Computer and Web Articles

It’s easy to feel safe and anonymous as you sit at your computer, late at night, roaming the Internet. No one can see you, your actions are completely private - right? Well no, not exactly.

Every time you log on to the Internet, your computer actively exchanges pieces of information with other computers. The privacy level of these communications depends on which sites you visit as well as the security features set in your Web browser.

Some companies harvest e-mail addresses so they can send out more spam. Some ruthless criminals obtain your credit card and make charges on it without authorization.

You shouldn’t feel uncomfortable while using the Internet - the bad guys aren’t everywhere, and not everyone’s privacy is breached. But because the possibility exists of being taken advantage of, you might wish to consider a few practices that will decrease your vulnerability.

First, you know when you fill out forms on the Web, and some fields are marked “required” while others are simply optional? Don’t fill in the optional fields. Why give a company your phone number or e-mail address if you don’t have to?

Next, be aware that some sites actually install what’s called “spyware” onto your computer - without your knowledge or approval. Spyware can track your surfing habits, profile your shopping preferences, alter important system files and hijack your browser homepage.

In essence, spyware communicates information about you across the Internet without your permission, meaning it’s guilty of information theft. Yes, spyware is dirty, evil, and wrong, but it’s not uncommon.

“What can I do?!” you cry!  “Calm yourself,” I reply.

Simply consider installing a piece of software that can detect spy activity on your computer. Such software can be found at www.spychecker.com/software/freeware_antispy.html.  Other popular software programs that can help you are Ad-aware (offered by www.lavasoftusa.com) and OptOut (www.www.grc.com/optout.htm). And in case you’re wondering, the software offered on the above-mentioned Web sites is free.

Additionally, as I’ve mentioned before, DO NOT unsubscribe to spam e-mails!! By telling the spammers you’d like to unsubscribe, you’re actually telling them you exist - which sets you up to get more spam.

Next, try and be wary of the privacy policies used by the Web sites you frequent. I know it’s unrealistic to expect you to read the volumes of text comprising many of these policies, but awareness is always a good thing.

The following sentence shows why this is true. The words come directly from buymusic.com’s online privacy policy: “We may disclose, sell, trade or rent your personally identifiable information to others without your consent.”  Ouch. And you wondered how all those telemarketers and junk-email distributors were getting your contact info.

Moving on.

Many Web browsers offer a variety of security features. For example, Internet Explorer allows you to block Web sites that contain nudity, sex and violence that you might consider inappropriate for the users of your computer.

Microsoft also states you can “Use Authenticode technology to help verify whether or not software is appropriate before you download it.”

Explore the security and privacy settings in your Web browser. See if there are any changes you feel comfortable making that might increase your online security.

If you use Internet Explorer, the settings window can be found by going to the tools menu at the top of your screen, then selecting “Internet Options.” A window will open up, and the two tabs of interest are (obviously!) labeled “security” and “privacy.” Check them out.

Another measure you can take in maintaining your personal privacy is setting up what’s called a “firewall.”  A firewall is a piece of software (though it can also be a hardware device) that protects your computer from unauthorized access.

In other words, firewalls stop the bad guys from doing harm to your computer. If you’re interested, check out ZoneAlarm (http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp) or Sygate Personal Firewall (http://smb.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm). Both companies offer free downloads, and both target Windows users. (Symantec sells a Norton Personal Firewall for Macs.)

I hope I didn’t scare any of you. The Internet is a fun, safe place to learn, shop and explore. Don’t be afraid of those bad guys. Take some of the steps I outlined above and keep them from ruining your online experience.

Today we’re going to explore several fun things you can try with some of the major search engines available on the Web.

That’s right. Search engines do more than just allow you to search for Britney Spears Web sites. I know, I know - you can hardly believe it. So let’s move on to the good stuff.

To start off, here’s a trivia question for you: How many searches are conducted each day over at Google? Take a guess. The answer is at the end of this column.

All right. Let’s learn about a service offered by a search engine you’ve probably never used before. It is called Alexa. Alexa can provide you with all sorts of interesting information about any Web site you choose. It can even tell you the popularity of a Web site compared to all other Web sites in the world.

First, go to Alexa: www.alexa.com. Then, think of a Web site in your head. Any Web site at all. It could be your company Web site, your family Web site, your favorite shopping Web site, etc. Type the site’s full address into the main search box at the top of Alexa’s main page - remember to add in the “www” at the beginning and the “.com” (or other extension) at the end.

For example, if I want to enter my timeforcake Web site, I would type in www.timeforcake.com. Then, simply click the “Go” button.
And voila! Alexa whisks us to a page telling us all sorts of things about the Web site. My favorite piece of information is the site’s traffic rank, shown at the top of the page. I see that my timeforcake site is ranked 3,719,235th in the world!

I had no idea I was so popular! (Let me tell you: it’s very entertaining to compare the popularity/ranking of friends’ and competitors’ sites. Ha! My kid’s site is more popular than your kid’s!)

Additionally, Alexa gives you a list of Web sites that link into the site you typed in, a date telling you how long the Web site has been live, webmaster contact information, a “People who visit this page also visit .” list, and sometimes, if the site is popular enough, Web site reviews.

Next, if you can tear yourself away from dear Alexa, we’re going to move over to a cool service offered by “alltheweb.”

Alltheweb is a great search engine, and it offers a neat feature that shows you an updated - to the second - list of the last 10 searches people performed using the alltheweb search engine.
Go to: www.alltheweb.com/recentqueries and see for yourself. I just took a look and saw that, just a split second ago, people were searching for “ottawa’s super ex,” “water analysis ions,” “tv guide uk,” “agl,” and “binaural beat.” Hmmm.

The list will be different each time you visit the page. You’ll also notice there’s a “Refresh this list” link at the bottom of the list. Clicking this will bring up the very last 10 searches typed into the search engine. You’ll get something different each time you refresh and it’s fascinating to see the variety of different things people around the world are searching for.

OK. For those of you not comfortable with more advanced searches, this next bit may seem confusing. Feel free to skip it if you’d like. I think many of you, however, will find this rather interesting.
Google just started up a brand-new service that allows you to search for synonyms of words. All you have to do is type in a “~” (tilde) before a word to receive search results including synonyms of that word.
For example, if you’re having problems using your Microsoft Outlook Express e-mail program, you could go to Google and type in “Outlook Express ~help” and Google will present you with Outlook Express-related sites offering tutorials, guides, support, etc.

But folks, the real fun exists in looking at what Google thinks are synonyms. You can do this by typing in “~word” then “-word.” (”~word” tells Google to conduct a search for all the synonyms of “word”, while “-word” subtracts all search results directly related to “word.” Read that last sentence again. Slowly. It makes sense.)

Let’s look at a couple of examples - then it’s time for you to try it out. I tried the search “~punk -punk,” only to discover that Google believes “anarchy” is “punk’s” sole synonym!

The search “~knights, -knights” brings up. . Days Inn! Google’s synonym search can definitely be useful but as you can see, it can provide hours of quality entertainment as well. If you find any funny synonym searches, e-mail me and let me know.

Oh, yes. I bet you’re dying to know the answer to the trivia question posed at the beginning of the article, aren’t you? The answer: about 250 million searches are made every single day at google.com, as of February.

Was your guess close? If you came within 150,000, you win. All winners receive a free slice of ice cream cake, redeemable this weekend anywhere they can find it, compliments of their own pocketbooks. Congratulations!

Question: I recently upgraded my Internet browser, and now I have a homepage I do not like. How do I set or change my homepage to one I actually want?

Answer: Changing your Internet browser’s default home page is a snap. The process varies only slightly depending on which browser you use.

If you use Internet Explorer to access the Web, simply click on the Tools Menu at the top of your browser window, then select “Internet Options.” A little window will pop open, and at the very top is the option that allows you to enter the address of the site you’d like to set as your home page. Remember to click “OK” at the bottom of the window when you’re done. And that’s it! Next time you open your browser, the site you typed in will appear.

If you use Mozilla or any version of Netscape to access the Web, the same window that will allow you to change your home page can be accessed via the Edit Menu. Just click Edit, then select “Preferences.”

If you use Opera as your Internet browser, you need to go to the File Menu, then select “Preferences.”

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Question: Okay, so what EACTLY is “Flash”? Some sites say they require a Flash Player to be viewed, a friend of mine has a Flash program installed on his computer, and I run into the term “Flash” quite often when I’m browsing the Internet. Yet the overall concept is still confusing to me; can you please clarify?

Answer: Sure. Let me try to clear things up for you.

Flash is basically a leading graphics technology developed by a company called Macromedia. In case you’re interested, Flash is a vector graphics technology - but explaining that right now would be whole ‘nother ballgame.Many Web sites indeed are built using this technology. If you’ve visited a Web site that boasted video-like animation, impressive sound effects, or amazing interactivity, chances are it was made using Flash.

To view a Web site made with Flash, you need a Flash Player. But don’t worry, you most likely already have one installed on your computer, even if you don’t know about it! It’s said that more than 95 percent of Internet users have a version of the Flash Player on their machines. Many like to keep up to date and download the newest versions.

Flash allows Web designs to create dazzling effects - but Flash Web sites have their weaknesses, too. Because sites built in Flash are often simply Flash movies embedded into a page (and not a collection of individual/unique web pages), the browser’s back button won’t work - pressing it will just start the “movie” over from the beginning. Additionally, search engines have a difficult time determining the content of all-Flash Web sites. Oftentimes, the sites aren’t user-friendly. And sometimes those darn animated intros want to make you scream and head for the hills S

To see if something that you’re viewing on the Web was built using Flash, just right-click on it (sorry, Mac folks). If it indeed was built using Flash, a pop-up list will appear, and one of the list items will read “About Macromedia Flash Player”.

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Question: In your last column, you explained how people can clean their monitors and keyboards. That was very helpful. But I have an absolutely filthy mouse that’s starting to “stick,” and I’m not sure how I should go about cleaning it up. Any pointers?

Answer: Cleaning your mouse is super simple. Just remember: DO NOT use any harsh or abrasive chemicals during the cleaning process.

First rotate the ball container (sometimes known as the “locking ring”) to open up the mouse. Then place the ball onto a cleaning cloth and wipe it off, gently removing grime and dirt. A solution of 80 percent water and 20 percent alcohol works just fine. Then use your fingernails to scrape the rollers inside the mouse to remove buildup-but be careful not to bend any of them. Then just pop the ball back into the mouse, screw the cover up, wipe down the top of your mouse, and you’re done.

I’m here to tell you something you probably don’t want to hear. So I’ll just get it over with, then move on to the tips that will make the process easy as cake … deep breath … YOU NEED TO DO SOME CLEANING!

If you plan to test out the advice in any of my future columns, you’re going to need a functioning monitor and keyboard. You simply cannot type in lengthy URLs or test out secret shortcuts if your keyboard keys are jamming up or if there are two inches of pine dust accumulation on your monitor. And besides, think of all the gunk and germs and bacteria and bits of food and who knows what else is clinging to your keyboard keys. Ewwww! Let’s take care of that, shall we? It’s just unsanitary, people.

And NO, you DO NOT just take a wet rag and wipe everything down once in a while. Though not an art, keeping your equipment clean does require following a few guidelines. As always, I’m going to make this as simple as possible to encourage your participation. Wipe that I-don’t-feel-like-doing-this frown off your face and get moving.

Monitors

Let’s first tackle those gigantic dust and dirt magnets otherwise known as monitors (thank the electrical charge in your monitor for attracting all the dust.) If you allow layers of dust to build up on your monitor, they will begin to act like insulation and will cause heat to build up in your monitor, meaning the electric components will wear out much faster than they normally would.

No. 1 rule here: Don’t use glass-cleaning liquid on your screen! This includes Windex. Your monitor might have a special anti-glare coating that ammonia-based solutions can damage. Plus, they can drip down into your monitor case, and we don’t want that. Use a soft cloth instead of paper towels, because the latter can cause tiny scratches.

Your best option is to use cleaning solutions and pads specifically designed for monitors (take a look at www.klearscreen.com). If you’re like most people, though, you probably just rolled your eyes and thought, “yeah right, eRin. Let me go out and buy those special products for my wimpy little monitor RIGHT NOW.” That’s why you should know that the runner-up cleaning option here is to use water sprayed on an eyeglass cloth.

SECRET MONITOR CLEANING TIP OF THE DAY: Fabric softener sheets are great antistatic wipes that pick up dust and dirt from your screen. They can also be used to wipe dirt off your monitor case.

Lastly, always remember the following two things. One: no matter what you use to clean your monitor, don’t apply it directly to the screen; pour or spray the solution onto your cleaning cloth first. Two: never open a monitor case! Monitors store a lot of voltage and can cause severe electrical shock. So go on and tell all your enemies to open up your monitor case, but don’t do it yourself.

Keyboards

Not only can the crumbs and crud that clog your keyboard cause malfunctions and sticky keys, but the bacteria and germs on the keys can make you sick. Therefore: get cleaning!

Oh, stop pouting. No one ever told you that cleaning your keyboard would be incredibly fun (blasting loud music in the background makes this process bearable, I promise).

To begin the process, first turn your computer off, then go ahead and flip your keyboard upside down and shake, shake, shake. Watch all the dirt and crumbs fall out (remember to have your significant other vacuum the floor later). While you’re shaking your keyboard to the loud music, give it a good hard whack on the back, too. You’ll be amazed at all the junk that falls out. If you’re lucky, you might even end up with some spare change.

The next part is SO fun.

Take a can of compressed air (or a very small vacuum) and spray, spray, spray additional gunk out from in between the keys. Remember to use small bursts and blow in outward directions. Compressed air is so fun!

Next we’re going to clean off the top of the keyboard. We don’t want any type of liquid getting inside, so be careful here. Dip a cotton swab in some alcohol and wipe the keys to clean off the remaining grime, gunk and thriving bacteria. Try not to overdo it with the alcohol (as usual … ). The black lettering on some keyboards can start to come off if you go overboard. If one of your keys is sticking, just pop the key off and use a cotton swab with a teensy bit of WD-40 to clean the problem area.

And that’s it. Go be good readers and clean your monitors and keyboards. You can have some Nutella if you do a good job. Well, at least I’ll have some Nutella, no matter what you do.