word and in a PDF 6 Calendar of Events 7 The Two Month Activities Calendar 10 About Trading Post 12 Directions and Map to Meeting Place 12 FRPCUG Contacts Meeting Previews on Page 6:
 Quote of the Month Things are always at their best in their beginning Blaise Pascal [1656] Evaluating Your Anti-Spyware Program by Vinny La Bash, Member of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc. <http://www.spcug.org>, vlabash(at)comcast.net For many years the most acute danger to your computer was some kind of destructive virus. Today the danger has shifted from software that is programmed to destroy files, corrupt programs, and disable systems to something more insidious, and perhaps even more treacherous. This threat comes in two broad categories known as Spyware and Trojan Horses. Spyware started out as a stealth program surreptitiously installed on your system to track your web surfing habits. The developers of spyware didn't want to damage your computer. They wanted only to sell you something. That may be annoying, but there is nothing criminal about it. A Trojan Horse is a program that pretends to be something other than what it really is. For example, a screensaver could be designed to install a program that will take over your system to forward spam to other machines. Trojan Horses have been used to initiate denial of service attacks, where the target such as a bank, credit card service or other high profile web site becomes so saturated with external requests that it cannot respond to legitimate traffic. When selecting an anti-spyware program, start out by selecting one with a comprehensive signatures database. The best anti-spyware programs have databases that can recognize more than 750,000 different kinds of spyware and Trojan Horse programs. Read the documentation or call the company. This is important. The best signatures database won't do you any good if it isn't updated frequently. The bad guys never seem to rest. They release new poison daily. Don't buy any solutions that require manual updates. You have better things to do. Insist on automatic updates. Another important capability is active monitoring of your system. Wouldn't you rather prevent a malicious program from installing rather than removing it after the damage has been done? Avoid any program that removes infections found only after conducting a manual scan. This probably means avoiding some otherwise adequate free programs. There's an old saying about getting what you pay for. The best anti-spyware programs prevent spyware and Trojan Horses from ever being installed on your system. Go for a program that allows you to customize your scans. We don't all use our computers in the same way. Some people require more comprehensive scans than others. If you are constantly browsing the internet, you are likely to benefit from a daily scan that checks active memory, system folders, the registry, and all hard drives. If you rarely use the internet or find yourself visiting the same six sites over and over, a weekly scan may be all you need. You should be able to schedule unattended updates and scans. Your machine should be yours to use as you wish. Any decent anti-spyware program should be able to run in the background unattended, and not require interrupting your activities. The program should work according to your preferences, not the other way around. Choose a program that permits unattended maintenance and administration. It's also important that an unattended scan can quarantine infections without requiring intervention from you. Why do some anti-spyware programs ask if you want to remove infections? Of course you do! Of all the features in anti-spyware programs, that is the dumbest. There are innumerable derivations and iterations of spyware being created. This makes it difficult for even the best anti-spyware programs to catch and destroy them. If you open the Processes tab in Windows Task Manager, you will observe the Process Manager in action. You will see a list of objects running on your system. Some of them are applications like word processors. Others are mysterious entities that don't provide a clue as so what they do, but you can't run Windows effectively without them. Among them would be Windows Explorer, Internet Explorer, Media Center, Windows Mobile Control Center, and many others. Beyond shutting down a process or resetting its priority, there isn't much a non-specialist can do with this feature. Clever programmers can create spyware that won't show up in the Process Manager. Any decent anti-spyware program has to have its own built-in process manager that will recognize, track down, and eliminate malevolent software that may not even be in the signatures database. Anti-spyware programs should be able to monitor programs that load when Windows starts up. There are many very sophisticated spyware programs that to not show up in the Process Monitor or in Control Panel's Add/Remove section. If your anti-spyware program lacks this capability, find another one. Assuming your anti-spyware program has the capabilities mentioned above, it is an excellent choice for individuals. However, businesses or organizations with multiple computers will require even more. Whoever is in charge of PCs will not have time to manually monitor or administrate individual machines. It is simply impractical in a large organization for support staff to visit every workstation, apply updates, schedule scans, and ensure that infestations are removed. If this applies to you, look for a program with a centralized administration console. This capability has the unfortunate drawback of being quite expensive, but the time saved generally justifies the cost. Obtained from APCUG with the author's permission for publication by APCUG member groups. This article has been provided to APCUG by the author solely for publication by APCUG member groups. All other uses require the permission of the author (see e-mail address above).   Published monthly, k-Byte is the official newsletter of the Front Range Personal Computer Users Group (FRPCUG): our mailing address is PMB 152, 305 W. Magnolia, Fort Collins, Colorado 80521. Opinions expressed in k-Byte are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the group or its members. Publication of information in k-Byte constitutes no guarantee of accuracy. Use of any information found in this publication is at the sole risk of the user. Neither k-Byte, nor its officers, nor its editors or contributors assume any liability for damages resulting from use of information in this publication. Submissions Articles, letters and short items of interest on computer-related topics are welcome and encouraged. All items submitted for publication are subject to editing. Send your contribution to the editor via e-mail attachment or submit on disk. If you have questions about a submission, please contact the editor for information. Copyright and Trademark Information k-Byte is copyrighted ©2008 by the Front Range Personal Computer Users Group. The k-Byte logo and the Front Range PC Users Group logo are Trademarked by the Front Range PC Users Group. Unless otherwise noted, other nonprofit users groups may reprint or quote from any articles appearing in k-Byte without prior permission, provided that: a) proper author and publication credits are given; b) that a copy of the publication in which the article appears is sent at no cost to k-Byte at the above mailing address, or emailed to contact(at)frpcug.org; and c) any additional instructions/restrictions contained in the article are followed. User groups wishing to exchange newsletters with FRPCUG are invited to send a copy of their newsletter together with an exchange request. Disclaimer IBM PC, OS/2, Compaq, HP, Dell, UNIX, Windows and other trademarks occasionally mentioned in k-Byte are registered trademarks of International Business Machines, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Corporation, Microsoft, Dell Inc., or their owners respectively. Neither FRPCUG nor its newsletter k-Byte are connected in any way with any manufacturer or seller. Acceptance by FRPCUG of donated products or services from suppliers, or inclusion of a supplier in the FRPCUG Partner list does not imply that any continuing financial support is received or expected by FRPCUG. Nor do such activities imply an endorsement of either the supplier or product or service. Such information is made available to members as a service. Use of any product or supplier found in this publication, or any FRPCUG publication, is at the sole risk of the user. Advertising Classified advertising is free to members for non-business ads. See "About Trading Post" for pricing for camera-ready display ads. Charges for ad makeup from sketches, etc., are available on request. Deadline for camera-ready and classified ads is 45 days prior to the month of publication. For example, ads for the March newsletter must be submitted by January 15th. For pricing and schedules for ad design, connect to contact(at)frpcug.org or kbyte(at)frpcug.org. About FRPCUG FRPCUG is an independent nonprofit computer society, so incorporated with the State of Colorado and open to anyone interested in Windows, or UNIX/LINUX microcomputers. Its purpose is to provide an educational and scientific forum of mutual benefit for members of the micro-computer community. FRPCUG holds a monthly meeting and conducts various special interest groups (SIGs) and seminars. Members have voting privileges, subscription to k-Byte newsletter, and access to SIGs and selected seminars. Annual dues are $25 for individual/family membership ($20 for students) and $50 for corporate/group membership. by Neil Stahfest Software Librarian, Tacoma Area PC User Group, WA, <http://www.tapcug.org>, ncstahfest(at)msn.com Your PC's desktop is the largest, most user defined area on your PC's screen. It contains all your own shortcuts, folder icons and your personal desktop picture. The desktop is really just a personal file folder on drive C. That means that any work you do on the desktop is saved for you on Drive C and not lost when you turn the computer off. Of course any documents, pictures, etc. that are "saved" on your desktop can be moved or copied to other folders on your hard drive. After a while some of, make that most of us, find our desktop becomes loaded with program icons and shortcut icons. Program shortcut icons are a convenient way to get to programs that you use a lot. Unfortunately, when you install new programs most of them add a desktop shortcut and soon you have a desktop full of shortcuts, making it hard to find a shortcut when you want it. Here are a couple of solutions to this clutter. The left end of the taskbar contains a "Quick Launch Toolbar+. By default, Windows Vista places one or two program icons here (i.e. Internet Explorer). You can drag a limited number of additional shortcut icons for your favorite programs to this area and save space on your desktop. A "feature" of the Quick Launch Toolbar is that you only have to point at the program icons there and left-click once to start the program. This might seem a little confusing at first if you are used to double clicking on a program icon to start it, but you'll probably get used to it pretty fast. Program shortcuts on your desktop point to programs that are also listed in your Start menu. The most frequently used programs can be seen when you click on the Start button. On the Start menu, click on "All Programs" to see all the other programs installed on your computer. You may need to use the scroll bar to see all of them and you will probably find more programs than you have shortcuts on your desktop. So, once you confirm that a program shortcut points to a program listed on the Start menu, you can safely delete infrequently used desktop shortcuts. A third approach to reducing desktop clutter is to consolidate shortcuts. If you have multiple programs that do similar tasks (i.e. A photo catalog and picture manipulation program), create a desktop folder named "Photos". Then drag your shortcuts into the "Photos" folder and you're done. Vista comes with a new set of desktop pictures. Access to alternative desktop pictures is similar, but slightly different, from what you may be used to with Windows XP. Right-click on a empty area of the desktop and click on "Personalize". On the "Personalization" menu select "Desktop Background". An array of available pictures will appear. Scroll through the pictures, select one. Make a selection from "How should the picture be positioned" and click OK. That's fine if all you want to use are the pictures that came with Vista. What if you want to use something different? Just follow the steps list above but when you get to the "Desktop Background", instead of selecting one of the available pictures, next to where it says "Picture Location" click once on "Windows wallpapers". You'll see a list of other areas that contain pictures and colors. Want to use a photograph that you saved to your computer instead? Click the browse button. On the left side of the "Browse" screen, click on "Pictures". From the Picture folders on the right side of the Browse screen, make your selection, use the "How should the picture be positioned" if needed, and press the Open button to finish. Obtained from APCUG with the author's permission for publication by APCUG member groups. This article has been provided to APCUG by the author solely for publication by APCUG member groups. All other uses require the permission of the author (see e-mail address above).  How to Make Hyperlinks Easy to Use-and Make Them Work-In Word and in a PDF Edited by Mike Morris, Front Range PC Users Group, <http://www.frpcug.org> [Editors Note: This article was contributed by a member of the Society for Technical Communication (STC <http://www.stcrmc.org/>) of Northern Colorado. The author declined to copyright the article in order to insure that this information receives the widest possible distribution. The original article was edited, with the author's permission, for publication, so any subsequent errors or omissions are strictly the responsibility of the editor, not the author.] First, let's start with a definition (courtesy of Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperlink>): "A hyperlink is a reference or navigation element in a document to another section of the same document or to another document that may be on a (different) website." There are four items worth noting in that first paragraph: 1. The string of characters that includes the prefix http:// (which you often see in a document), and includes the word "wikipedia," and leads to a definition of hyperlink, is a hyperlink. 2. The hyperlink text is blue (which is usually, but not always the case), and is underlined. 3. Although the Wikipedia hyperlink starts with the http:// prefix, other hyperlinks can be just one word or a phrase. 4. The Wikipedia hyperlink is a long string of characters and Word will automatically wrap that long string to a second line, if necessary (which will cause problems when you try to activate that link-in Word or in a PDF-more on that later), and/or will leave some obvious blank space on the first line. That long string of characters is called a URL (if you really want to know, that is an acronym for Uniform Resource Locator). Consider these two questions: 1. How did I turn the Wikipedia URL (= address) into a hyperlink? 2. How do I change a URL described by a long character string into a hyperlink described by one meaningful word (or phrase) that still works (such as "STC" in the Editor's Note)? I have (at least) three ways, in Word, to convert that Wikipedia URL to a hyperlink: 1. After entering (or pasting) the character string into Word, press once and release the space bar. The URL automatically is converted to a hyperlink. 2. After entering (or pasting) the character string into Word, press once and release the Enter key. The URL automatically is converted to a hyperlink.
However, what if that hyperlink is a very long, perhaps intimidating string of characters? The readers of your document may appreciate a simple word or phrase as a hyperlink. If a URL is very long, perhaps of the form: http://www.areallynecessarybutterriblylongstringofcharacters.com/moreinfo.html, there is a way to make it much more visually appealing, and therefore easy to use.
http://www.areallynecessarybutterriblylongstringofcharacters.com/moreinfo.html changes to: Definition Move the cursor, using the mouse, over that word "Definition." You will see this display: 
Note that the complete URL is displayed. Note also that if you use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + click, you will be connected to that URL-assuming the URL is valid and that you are online. The Wikipedia hyperlink to that hyperlink definition is contained within "flowing text." That is not always the best choice. Although you may think that those "flowing text" hyperlinks at the beginning of this article look perfectly OK, note that elsewhere in this article hyperlinks appear on a completely separate line. The leading sentence ends with a colon, but the URL is by itself on its own line. This is a huge aide to the reader, who can quickly spot it, click (or CTRL + Click) on it, highlight it, copy it, etc. Consistently placing hyperlinks in standalone paragraphs may be a better choice. Remember this commandment: Know Your Audience. It also helps to think of a URL as a filename or as code. As such, if you format it in a monospaced font, like Courier, it is clear to the reader what would have to be typed-if entering the character string elsewhere is necessary. Have a paragraph style already defined for this purpose. You can create a paragraph style with a smaller (e.g., 8 pt) font size (instead of 10 or 12pt) to make the hyperlink even more distinctive. However, don't forget that Know Your Audience commandment. Some people find small font sizes hard to read, even when wearing glasses. There is another reason to "mask" long URL's. Long character strings may not work in Word or when you convert your Word document to PDF. More often than not, you will not have a problem with hyperlinks, either in Word or when you convert a Word document to PDF. That is, provided that the hyperlink is a short string of characters that does not wrap to a second line. A very long URL may-and probably will-wrap to a second or perhaps a third line.
Or you may end up on the wrong webpage, represented by a truncated URL-where only the characters of the URL that are on the first line are used. If a Word document (with a word-wrapped URL) is converted to PDF, and you try to click on that URL in Adobe Reader, you will either receive a similar message, or end up on the wrong webpage. THIS IS IMPORTANT: URLs by definition cannot contain hard or soft returns, so it is logical that in Adobe's export from Word (whether you are using Adobe Acrobat or one of the free conversion programs), an underlying target URL that is word wrapped will be truncated at the end of the line, as delineated by the soft-return. The hyperlink will look correct in the PDF, but if you place the cursor over the hyperlink text in the PDF, the "tool tip" that is displayed will contain only the characters on the first line of the URL in the Word document. Remember, a hyperlink in your document consists of the verbiage that the reader sees plus the underlying (and critical) target URL that the user may OR MAY NOT see that the applications (Adobe Reader and Browser) act on. You can avoid this problem. You don't have to display the whole URL to the reader in the text. Your readers probably don't want to see that long character string, and they don't have to type it in to a web browser address line to connect to the website or webpage represented by that URL. After all, all they need to do is to click on it in Adobe Reader. So, when you are writing your masterpiece and have this mondo URL pasted into your document, highlight it and right-click on it to make it a hyperlink. Then right-click on it again to edit the hyperlink. The Edit Hyperlink dialog box, described above, provides the ability to edit both the displayed name (which is the part that is word-wrapping) and the underlying "target URL." In the Edit Hyperlink dialog box, edit the displayed name ("Text to display" field) down so that it doesn't word-wrap and is meaningful. Sometimes displaying the complete URL is justified and necessary, like not losing any information when the document is printed out. In this case, what you can do is paste the text for the URL into your document TWICE, one after the other separated by a hard or soft return (CTRL + RETURN). With the first URL, do what I'm suggesting above, make it a hyperlink but edit the displayed name. The displayed name (remember, that displayed name will have the complete URL associated with it) will be, for example, can be the first part of the target URL with characters deleted from the back-end; delete enough characters until the exposed name fits on one line. You have several choices relating to the second URL you pasted in. My recommendation is to delete characters from the front-end of that second URL so that it ends up being the portion of the URL that you deleted from the first URL. Nothing lost. If you export this (to a PDF), you'll see the first part of the URL on one line and hyperlinked, and the remainder of the URL on subsequent lines not hyperlinked. This works in the PDF and when printed. You could hyperlink the second (now trimmed) URL by editing it and making sure that the target URL behind-the-scenes is the full version. However, I recommend that you don't hyperlink the second URL, because it is just another thing that has to be maintained. Plus, if your URL is more than two lines, you have to do it for all lines and figure out where the breaks are. Use a word or phrase for a hyperlink, together with a stand-alone paragraph and perhaps a modified font size, and your readers will find those hyperlinks very easy to use. And, they will work-in Word and in a PDF version of that Word document. March General Forum Meeting We will meet at the Fort Collins Senior Center on Tuesday, March 4th 7:00 PM Meeting Agenda: 7:00 to 7:15 Announcements 7:15 to 8:00 Open Forum 8:00 to 8:15 Break 8:15 to 9:00 Remote Computing-Computer Meeting Software
!!!!! NEW !!!!! Graphical Events Calendar April General Forum Meeting We will meet at the Fort Collins Senior Center on Tuesday, April 1st 7:00 PM Meeting Agenda: 7:00 to 7:15 Announcements 7:15 to 8:00 Open Forum 8:00 to 8:15 Break 8:15 to 9:00 Remote Computing-Computer Meeting Software See you at the meetings! Get full membership benefits. If you are not a current member, download an application from http://www.frpcug.org/memberap.htm Future General Forum Meeting Notes Perhaps the term Remote Computing brings to mind images of complex hardware and software (and maybe a Sci-Fi nightmare or two). If so, attend the March meeting to find out about new technology for the consumer. The topic is: Connectivity, Remote Computing, and Web Meetings, presented by members Chuck McJilton, Rick Mattingly, and Jim Bragonier. Working on a book or on family genealogy with other family members? This meeting will provide information on new tools to make those tasks easier. At the April meeting, an update to the One Laptop Per Child project is scheduled. A demonstration of the laptop is included--provided it is delivered on time. Future SIG's, Seminars, and Other Meetings Digital Imaging SIG (NEW) The NEW Digital Imaging SIG is a forum for discussion of digital imaging hardware and software. The meetings are held every 2nd Tuesday of the month at 7:00 PM in the Senior Center Lobby. The meeting format is informal, using the Shop Talk sessions as a basis. For more information, contact Mike Morris at twriterext(at)gmail.com. Desktop Publishing SIG (NEW) The DTP SIG is a forum for discussion of desktop publishing applications. The meetings are held every 3rd Tuesday of the month at 7:00 PM in the Senior Center lobby. The meeting format is informal, using the Shop Talk sessions as a basis. For more information, contact Mike Morris at twriterext(at)gmail.com. New Technology SIG The New Technology SIG provides advance support for all PC related operating system and telecommunication issues. The meetings are held at 7:00 PM on the third Thursday of each month at Bluebird Manufacturing Inc., 1421 Webster Avenue, in Fort Collins. For more information, contact Chuck McJilton at 970-493-2987. Shop Talk One-on-one assistance. Drop in to the Senior Center lobby on any Saturday (holidays excepted) from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM Board Meeting FRPCUG's executive board meets on Wednesday of the week following the General Forum meeting. All members are welcome and are encouraged to attend. These meetings are held at 7:00 PM in the Staff Board Room of the Fort Collins Senior Center. 1 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM 4 FRPCUG General Forum Meeting 7:00 PM 8 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM 11 Digital Imaging SIG Meeting 7:00 PM 12 FRPCUG Board Meeting 7:00 PM 15 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM 19 DTP SIG Meeting 7:00 PM 20 New Technology SIG Meeting 7:00 PM 22 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM 29 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM April 2008 1 FRPCUG General Forum Meeting 7:00 PM 5 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM 8 Digital Imaging SIG Meeting 7:00 PM 9 FRPCUG Board Meeting 7:00 PM 12 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM 16 DTP SIG Meeting 7:00 PM 17 New Technology SIG Meeting 7:00 PM 19 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM 26 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM Noncommercial Advertising k-Byte runs classified ads in Trading Post for three consecutive issues. Trading Post ads up to 10 lines (or 70 words) long are free to FRPCUG members and only $10 for non-members. To place an ad in Trading Post contact Rick Mattingly at 970-613-8968 or e-mail to rmatt(at)mesanetworks.net. Commercial Advertising Specifications (Per Issue) Full Page (8.5" x 11")*$50.00 Half Page (5.5" x 8.5")*$30.00 Quarter Page (4.25" x 5.5")*$20.00 Business Card (2" x 3.5")*$10.00  The Fort Collins Senior Center The Fort Collins Senior Center is located at 1200 Raintree Drive. This site is situated at the northwest corner of the Shields and Raintree Drive intersection, on the north side of the Raintree Shopping Center, and just west of the bank building on the corner of Shields and Raintree (see map at right). Check the marquee at the main entrance for directions to the specific meeting room. |
| FRPCUG CONTACTS | ||||
| Telephone Area Code 970 | ||||
| FRPCUG Officers | Name | Work | Home | |
| President | Rick Mattingly | 613-8968 | rickmatt(at)q.com | |
| Vice President | Don Anderson | 498-3534 | 482-0943 | doande(at)gmail.com |
| Treasurer | Virginia Febinger | 498-2127 | gingercln(at)comcast.net | |
| Secretary | Jim Bragonier | 484-9061 | james.bragonier(at)comcast.net | |
| k-Byte Staff | ||||
| Editor-in-Chief | Mike Morris | 461-2002 | twriterext(at)gmail.com | |
| Features Editor | Mike Morris | |||
| Other Contacts | ||||
| Membership Coordinator | Jack Linder | 663-2151 | jack(at)frpcug.org | |
| New Technology SIG Leader | Chuck McJilton | 493-2987 | cdmcjs(at)gmail.com | |
| Digital Imaging SIG Leader | Mike Morris | |||
| DTP SIG Leader | Mike Morris | |||
| Publicity | Mike Morris | 461-2002 | twriterext(at)gmail.com | |
| Door Prize Coordinator | John Goldey | 221-0877 | johngoldey(at)juno.com | |
| FRPCUG Fax Line | 493-1408 | |||
| FRPCUG Home Page w/E-Mail | http://www.frpcug.org | |||
| FRPCUG Officer E-Mail | contact(at)frpcug.org | |||
| Membership in the Front Range PC Users Group is $25 per year for individuals and $50 per year for companies. | ||||
| Mail your completed application and payment to: | ||||
| FRPCUG | ||||
| PMB 152 | ||||
| 305 W. Magnolia | ||||
| Fort Collins CO 80521 | ||||
| or join in person at the monthly meeting on the first Tuesday of each month. | ||||
