Protect Your Addresses

I received this tip from a very kind newsletter reader and I thought it would be perfect to share with the rest of you. It makes a lot of sense and it's so simple to do, so listen up! Okay, so we all know that when your e-mail is infected with a virus, it goes straight to your address book. The virus looks for the addresses you have saved and it starts to send itself off to everyone listed. The virus then, of course, infects all of those people as well. So, how can we stop this from happening? Well, here's an idea on where to start.

Open your address book and go to New Contact, just like you would if you really were adding a new friend to your list. For the name, simply type in the letter A. Then for the e-mail address, type in "aaaaaa@aaa.aaa." (Or however you want to do it. Just make sure it's in an e-mail address format). Since you used the letter A, it will be the first entry to be listed in your address book, which is where the virus would start when sending itself off to all your friends. Now, here's the catch. Since the e-mail address you entered is not valid, the message the virus sends will be undeliverable. Therefore, it will not be able to go any further to anyone else in your address book.

There's also another advantage to this. If the first e-mail cannot be delivered successfully, you will receive an e-mail yourself notifying you of the undeliverable mail. This will warn you right away that you are infected with a virus and you can do what you need to do to get rid of it (run your virus scan and fix it!) Now, go and tell all your friends to do this as well. If everyone does, none of you will ever be infected again! Pretty genius, isn't it?!

For more Tips and Techniques visit WorldStart at http://www.worldstart.com

Quick Tips - Special Characters

Special Characters

Have you been trying to figure out how you can make certain special characters with your computer keyboard? You know, like a cent sign or maybe a a registered trademark sign (the R with a circle around it). Both of those and more have always been on my list of "How do you do that"?!

Well, I have finally found the solutions and I am so excited to share these with you! Let's do the cent sign first. If you need to add the cent sign into any document or project you're working on, simply hold down the Alt key on your keyboard and type in the numbers 0162. This is what you'll get: ¢ Cool, huh?! Look below for even more characters you can try:

® = Alt + 0174
© = Alt + 0169
™ = Alt + 0153
¥ = Alt + 0165

Those are just a few you can do with the Alt key and a number code. Keep in mind that when you're doing this, you must use the number pad on the right hand side of your keyboard. It won't work if you use the numbers located above the letters. Look here for even more ideas and special characters. Your documents won't ever be the same!

For more Tips & Techniques visit WorldStart at http://www.worldstart.com

Quick Tips - Desktop Cleanup

Do you have a lot of icons sitting on your desktop that you don't use? Maybe you downloaded a program and it made a new icon for you, but you don't really need it there. That happens to me all the time. That's why I have a folder on my desktop that is used just for the icons that I hardly or never use. Would you like to do the same?

It's very easy to do this. Just right click anywhere on your desktop and click New, then Folder. This will pop up a new folder right next to your other icons. Find that and then type in what you want to call it. I named mine "Unused Icons," but you can name it whatever you want. Just make sure you call it something that will remind you of what it is.

Once you have the folder named, you can just drag and drop the other icons that you don't use into that folder. For example, if you have an icon for Internet Explorer sitting on your desktop, but you also have one in your quick launch area, you don't need both of them. Put the one from your desktop in your new folder. It's as easy as that!

If you ever need to access any of those icons, you can just double click on your new folder and all of them will be waiting for you. They're not deleted from your computer, they're just put on hold. Sounds good to me!

For more Tips & Techniques visit WorldStart at http://www.worldstart.com

Quick Tips - Shortcuts

You probably have them all over your desktop and you probably use them every day, but do you know exactly what a shortcut is? Yes, the name seems pretty self explanatory, but here's a little more information on the world of shortcuts for you, just in case!

A shortcut, in reference to computers, is basically an icon you create that sits on your desktop for quick access to anything you want. Whether it be a Web site, a document, a program, etc., you can make a shortcut for it. The shortcut is a direct path to the actual application you want to run, but it doesn't remove the program from the Start menu or wherever you store it either. Shortcuts are also nice, because you can delete one from your desktop without deleting the program entirely from your computer.

As I said before, shortcuts make their home on your desktop, so it's easy for you to get to everything you want to do on your computer (considering you have a shortcut made for everything). Once they are created, they are usually denoted by a little arrow in the left corner of the icon, so you'll always know which ones are shortcuts. You just have to double click the icon to open the application.

I don't think it can get any easier than that! To create a shortcut, just right click on your desktop and go to New, Shortcut and just follow the setup wizard the rest of the way.

For more tips & techniques visit WorldStart at http://www.worldstart.com

Quick Tips - Sleeping Mice

Sleeping Mice

Do you use a wireless mouse? If so, do you have problems with it falling asleep on you? Are you still not sure what I mean? Well, sometimes wireless mice go into a "sleep" mode and you just have to give it a quick tug for it to wake back up.

Some wireless mice are programmed to go into the sleep mode after approximately eight minutes of non-use. So, if you leave your computer for more than eight minutes, you will probably come back to a sleeping mouse. The main reason they do this is to save some battery life while you're not using it. Some common brand names that are known to have mice like this are Memorex and Logitech.

When you get back to your computer, you may see the mouse pointer on your screen, but you'll notice that it doesn't move at first. You either have to jerk it awake by moving your mouse back and forth quickly or sometimes, if you just give it a quick click, it will turn back to a working condition. That's easy enough, right?

It may be a little annoying, but hey, you gotta look at the positive, it saves you battery power in the end! You can't complain about that, now can you?! Also, keep in mind that this doesn't happen to every wireless mouse, so you may have lucked out and got one that doesn't, but if yours does, you know how to bring it back to life now!

For more tips & techniques visit WorldStart at http://www.worldstart.com

Quick Tips - Email Scams

E-mail Scams

We all know that there are several e-mail scams running their course in cyber space these days, but how do you know for sure which ones are and which ones aren't? Well, in previous tips, we've told you not to open anything from an unknown sender and that advice still runs true. But, what happens if you get an e-mail that just beats your curiosity? Then what do you do?
For example, one of the fast rising e-mail scams is the Nigerian (or other foreign countries) or 419 scam. These e-mails can be enticing when they tell you they want to transfer a large amount of money into your bank account. Some even tell you that the money comes from a deceased family member, etc. To the normal eye, these types of e-mails are disasters waiting to happen, but there have been some people who have followed through on the requests of the e-mail.

Replying to this kind of e-mail will not make you rich and you should not do anything with it besides delete it. If you reply, you will be asked for your bank account and other personal information. The scam artist will try their best to persuade you into believing they are real, but it's just a big lie. If you happen to reply to an e-mail like this, it will only cause you problems down the road.
The e-mail may look official to you, but it's in no means factual. Keep an eye out for these types of e-mails and others that are similar. Just delete them as fast as you can. You may also want to set up a filtering system for your e-mail. Read here for some additional help on that.

For more tips & techniques visit WorldStart at http://www.worldstart.com

Quick Tips - What type of Mouse

What type of mouse do you use? Maybe you use a wireless mouse or maybe you use a ball and wheel mouse. Or maybe you use a...

As you might be figuring out, there are several different types of mice available to use with your computer these days. It's pretty amazing how many there are actually. Let's see, there's the cordless (wireless), the footmouse, the glidepoint (also known as the touchpad), the IntelliMouse, the J mouse, the joystick, the trackball mouse, the trackpoint mouse and finally, the wheel mouse. Wow!

Some of those are pretty self explanatory, but let me describe a few of them for you. The footmouse is a new type of mouse that allows users to control the mouse with their feet. This enables you to keep your hands on the keyboard at all times. The joystick is just like the ones from arcade games, but it is used with your computer. The trackpoint mouse is also a type of joystick. And lastly, the trackball mouse is like an upside down mouse that is moved by a trackball with just your thumb or one finger. This type of mouse requires less arm and wrist motion, which can be helpful for some.

Who knew there were so many different and cool types of mice? Well, if you didn't know before, you surely know now! The only question that remains is which type of mouse do you use and are you thinking about changing?!

For more tips & techniques visit WorldStart at http://www.worldstart.com

Quick Tips - Get Me Out of Here

Get Me Out of Here!

Have you ever needed to boot your computer up in safe mode for some reason? Maybe you were trying to fix a problem or do some troubleshooting. Well, have you ever had it boot up in safe mode again, even when you didn't need it to? If that has ever happened to you, here's a little tip that will help you get "outta there" when you want!

Usually, after working in safe mode, your computer will boot normally the next time you turn it on, but if it doesn't, here's how you can fix it. Basically, to get out of safe mode, turn your computer off and then turn it back on. Clicking the reboot option sometimes works the best. If your computer does not boot normally, then follow these steps:1.) Boot up in safe mode.2.) Go Start, Run3.) Type in "msconfig.exe."4.) This will give you the msconfig screen.5.) Click the BOOT.INI tab and unselect the /SAFEBOOT check box.6.) Restart your computer.The above should prevent your computer from booting into Safe Mode, no matter what!

For more Tips & Techniques visit WorldStart at http://www.worldstart.com