November 2013

Future Meeting DatesNov - Kingston SSD Dec 14 - Favorite Utilites Jan 11 - TBA Membership Annual membership is $20 for indivduals: $5 for each additional family members.

Fountain Valley Branch Library17635 Los Alamos, Fountain Valleymeetings on 2nd Saturday 10:00 am to 12:30 pm

InsideNovember Meeting .....................1 Microsoft Windows Telephone Scam ..........................................2CryptoLocker Extortion ............3 Evaluating Online Health Information ................................7 Screen Resolution ..................9 Where’s the Technology? .......10 Before Calling Support .........12 Customizing Labels in Word ......13The System Tray Icons ............14 Shotwell .......................15 Spam and Spyware ................16The Tip Corner .........................17 WIN7 Default Applications ......18 Behind the Scenes with Legacy .20 Microsoft Officially Releases Internet Explorer 11 ..............22 Get creative with Text Boxes ....24

November 2013 meeting

Louis Kaneshiro from Kingston came and gave us an excellent talk about SSD (Solid State Drives.)

Kingston’s SSDNow V300 solid-state drive is a cost-effective way to revive your computer. It’s 10x faster than a hard drive plus more reliable, more durable and shock-proof. It features an LSI® SandForce® controller customized for Kingston and best-in-class components, and is available in kits with all the accessories needed for an effortless transition to the latest technology. For added peace of mind, it’s backed by a three-year warranty, free technical support and legendary Kingston® reliability. They come in sizes: 60GB, 120GB, 240GB, and 480GB.

FeaturesFast — 10x faster than a •7200RPM hard driveHigh Quality — features •an LSI® SandForce® controller customized for Kingston

Reliable — with no moving •parts, solid-state drives are less likely to fail than standard hard drivesEconomical — design •optimized to make migrating to an SSD more affordableConvenient — all-in-one •kits with all the components for easy installation Multiple capacities — to fit •your workloadShock-Proof - Dropping a •notebook no longer means losing your data Silent - SSDs run silent and •have no moving mechanical parts Cool - SSDs generate much •less heat than traditional hard drives, ideal for notebook users Green - Solid-State Drives •consume less energy than traditional hard drivesGuaranteed — three-year •warranty, free technical support and legendary Kingston reliability

A reminder - do not use defrag on a SSD. He also gave us information on their website deals. Go to www.kingstong.com/shop/superfriends the password for November is Chaucer. If you missed it the presentation is on our WINNERS website http://www.windowsusers.org/meetings.html

Board of DirectorsPresident Steve Dela stevede(at)aol.com Vice-President Terry Currier winnersug(at)aol.com Secretary Robin Theron rtheron(at)gmail.com TreasurerMax Lockie mlockie(at)pobox.com

Board MembersEthel Kamber ethel(at)kamber.fastmail.fmKen Kamber kenkamber(at)mail.comLouise McCain LMcEnterprises(at)ol.com Ed Koran edk246(at)aol.com Rebecca Feinstein rebfein@yahoo.comEditor editor(at)windowsusers.org

WINNERS, contributors and editors of Notepad do not assume liability for dameages arising from the publication or non-publication of any advertisement, article, edito-rial, or other item in this newsletter. All opionions express are those of the individual authors only and do not necessarily represent the opion-ions of the WINNERS, its Board of Directors, the WINNERS Notepad, or its editors. WINNERS a computer association, is a volunteer organization provid-ing a forum for sharing informa-tion and experiences related to Windows-based software, and hardware, encouraging ethical use of computers and software, offering service to our communities.

Microsoft Windows Telephone Scam – BEWARE!!This really happened to a user group member in California.

One of our members (I’ll save him embarrassment by calling him “Jim”) has just been the victim of a phone scam involving Microsoft. Not the “real” Microsoft. Fearing viruses on his computer, Jim allowed the “Microsoft tech support” man on the phone to enter his computer electronically to check. The caller “found” red flags next to items on the computer that indicated viruses and offered to fix the computer -- for a charge. Jim felt uncomfortable with this and said no. The “Microsoft” scammer said he would block the use of the computer if he was not paid. Jim hung up. Unhappily, Jim discovered afterward that the scammer had indeed done something while connected to the computer so that Jim could not use it or the internet. Luckily, there was no financial or other sensitive information on the computer that could also have been taken by the scammer. If it had, that would have been another story. A very sad story. However, not so luckily, Jim will not be able to use his computer again for a couple of days until it has been reformatted and all the programs reinstalled. So, fellow members, this is an updated warning. It CAN happen to you. Jim wants you to know about and to learn from his awful

experience. Here is a link at Microsoft that describes various scams using its name: http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/msname.aspx

From the Windows Secrets newsletter < http://windowssecrets.com/>:

“Everybody’s Event Viewer has red and yellow flags. Check yours right now and you’ll see them:

Windows XP: Click Start, •Control Panel, Performance and Maintenance, Administrative Tools; then double-click Computer Management.

Vista: Do the same, except •for the final step. Double-click Event Viewer instead.

Win7: Click Start, type •Event, click Event Viewer.

On the left of the Event Viewer window, expand the Windows Logs/System branch. See the ocean of colored flags? They’re mostly harmless, although they look alarming — which is why Windows makes it difficult to find them. It’s good fodder for a flimflam.”

Links to Microsoft Telephone Scam articles/information:

Microsoft Security & Safety Center - http://bit.ly/jxOzalMicrosoft Answers – Virus and Malware - http://bit.ly/P4w9j2InformationWeek Security - http://bit.ly/Rp7oAIabc15.com - http://bit.ly/RbOedZ

Do Not Fall Prey to the Vicious CryptoLocker Extortion by Ira Wilsker WEBSITES:http://www.dhs.gov/national-cyber-security-awareness-monthhttp://www.fbi.gov/news/news_blog/national-cyber-security-awareness-month-2013https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptolockerhttp://blog.emsisoft.com/2013/09/10/cryptolocker-a-new-ransomware-variant/http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/cryptolocker-ransomware-informationhttp://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2013/10/18/cryptolocker-ransomware-see-how-it-works-learn-about-prevention-cleanup-and-recovery/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_size GRAPHICS:http://blog.emsisoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/crilock.pnghttp://blog.hotspotshield.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/who-is-spying-on-you.png October was the tenth anniversary of National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM). According to a statement on the FBI website, “(National Cyber Security Awareness Month) Established by presidential directive in 2004, the initiative—administered by the Department of Homeland Security—raises cyber security awareness across the nation by engaging and educating public and private sector partners through a variety of events and programs. The ultimate goal is to protect the country from cyber incidents and respond to them effectively if they do occur.” Around the country, at K-12 schools, colleges, universities, and private businesses, thousands of seminars and events took place during NCSAM in order to educate computer users at all levels on cyber security. I had the honor and privilege of presenting two citizen awareness sessions for the city of Port Arthur, Texas. I discussed several of the contemporary online threats and how users could effectively protect themselves from those threats. One of the warnings that I repeated several times was to never open email attachments, as they are a common vector used to bypass much of the security software that we (should) have installed on our computers. Now that the National Cyber Security Awareness Month is behind us, we should not

forget the lessons learned about clicking on email attachments. Unlike our new years’ resolutions that many of us make, but quickly forget to implement, cyber security threats are continuing, and in many cases becoming more threatening. One recent example is a new version of an old Russian cybercriminal extortion scam; in the original versions, which took over countless millions of computers worldwide (and still showing up in large numbers), the purloined computer displayed a window after boot that had an official looking logo of the FBI or other law enforcement agency, along with an official looking criminal complaint that child pornography (or other

illicit content) was found on the computer. Nothing else could be done on the computer, as it was effectively locked by the “FBI”. The computer user was told that if they did not pay the fine, typically $200, within 24 or 48 hours, he would be subject to arrest, charged with a felony, and face 10 years in federal prison, plus a $10,000 fine. Detailed instructions were provided on where to purchase a specific prepaid debit card, and then entering the cards 16 digit number into the payment box on the warning

screen. After payment was received, the ‘FBI” would drop the charges and (hopefully) release

control of the computer. The especially nasty new type of ransom ware, also likely from Russia, goes a step further than the other recent ransom ware; the new version contains a version of a vicious piece of malware called “CryptoLocker”. Some variants contain a version of the well-known Zeus trojan, which is used to install and run CryptoLocker. Typically spread via an email attachment, often apparently sent from a known acquaintance or company, the attachment appears to contain a ZIP file with a disguised file that looks like an innocent PDF file. I have personally received dozens of these emails, and I will admit that they do look like they are from a legitimate source, but I know not to open email attachments that have any vestige of being suspicious. Once opened, the attachment executes, installing itself in the Documents and Settings folder with a random file name, adding a startup command key to the registry which causes CryptoLocker to load when the computer is booted. CryptoLocker then goes through a series of servers, making it difficult to trace, eventually connecting to a command and control server. This remote server generates a very sophisticated 2048-bit RSA encryption key pair using the public key to encrypt Microsoft Office and Open Document files, as well as some common graphics file formats. CryptoLocker will not just encrypt the computer of the user unfortunate enough to open the email attachment, but can also encrypt those file types on any mapped network drive, including USB drives, network file shares, and even cloud storage folders that are made to appear as a drive letter (like “G:\” drive), which may effectively shut down a business, school, hospital, or government agency that uses mapped network drives; it only takes one infected computer to possibly compromise the targeted files on an entire network. Once the files are encrypted using the 2048-bit RSA public encryption key, a warning is displayed on the computer that critical data files have been encrypted, and that the ransom (extortion) payment must be made in a specified time, often 72 or 100 hours, or else private encryption key on the command and control server will be destroyed and “nobody and never [sic] will be able to restore files”. The extortion demand is, “ ... a payment of either 100 or 300 USD or Euro through an anonymous pre-paid cash voucher (i.e. MoneyPak or Ukash), or 2 Bitcoin in order to decrypt the files.” Anecdotally, some published reports have claimed that some businesses have

received cyber extortion demands of $10,000 or $20,000 dollars, or equivalent amounts in Euros or Bitcoins (private currency). In order to add a sense of urgency, a countdown timer is displayed indicating the deadline to pay the ransom, or the files will forever become unrecoverable (Image: http://blog.emsisoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/crilock.png). The 2048-bit encryption keys used by CryptoLocker are considered in the security industry as extremely secure and virtually unbreakable, and can be expected to meet security requirements until the year 2030 (source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_size#Asymmetric_algorithm_key_lengths). Almost all of the common security suites, including Kaspersky, Symantec, Sophos, Emsisoft, and others, can detect and remove the CryptoLocker malware and the Zeus trojan, but no one (yet) has been able to come up with a practical method to crack the encryption key and recover the encrypted files; effectively they are gone forever. Removing the infection is a moot point, as the encrypted files will remain unusable. While some experts claim that paying the extortion prior to the expiration, hoping that the cyber criminal will send the private key necessary to decrypt the files, many others, including most law enforcement agencies do not condone paying ransom under the theory that it will only encourage more criminal behavior. Cited by Wikipedia, “Symantec estimated that 3% of users infected by CryptoLocker chose to pay the ransom.” Do some simple arithmetic; if a million computers are hijacked by these criminals, and only 3% pay a $200 ransom, the crook receives a cool $6 million in illicit proceeds. Since multiple millions of computers have been held for ransom by CryptoLocker, the proceeds to the criminal enterprise may be staggering.

As is typical, prevention is the best method from being taken over by CryptoLocker or any of the other cyber threats. Sophos, a well respected multinational security company headquartered in the UK has published “Five “top tips” for keeping safe against malware in general, and cyberblackmailers in particular” (nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2013/10/18/). The first of the five tips is common sense, and a task incumbent on all computer users, “Keep regular backups of your important files.” After cleaning the CryptoLocker and any other malware that infected the computer, the encrypted files can be safely deleted and replaced by their backup copies. One strong warning about the backup copies and the devices that the backups are stored on; do not leave the backup devices, such as external hard drives, attached to the computer or the network, as they will likely have a drive letter that can be identified by CryptoLocker. If CryptoLocker can see it, it will also encrypt the files on those devices, making the backup copies as useless as the encrypted files on the primary hard drive. Good practice is to frequently rotate through multiple backup devices, creating redundant backup copies, and never allowing more than one device to be attached and running at any given time. The other backup devices should be stored securely, and only connected in rotation, never having more than one backup device connected at a time. While CryptoLocker may also encrypt the files on an attached backup device, it cannot attack any unattached devices. The second tip from Sophos is the often stated, “Use an anti-virus, and keep it up to date.” I would add to that rule that it should also be required to do frequent and periodic security scans for malware using alternate third-party security software such as Emsisoft, SuperAntiSpyware, and MalwareBytes. My rationale for this secondary scanning by alternative scanning utilities is that prior infections may have either slipped through the primary security software, or rendered itself immune to detection by it. There are documented cases of CryptoLocker being downloaded and installed by Zeus or other malware that was already present on an infected computer, without a user opening an email attachment. “Keep your operating system and software up to date with patches” is Sophos’ third tip. Software publishers often release patches and updates to close newly detected security vulnerabilities. According to Sophos, “This lessens the chance of malware sneaking onto your computer unnoticed through security holes.”

Number four on the Sophos list of tips is, “Review the access control settings on any network shares you have, whether at home or at work. Don’t grant yourself or anyone else write access to files that you only need to read. Don’t grant yourself any access at all to files that you don’t need to see - that stops malware seeing and stealing them, too.” Sophos concludes its list of five tips with, “Don’t give administrative privileges to your user accounts. Privileged accounts can “reach out” much further and more destructively both on your own hard disk and across the network. Malware that runs as administrator can do much more damage, and be much harder to get rid of, than malware running as a regular user.” Using the lessons learned during National Cyber Security Awareness Month, such as “don’t click on and open email attachments”, being aware of the tremendous threat and damage that the rapidly spreading CryptoLocker Ransomware can wreak, and following the five safety tips recommended by Sophos, our computing safety and security may be much improved. Remember that in computers, as well as in other aspects of life, prevention is far better than the alternatives.

National Cyber Awareness System:TA13-309A: CryptoLocker Ransomware Infections11/05/2013 10:58 AM EST

Original release date: November 05, 2013 | Last revised: November 06, 2013Systems AffectedMicrosoft Windows systems running Windows 7, Vista, and XP operating systemsOverviewUS-CERT is aware of a malware campaign that surfaced in 2013 and is associated with an increasing number of ransomware infections. CryptoLocker is a new variant of ransomware that restricts access to infected computers and demands the victim provide a payment to the attackers in order to decrypt and recover their files. As of this time, the primary means of infection appears to be phishing emails containing

malicious attachments.DescriptionCryptoLocker appears to have been spreading through fake emails designed to mimic the look of legitimate businesses and through phony FedEx and UPS tracking notices. In addition, there have been reports that some victims saw the malware appear following after a previous infection from one of several botnets frequently leveraged in the cyber-criminal underground.ImpactThe malware has the ability to find and encrypt files located within shared network drives, USB drives, external hard drives, network file shares and even some cloud storage drives. If one computer on a network becomes infected, mapped network drives could also become infected. CryptoLocker then connects to the attackers’ command and control (C2) server to deposit the asymmetric private encryption key out of the victim’s reach.Victim files are encrypted using asymmetric encryption. Asymmetric encryption uses two different keys for encrypting and decrypting messages. Asymmetric encryption is a more secure form of encryption as only one party is aware of the private key, while both sides know the public key.While victims are told they have three days to pay the attacker through a third-party payment method (MoneyPak, Bitcoin), some victims have claimed online that they paid the attackers and did not receive the promised decryption key. US-CERT and DHS encourage users and administrators experiencing a ransomware infection NOT to respond to extortion attempts by attempting payment and instead to report the incident to the FBI at the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).SolutionPreventionUS-CERT recommends users and administrators take the following preventative measures to protect their computer networks from a CryptoLocker infection:

Do not follow unsolicited web links in email •messages or submit any information to webpages in linksUse caution when opening email attachments. •Refer to the Security Tip Using Caution with Email Attachments for more information on safely handling email attachmentsMaintain up-to-date anti-virus software•Perform regular backups of all systems to limit •

the impact of data and/or system lossApply changes to your Intrusion Detection/•Prevention Systems and Firewalls to detect any known malicious activitySecure open-share drives by only allowing •connections from authorized usersKeep your operating system and software up-•to-date with the latest patchesRefer to the • Recognizing and Avoiding Email Scams (pdf) document for more information on avoiding email scamsRefer to the Security Tip • Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks for more information on social engineering attacks

MitigationUS-CERT suggests the following possible mitigation steps that users and administrators can implement, if you believe your computer has been infected with CryptoLocker malware:

Immediately disconnect the infected system •from the wireless or wired network. This may prevent the malware from further encrypting any more files on the networkUsers who are infected should change all •passwords AFTER removing the malware from their systemUsers who are infected with the malware •should consult with a reputable security expert to assist in removing the malware, or users can retrieve encrypted files by the following methods:

Restore from backup,o

Restore from a shadow copy oro

Perform a system restore.o

ReferencesCryptoLocker Virus: New Malware Holds •Computers For Ransom, Demands $300 Within 100 Hours And Threatens To Encrypt Hard DriveCryptoLocker Wants Your Money• !CryptoLocker ransomware – see how it works, •learn about prevention, cleanup and recoveryMicrosoft Support – Description of the •Software Restriction Policies in Windows XPMicrosoft Software Restriction Policies •Technical Reference – How Software Restriction Policies WorkCryptoLocker Ransomware Information Guide •and FAQ

Evaluating Online Health Informationby Ira Wilsker WEBSITES:http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/webeval/webeval.htmlhttp://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/webeval/webevaldownload.htmlhttp://get.adobe.com/flashplayer Now that the internet is universally available, with most homes having an internet connection, and with almost all smart phones and smart devices having some form of internet connectivity, it is only inevitable that we would use the internet for medical information. As with all other sources of information, the quality and accuracy of medical information varies greatly from reliable to outright dangerous and lethal. A search on any of the search engines for any medical term or drug will display a plethora of information. The problem is that the displayed information may not be reliable as while there are honest and accurate health information resources, possibly the majority are inaccurate. Much of the inaccuracy is due to bias, as parties interested in promoting a particular cause, device, or drug often “spin” or slant the information in order to persuade the viewer into purchasing a particular product. Several weeks ago, following the news that President Bush received a stent in order to improve blood flow, several “cardiac experts” appeared in the national media and on the internet touting an exciting, new medical device. According to these “experts” a new miracle device could be inexpensively and non-invasively used in any doctor’s office to detect and predict future cardiac events. I looked up the device on the internet and found glowing physician testimonials on the manufacturer’s website, along with a list of physicians that had purchased the device; none of my local physicians were listed as purchasers of the product. Being favorably impressed with what I read on the internet, during a recent, routine office visit, I asked my primary care physician about the test and device. Fully aware that it is totally normal for physicians to disagree on medical topics, he informed me that the device was of questionable value, has not been universally adopted in the cardiology community, and was (in his opinion) an unproven device of

questionable value. While the promoters of the device may be serious about identifying potential cardiac problems, and lowering cardiac risks for patients, a careful rereading of the manufacturer’s website made me slightly suspicious about the efficacy of this particular product. Internet users may ask themselves about where and how they could find valid and accurate medical information. While no large website has absolute credibility with all users, some websites, such as WebMD, have a very good reputation as they use a peer review system to validate articles and postings. To try and help consumers find reputable and reliable medical information, the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health (NIH-NLM) has released a 16 minute, self-paced video “Evaluating Internet Health Information: A Tutorial from the National Library of Medicine” available online at nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/webeval/webeval.html. The video requires that the user’s browser has the latest version of Adobe Flash Player installed. If necessary, the site connects to the proper Adobe Flash Player website to download and install the latest version of Flash Player. For those who may prefer to download the presentation to their own computer, rather than view it online, a downloadable version is available as a ZIP file (compressed format usable by Windows), at www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/webeval/webevaldownload.html. This NIH-NLM video presentation opens with a somewhat provocative warning, “Using the Internet to find health information is like going on a treasure hunt ... you could find some real gems, but you could also end up in some strange and dangerous places !’ In a subsequent slide, the NIH-NLM provides the viewer with some questions that you might want to answer before blindly accepting the information presented on the site. These questions are, “Who runs the site? Why have they created the site? What do they want from you? Who is paying for the site? Does the site’s information favor the sponsor?” Finding and interpreting the answers to these questions could provide the user with substantial insight as to the accuracy and reliability of the information that is presented. In my own experience, not stated on the NIH-NLM website, I get especially suspicious when some miracle cure or product is so effective that it claims that a cabal of government agencies and drug makers is trying to suppress the displayed information in

order to protect the drug makers’ profits from superior competition. Parallel to this, I saw on one particular herbal drug website that was touting miracle cures, weight loss, and the anti-cancer properties of a particular herbal supplement that both of the federal agencies, the FTC and the FDA were trying to ban their miracle product in order to protect the “big pharma” drug companies. The website warned that if the reader was even remotely interested in this product, they need to buy a lot of it right now, and stock up on it, before it is banned by the government, and no longer available. I might see how some conspiracy theorists with their aluminum foil hats might fall for this ploy, but rational readers might be suspicious about this product and the seller that is touting it. The NIH-NLM video continues with additional questions for the viewer; “Is the information reviewed by experts? Where did the information come from? Does the site make unbelievable claims? Is it up to date? Do ‘they’ want your personal information? What do they do with it?” Responses to these inquiries might appear to be self explanatory, but consider the sources of the information; while the author of the page may make the sources sound impressive and credible, a simple web search could uncover additional, possibly contradictory information. Consider the desperation of people with advanced stage cancer, crippling orthopedic problems, complications of diabetes, and other debilitating illnesses. Do another web search for any of the above ailments, and there are multitudes of websites offering unbelievable cure rates, miracle surgeries in foreign clinics, and rare non-conventional drug treatments. For some outrageous sums of money, these websites can “guarantee” a cure of whatever malady ails you. In the NIH-NLM video is an example of how misleading information can be found on the internet. Using a fictitious high cholesterol example, the video displays two impressive (but fake) sample websites to demonstrate how charlatans ensnare the unwary. One of these faux websites has the impressive moniker “Institute for a Healthier Heart”, while the other is an equally impressive “Physicians Academy for Better Health”. At first glance these sites appear to be very professional, and include some truthful and readily available information on cholesterol. This apparent “first impression” of credibility can trap the user into falsely believing that the other content is also truthful, when in reality it borders on fraud. The NIH-NLM

video recommends that users click on the “About Us” link to get information on the people or organization running the website, but keep in mind that people who will mislead a user into entrusting them with untold sums of money promising miracles, may also be less than honest about their identities on the “About Us” page. The NLM-NIH video also warns about any advertising displayed on the webpage; is it clearly labeled as an advertisement, a common practice on legitimate websites, or is advertising incorporated into the website content, without attribution that some content is advertising. Likewise, NIH-NLM recommends that users check the “Contact Us” information to see if the contact information is complete and realistic, or is simply a contact to reach a webmaster. While not totally within its purview, I like to check the Better Business Bureau website (bbb.org) for the URL (web address), name, or phone number to attempt to verify the bona fides of the site and those behind it. A web search for references on Google, Yahoo, Bing, or other search engines may not be totally reliable because unscrupulous website operators also often create bogus secondary websites with glowing reports, or plant glowing reviews in online blogs and social media websites. There are also many cases of people who are paid to post positive reviews in the social media to create a “positive buzz” about a particular company, again to trick people into believing that a crooked website is really legitimate. The internet should not be used as a substitute for discussing medical concerns with your healthcare practitioner, so if there are any doubts or concerns, decisions should be made with your healthcare professional, and not solely based on wild claims on a website. While I have often closed these columns with the expression that “Information is Power” it is critical to know that incorrect or misleading medical information can be dangerous ... or even lethal.

Don’t forget about the medical website information on our WINNERS listing:http://www.windowsusers.org/medical-websites.html These suggested sites were recommended by Dr. Sexton who presented to us, and others suggested.

Webpage Font Size too small? - Think about Screen ResolutionPhil Sorrentino, Member, Sarasota PCUG, FLAugust 2012 issue, PC Monitorwww.spcug.orgpcugedit (at) verizon.net Anyone who has taken our basic computer classes knows that the font size can be changed just by selecting the appropriate text and then selecting the desired text size, usually from about 8 points to 72 points. And if you were in one of my classes you know that a point is 1/72nd of an inch. That’s right; a 72 point selection will print text, on a printer, one inch high.

But everything you see on the screen is not as easy to control as the font of the text of a word processing document. There are, typically, no font size selections on a webpage when you’re surfing the web; although you can make some font selections if you are using Internet Explorer. This selection is made by double clicking Tools, then selecting Internet Options. The “fonts” selection is toward the bottom of the window. Here you can select “default” fonts to be used if the webpage does not determine a font. But, practically speaking, you probably will never use these fonts, so don’t rush to change these selections. (Other browsers probably have similar selections.) The size of the font that you see on your monitor is determined by settings that are determined by the webpage, and settings on your display graphics adapter. The webpage settings are determined by the webpage designer; the browser just follows the webpage’s direction. The display graphics adapter settings are adjustable and are located in the “Display” Control Panel.

In Windows 7, a quick way to get to the Display control panel is to right-click on any empty space on the desktop, select “Personalize”, and finally select “Display” (lower left). At this point you can select “Smaller” (the default type size), “Medium”, or “Larger”. Because these settings depend on the Screen Resolution that is set, if you choose Medium or Larger you may be alerted that “Some items may not fit on your screen if you choose this setting while your display is set to this resolution.” So screen resolution is involved in determining the font size and is an important parameter to understand, so that you can make the best choice.

Screen Resolution is generally defined in terms of pixels. A pixel is a picture element. (There is a technical difference between pixels and dots depending on different displays, but for simplicity, for this discussion I am going to use the term dot in the place of pixel.) So Screen Resolution, then, is the number of dots that can be displayed on the screen. It is usually indicated by two numbers, first the horizontal number of dots, followed by the vertical number of dots, for example, 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, or 1920x1080. (Yes, if you multiply the horizontal and vertical numbers, you get the total number of dots displayed on the screen.) These four resolution settings are also called VGA, SVGA, XGA, and HD-1080. (There are a whole host of screen resolutions that can potentially be used, and are summarized at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_resolution. The chart shows the most common display screen resolutions.) The HD-1080 resolution is also the standard used in High Definition Televisions, which is typically referred to as 1080p. So, if you are looking for a display that will show High Definition movies the way they were intended to be shown, make sure your Display Adapter is capable of showing at least 1920x1080.

The Screen Resolution control can be reached easily by right-clicking in any empty space on the desktop, and then selecting “Screen Resolution”. (Or by clicking the start button, followed by selecting “Control Panel”, followed by selecting “Display”, followed by selecting “Adjust resolution” {upper left}.) The current screen resolution is shown as “Screen Resolution:”, in the middle of the Screen Resolution window. The Screen Resolution slider control can be accessed by clicking the downward facing triangle next to the resolution that is currently selected. The Screen Resolution slider controls the resolution of the display and hence the size of text on the screen. The number of selections on this control is determined by your display adapter and your particular monitor. You may have from 2 to many selections. The selections on the slider range from “Low” to “High”. (Click on a different resolution on the bar to see a preview of the changed setting in the “Change the appearance of the display” box, (notice how the box representing the screen changes size and shape), then if you like it, click “Apply”, if you don’t like it try another, or click “Cancel”.) Moving towards

“High” puts more “dots” on the screen; however, this typically makes the size of objects smaller. Decreasing this setting (moving towards Low) usually makes things larger, but you might start to lose the right side of some web pages. (If you can’t easily read the right side of a webpage, you might increase this setting, but things will probably get a little smaller. Try a setting with a few of your favorite web pages and see what setting is the best compromise.)

If you are still wondering what setting to use, click on “What display setting shall I choose?” and you will be treated to a help screen that further discusses screen size and screen resolution with some recommendations for appropriate settings for different display sizes. Note also, that you can easily get to the “Display Font Size” screen (discussed above) by clicking on “Make text and other items smaller or larger”.

If you were wondering why the shape of the screen changes with resolution, it is because the resolutions that are supported by the display adapter cover the older 4x3 aspect ratio and the more current 16x9 (wide angle) aspect ratio. The 4x3 aspect ratio is what we inherited from seventy years of analog TV screens. All TV screens, before HD, were built with this aspect ratio. Aspect ratio is typically described by horizontal x vertical. So a 4x3 TV screen has 3 vertical increments for every 4 horizontal increments. (Academic observation for math majors: this always formed a 3x4x5 triangle. A 25 inch TV had a 25 inch diagonal with a 20 inch horizontal and a 15 inch vertical.) The more current 16x9 wide angle aspect ratio screens provide more viewing in the horizontal. For every 3 vertical increments there are 16/3 or 5 1/3 horizontal increments showing a wider angle view.

Screen Resolution is the key to getting a comfortable view of your favorite web pages. If you need to, try some different settings. If you still aren’t happy, maybe try another Graphics Adapter, if we’re talking about a desktop. If we’re talking about a laptop, you’re probably going to live with those currently provided. It is just about impossible to change the graphics adapter on a laptop.

Where’s the Technology?Greg Skalka, President, Under the Computer Hood User Group, CAJuly 2012 issue, Drive Lightwww.uchug.orgpresident (at) uchug.org

With all the political posturing going on in this election year, we should be used to promises that go unfulfilled. In the technical arena, we hear a lot about potential new advances; though often wait a long time to see the benefits ourselves. Sometimes the prognosticators are wildly optimistic or the development proves too difficult, and we never see (or at least haven’t seen up to this point) the mass application of a great new product or technology (an example is the Segway personal transporter). I’ve bought a number of new computers recently, and have been a little surprised about some of the features currently available. There are a few features that I’ve some of the features currently available. There are a few features that I’ve been hearing about for a few years that still are not available on most new PCs. There are also features that I’ve never heard of that now appear to be standard. All in all, just like the 1980’s Wendy’s commercials that asked “Where’s the beef?” I’m left asking “Where’s the technology?”

The entertainment industry has also made its contributions to our unmet expectations for technology over the years. Remember the late 1960’s television series “Lost in Space”? It was scripted to occur in 1997, yet we are still waiting for interplanetary space travel, talking autonomous robots and other innovations portrayed as commonplace. The movies “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “2010” portrayed many similar technological advances for times we have now passed. We do have the International Space Station, but it is not in the same league as the one in “2001”. We never got the public videophone capability Dr. Heywood Floyd used to call back to Earth from the station in the film, though I guess it was really not much better than what we can do with Skype today. Some might argue it is just as well we don’t yet have computers as sophisticated (especially in interaction with humans) as HAL 9000, though maybe IBM’s Watson is getting close.

The reality of technological advancement in personal computers is that, though computers are not yet as

sophisticated as HAL or Watson, they are pervasive. Only cell phones are more common now as tech tools in our society, and with smart phones the lines between phones and computers are blurring. There are often examples of advanced technology available to a few at great price, such as Watson in computing or the few wealthy individuals that have bought their way into space on a Russian rocket. These don’t really portray the true advancement in technology available to the general public, so I’ve looked to the computers I’ve bought recently as a better representation of technology promised and fulfilled.

In the last two years, I’ve bought two new laptops and two new desktop computers for my wife and myself. These replace XP computers that were up to seven years old, and so represent a big step up in computer technology. The first replacement, and first Windows 7 machine in my house was an Acer Aspire X3950 mini desktop for my wife. Last year I bought myself a Lenovo IdeaCentre K330B desktop, and I bought a 15.6” Fujitsu Lifebook AH531 notebook for my wife. I liked the laptop so much I got a 14” Fujitsu Lifebook LH531 laptop for myself this year. All had Windows 7 and Intel i3 or i5 processors. These were not the fanciest, nor the cheapest computers, but are ones I thought represented the best in value in the $400 to $600 price range. It is interesting to review the features available in these “typical” computers as compared to the latest technology has to offer.

In networking, we have come a long way. Once, everyone connected to the Internet through a phone modem. Now modems are absent from new computers, having been removed years ago. Wired Ethernet capability became the replacement, proceeding quickly from 10/100BASE-TX to Gigabit Ethernet, which is now the standard on all new computers. All four of my new computers include 10/100/1000 wired Ethernet capability, though I don’t take advantage of the increased Gigabit speed, as my router and switches are all still only 10/100 capable. A survey of Fry’s items online showed that for new networking gear, Gigabit has not become the standard that it has for computers and laptops. Most new switches available are 10/100/1000, but only about half the routers are.

The big push in networking improvement is now in wireless networking. Wireless computer users

started out in 1999 with 11 Mbit/s 802.11b, and have proceeded up the alphabet with 802.11g (54 Mbit/s), n (up to 150 Mbit/s) and finally ac (up to 866 Mbit/s). My two new laptops both are b/g/n capable, though once again my present router is limited to 802.11g. Here my home network is again behind the times, as most new routers only go up to n capability. Though Fry’s does sell an 802.11ac router, I was not able to find any of their laptops with that capability. Even the thin Ultrabook laptops, which don’t have a wired Ethernet RJ-45 connector, have yet to add 802.11ac to their features.

It is somewhat surprising to me that there has been such an emphasis on networking speed improvement recently, when for most people the benefits above 10/100 wired and 802.11g wireless are lost. Since few people have network hard drives, their network traffic consists exclusively of an Internet connection, which is often 10 Mbps or less. My Time Warner Cable plan presently gives me a measured 16 Mbps, but even if I bought the 50 Mbps “Ultimate” plan, my present network would not be a limiting factor.

The other typical computer interface is for peripheral devices. This used to consist of a serial port DB-9 connector, but computers lost those years ago. USB2 (Universal Serial Bus, version 2.0, 480 Mbps) became and still is the replacement peripheral interface standard, though now USB3 (5 Gbps) is finally appearing on some accessory devices and computers. USB3 adoption on computers presently appears to be related to price, with USB3 more likely on higher-end computers and laptops. None of my four new computers have USB3 capability, though Fry’s showed it was available (often one port only, along with a couple USB2 ports) on some computers in the $500 to $1000 price range, and appeared to be on most all computers above $1000. It surprised me to learn that of the two versions of Microsoft Surface tablet computer announced, the one based on the ARM processor had a USB2 port, with USB3 only available on the Windows 8, Intel processor version. For some reason (perhaps cost), the adoption of USB3 has not gone as fast as I would have thought.

Another interface I’d thought would become more popular and prevalent is eSATA, but for some reason it has not. It provides an external interface for the 3 or 6 Gbps SATA interface commonly used on hard drives.

Though eSATA interface cards are available to add to computers, I’ve not seen any new machines come with this interface built in. Another very new high-speed serial interface that appears for now to be only available in iMacs is Intel’s Thunderbolt; it promises 20 Gbps.

A surprise in the other direction is the addition of an HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) video output to almost every new computer. It is present on all of my new laptops and desktops. Since HDMI is available on all new HDTVs as an input, it has become for me the default way to hook up a laptop to my TV. When I want to show new photos to my family, the best way is to display them on our HDTV, using an HDMI connected laptop as the source. Since there are more and more devices (like set top boxes, DVD/Blu-ray disc players and HD video camcorders) already competing for the few TV HDMI inputs, I think HDMI switches, which allow multiple devices to use the TV ports, will become popular.

Another new video interface, one I’d never seen before I bought my laptops, is Intel wireless Display, or WiDi. Though both my new laptops have it, I’ve yet to try it, as it requires a compatible TV or monitor, or an adapter. While the concept sounds good, I was not able to locate many adapters, and the one I did find on Fry’s site was around $100. While it looks like Intel has pushed adoption of this interface on the laptops using their processors, having a TV to wirelessly broadcast video to will be the problem for now.

Another wireless interface that now appears to be implemented on almost all new laptops is Bluetooth. Typical uses include interface with Bluetooth mice and keyboards. While Bluetooth is available on both of my new laptops, I so far have no peripheral devices to use with it.

Blu-ray optical drive technology has been available for over five years, but it has not displaced the standard DVD as the most popular optical disc format. I think cost is again the limiting factor in its acceptance, as Bluray capability appears more often in higher-cost computers. At the lower end of the capability spectrum are Blu-ray read-capable drives, which start to become available in mid to high-cost computers. Blu-ray writer drives are presently available only in the upper price tier of computers. None of my new computers

came with any Blu-ray compatibility.

As time goes on, I’d expect costs to come down and allow greater adoption of some of the new features that appear limited to high-end computers, such as USB3 and Blu-ray. Until then, all I can do is pay more, or ask “Where’s the technology?”

Follow These Points Before Calling SupportBy Tom Allen, Publisher / Editor, Mountain Computer User Group, GeorgiaJune 2012 issue, Mountain Bits & Biteswww.mcug.orgbunkerhilltom (at) yahoo.com

Today, it is possible to contact companies in numerous different ways. However, when planning to call or e-mail a computer company, keep the below recommendations in mind. If you are calling for support on a particular product make sure you have all applicable numbers written down. For example, the Serial Number and Model number of the particular device or computer.

If you are calling for support for a computer • product, make sure you’re next to the product in case you need to follow directions. Have a piece of paper and pencil prepared in • case instructions are given or additional contact information is given. If you have Internet access, try finding the answer • to your question online before calling or e-mailing support. Many questions can be found online by using a search engine such as Google.Make sure you have at least 30 minutes of • available time, not only for the wait but the time likely required to troubleshoot the issue.If you believe the product in question is bad • or needs to be replaced, have all purchase information available.If you are planning on purchasing or the support • call is fee-based, have more than one credit card ready to be given over the phone. Finally, once you’ve connected with support make • sure to write down the support representatives’ name in case you need to get back in touch with him or her.

Customizing Labels in Word 2007Nancy DeMarte, Regular Columnist (Office Talk), Sarasota PCUG, FloridaAugust 2012 issue, Sarasota PC Monitorwww.spcug.orgndemarte (at) Verizon.net

Among special projects we users can do with Word is creating labels. The word “label” includes all sorts of things like shipping labels, address labels, business cards, name badges, and fabric transfers. Just look in the office stores at the racks of label paper for the range of projects. I began making our return address labels with Word years ago. They were simple: just our name and address. Since then I’ve learned more about how to customize labels by changing the font attributes and adding a graphic to each label. It isn’t difficult, but does require a few special steps to make it successful. A note: Word offers two methods of creating labels, depending on your purpose. One uses the Mail Merge wizard to produce sheets where each label contains different content, such as mailing labels for a list of people. I do use Mail Merge often, and will discuss that in a future article. This article presents a walk- through of the process I use to customize a full page of identical labels.

The first step is choosing the right package of labels for your project. I always actually purchase the labels before starting, which can be done in an office store or on the web, in order to have the vendor name and label product number handy when I start the project. Let’s say I’m going to create a calling card (Why would a retiree need a business card?) which contains name, address, phone, and email address, plus a graphic. I go to an office store and buy a business card label package from the popular company, Avery, possibly product number 8871. The package tells me that these cards are 2 inches by 3 ½ inches and will print ten on each page, just what I want.

Next I open Word 2007 and click the Mailings tab, then Labels. I click Options, change the vendor to Avery US Letter, and scroll to my product number. Once the number is clicked, its attributes show up on the right side of the window. Since I want to customize these labels, I do not type the text in the Address box at this time. Instead, I click New Document, which opens a document which shows the outline of the cards I’m going to create. I will create my design in

the first (top left) label and copy it to the rest.

I plan to create two text boxes in this first label, one to hold the text and one the graphic. To make sure my text and graphic stay where I put them, I start by opening the drawing canvas. If you remember when Microsoft first introduced the drawing canvas, you probably also remember screaming out loud when it appeared because it took over the page, moving all objects out of position. It’s tamer now, so proceed. The canvas will be a way of grouping the two text boxes together. With the cursor in the first label, I click the Insert tab, then Shapes. I scroll to the bottom and click Drawing Canvas which opens it within the first label. I click and drag the edges of the canvas to fill the label. I click the Insert tab again, then Text box – Draw Text Box. I click inside the drawing canvas, hold down the left mouse button, and drag diagonally to draw a box. This box will hold the graphic, so I size it accordingly. Next, with the cursor inside the text box, I click Insert – Picture (or Clip Art). I find the graphic I want and drag or copy and paste it into the text box. Then I create another text box next to the first one and type my text in this box. Now I change the font, font size and text effects or colors using the commands in the Font group on the Home tab. If needed, I resize or move the text boxes to create my desired layout.

At this point, I realize that I don’t want the two text boxes to have borders around them. To remove these, I select the first text box and click the Text Box Tools (Format) contextual tab - Shape Outline - No Outline. I repeat this process for the second text box, and all the borders are gone. (A contextual tab in Word 2007 or 2010 appears only when the item it relates to is selected. You must select the text box to see its tab.) Here is an example of a calling card with text box borders removed.

Now I need to copy this completed calling card label design to the other cards on the page. Since the drawing canvas has grouped the two text boxes together, I click to select the canvas, not the individual text boxes. I press Ctrl + C on the keyboard to copy the whole card to the clipboard. Now I can paste it into any number of places without having to copy it again. I click in the second cell and press Ctrl + V to paste the card, and so on until all ten cards are filled. When the page is complete, I save it to a folder on my computer for future use. Then I print one page of my

cards on a blank sheet of paper so as not to waste a label sheet. I hold this print up behind a sheet of labels to make sure the design will fit correctly within each cell on the label sheet. Then I check the label package and/or printer manual for instructions for loading labels since printers differ. Just to be safe, I load only one label sheet into the printer for the first printing. If all is well, I continue with more copies.

At first reading, this sounds like a complicated process. But, as with many computer tasks, it’s the attention to detail that makes for success. Give yourself a few tries, and you will be creating customized labels like a pro.

The System Tray IconsJim Cerny, Director, Sarasota PCUG, FloridaSeptember 2012 issue, Sarasota PC Monitorwww.spcug.orgjimcerny123 (at) gmail.com

On all editions of Windows, if you look at the lower right corner of your desktop computer screen -- next to the clock with the time -- you will see some small icons. Have you ever wondered what those icons are and why they are there? Well, this area of the Desktop is called the “System Tray” (or “systray”) and, basically, this area on your taskbar is showing what programs are started when your computer is turned on. Here is a sample shot of my Systray:

Normally you would not change the icons in this area by deleting them or adding new ones. New icons are added here automatically when you install programs on your computer that are intended to be running “in the background” all the time. But there are a few basic things about these little icons that are very helpful to know.

The Clock – The time and date for your computer should be correct, if not you can change the time and date by left-clicking your mouse on the current time and this will open small window in which you can set your clock and date. Normally you will only have to do this once because it will automatically adjust for daylight savings time. Even when your computer is unplugged, turned off, or if your laptop has no battery power left, the clock is probably still running with its own tiny power supply. The clock is essential to all computer functions because everything you do is recorded with the date and time. If you save a new file, for example, the date and time is recorded with the file.

The Volume Control – This little icon looks like a side view of a speaker. If you “hover” your mouse on that icon it will show you the percent volume level. Click on the icon to open the slide volume control. If you have a desktop computer then you probably also have a set of two external speakers (plugged into a wall outlet) that have their own “on/off” switch and their own volume control. But your external speakers can only project the volume given to them from your computer. So, if you have external speakers, adjust the volume control on your computer to maximum and then use the controls on the external speakers. If you have a laptop (and do not have external speakers connected to it) then you click on this icon to change the volume. Many laptops have a small wheel or buttons on the keyboard to also control the volume. Check your laptop’s manual. If you do have a laptop and want to enjoy beautiful sound for music or movies, a set of external speakers is a great idea.

Your Virus Protection – You should have an active virus protection program running on your computer. If you do you will see an icon in this area which represents this program. Naturally your virus protection program should always be running whenever you start your computer. Click on its icon here to open a window to work with your anti-virus

program.

The Laptop Icons – The systray also shows icons about your laptop’s power supply. For example, if my laptop is connected to a wall outlet, I see an icon with a plug symbol. If my laptop is running on battery, I see a battery symbol with a percentage of battery power level remaining.

Wireless Signal Strength Level – Since your laptop connects without wires to the internet in your home (or at McDonald’s or other places) you should have a “bar indicator” icon here that shows the strength of the wireless (Wi-Fi) signal. The more bars the stronger the signal. “Hovering” the mouse on this icon will show you the name of the network you are using. Click on it to see a list of all connections available from which you can select. Naturally you would want to use the connection with the strongest signal, but remember that many wireless networks are secured and require a password to use.

Perhaps there are more icons in this area than can fit into this part of the Taskbar – if so there will be a small triangle “arrowhead” for you to click on to see all the icons. Just hover your mouse over an icon to see a small text box description. If you don’t know what an icon is for, jot down the description and enter that text into Google and find out. You can also Google “systray icons” and get more information.

Remember that the icons you see in your systray will probably be different from the icons that others have on their computers. Perhaps you will not need to know all of them, but if you are a bit curious like me, it could be fun to find out. Just “hover” your mouse on whatever it is and a small label should appear with a short name or description. Then use Google to satisfy your itchy curiosity!

Two government workers were standing around and talking one day. Suddenly one yells dang it! and stomps on a snail. The other asks what gives? The first government worker says “That SOB’s been following me all day!”

ShotwellBy Cal Esneault, President, Cajun Clickers Computer Club, LA and leader of many Open Source Workshops & SIGsJune 2012 issue, Cajun Clickers Computer Newshttp://cccclinuxsig.pbwiki.comwww.clickers.orgccnewsletter (at) cox.net Digital cameras allow us to take as many pictures as we want without the cost of wasted film from bad shots. One result, however, is that we generate lots of image files that can be difficult to organize. Simple photo management software is available to help with organization and also to conduct basic editing of the original photograph. Picasa (from Google) has been a popular cross-platform program for this purpose, but Google recently announced it will not provide future updates for Linux users. DigiKam is the recommended alternative for KDE users. For GNOME users, Shotwell is the popular choice (it is now the default Ubuntu photo manager, replacing F-Spot).

Shotwell can import photos and videos directly from your camera, or you can import images from existing files (it supports JPG, PNG, TIFF, and BMP file types). It will automatically arrange photos by date. In addition, you can add one or more “tags” to the photo for additional grouping. In the screenshot below, you see pictures tagged with “New York.” Some pictures also have additional text specifying specific location. On the task pane on the left-hand side, you can click on “New York” to see all from that state, or click on a particular location to see those just from that locale. Clicking on the date identifiers will display photos from that time period regardless of location. Other common tags to use would be to append text

for a person’s name or for a special event (birthday, vacation, etc.). You can add, delete, or edit the tags at any time.

Shotwell has editing features to let you rotate, crop, and eliminate red-eye defects. It also has a very simple but effective exposure and color balance tool with live histogram response (see below). The “enhance” tool automatically guesses appropriate intensity levels and is a powerful and quick way to rapidly get your photos looking great.

Shotwell has the ability to publish photos and videos to Facebook, Flickr, and Picasa. Currently, Shotwell has very limited capabilities for RAW images. They will be loaded but changed into JPG structure for editing.

As with any album software (either music or photographs), it is best to pick the one you like and stick with that choice. The key point is that the tags and other labels are tracked in an internal database. If you move the files manually, you can break the link to the database file. Shotwell does allow you drag and drop photos within its structure. When importing images into the Shotwell system, the files are copied into a designated file folder, thus keeping your original files. One approach is to use the program to load your “best” images so that you can use it to review them quickly and share with others.

The thrust of Shotwell is to be an image manager. For more complex editing tasks, a bit-map editing program such as The GIMP is recommended for refining the picture before importing into Shotwell. The program is available for Linux via most package mangers. For more information, see yorba.org/shotwell.

Spam and Spyware It Takes Two: Senders and ReceiversBy John Roy, President, The PC Users Group of CTMay 2012 issue, The Programwww.tpcug-ct.orgjohnroy1 (at) comcast.net

As a recipient, everyone must be cautious before opening any email including those from family or friends. Fortunately, most ISPs do a fairly good job of stripping out obvious spam/malware email so it never reaches your inbox. You may even have a second filter to further reduce what arrives in your real mailbox but it is impossible to eliminate all spam/malware. Therefore, the final filter is a manual decision by you not to open a potential Spam/malware email.

Common sense about opening any questionable email has been published numerous times and need not be repeated here. Those of you that heed this generic advice will minimize your chances of becoming infected. The people that can’t resist knowing what lies behind the questionable email will continually be infected. The bottom line is if it doesn’t look right delete it. If you really think your friend sent something important, just respond requesting a follow up without opening the pending email.

Are you or your email address being flagged as the sender of this spam/malware? If you are being accused of sending spam/malware one or more of these things have happened.

Your computer is infected and is sending this •email without your knowledge. A friend of yours with your email address has •a compromised computer that is sending the spam/malware using your email address.One or more of your email address passwords •has been cracked and consequently compromised by a criminal.

Of course there could also be random spoofing of common email addresses. Some other clues that you may notice is getting replies or bounce messages to email you never sent.

So what can be done? When I receive a potential email threat from someone I know I first disable any active hyperlink and respond to the sender letting them know

that spam/malware is being received from their email address. I recommend the person take preventative action by first running several malware tools such as Malwarebytes on their personal computer.

They can also change their ISP password in case that has been compromised. If the spam/malware source is someone else’s computer or just random spoofing there really isn’t much more that can be done but hope it eventually stops.

The Tip Corner – July 2012Bill Sheff, Novice SIG Coordinator, Lehigh Valley Computer Group, PAJuly 2012 issue, The LVCG Journalwww.lvcg.orgnsheff (at) aol.com

Shift+Space Web Browser NavigationHere is a way to make navigating pages in your web browser a little easier. Instead of using the Page Up and Page Down keys, you achieve the same results by pressing your Space Bar to go a page down and pressing Shift+Space to go a page up.

What Is Pinning and how do I do It?Pinning is keeping items within a window in the same place for easy access. Programs, applications, web sites, etc. can all be “Pinned.” For Example: The Windows Start Menu is divided into two sections. The top half of the menu is reserved for pinned items. Since I use Excel and Word almost every day, I keep them pinned, making them accessible at the click of a mouse at any time.

How does one do this? Simply right-click on an icon on your desktop and choose “Pin to Start Menu.” That’s it.

The bottom section of the Start Menu is reserved for frequently used programs or programs that are used on a regular basis. Though this may sound the same as a pinned menu, the items on the list change dynamically based on what I’ve been apt to do lately. So if I’ve been using the calculator a lot, its icon will show up, but if I stop using it for a while and make use of something else, that icon will show up.

What happened to Normal View in Word 2007 and 2010? If you’re using either Word 2007 or 2010 and

preferred working in the Normal view, then you’re probably wondering what happened to it. If you went to the View tab of the Ribbon it is not there. Well, it was not deleted. They just renamed it Draft view. Now all those page separations are gone. Unfortunately when you reopen the file it again opens in the Print Layout view.

So how do we tame Microsoft to open in the Draft view every time? Click on File and choose Options then Advanced on the left. On the right scroll all the way down to the General section. Locate and select the “Allow opening a document in Draft view” option. Click OK. When you open a file that you saved in Draft view it will still be in Draft view.

Should I use Sleep, Hibernate or Shut it down?The answer to this depends on who you talk to. Way back when, you shut your system down to prevent burn-in. Then came screensavers. With screensavers and less burn-in on the LCD screens it is no longer an issue. Before I put in my two cents worth, let’s pin down these terms once more.

When a computer goes into sleep or standby mode, it shuts off its display screen, video card, CPU and hard drive, so processes like anti-virus scans won’t run. It stores the computer’s last state (software opened on the desktop, etc.,) to the RAM, and so requires a small amount of electricity (called a “trickle charge”) to maintain that. Since RAM is transient memory, once the computer shuts down completely the computer’s current state is lost, including any unsaved information. So a word to the wise, SAVE before you leave.

The advantage to sleep mode is that, when you “wake” your computer, it comes back to its current state very quickly - almost instantly. So if you’re only going to be away from it a couple hours, this is quite convenient.

In hibernation mode, the computer writes everything from the computer’s RAM, including its current state, to the hard drive and then shuts down, so it functionally uses no power while in hibernation. Once the computer is brought out of hibernation, it goes straight to the computer’s current state, including all open programs. Although this takes less time than a full shut-down and start-up, it does take longer than

simply waking it up from sleep, although it uses no power when hibernating, as opposed to little when asleep. Again, no programs or scans will run while a computer is hibernating. Power off is, duh! Off. The main reason for shutting your PC down is, of course, power savings. The amount of money that it takes to run a PC depends on how many watts you’re actually using to run your PC (this can be determined by buying a Kill-a-watt or similar device for about $30), and how much you’re being charged by your electric company per kilowatt hour. Most estimates seem to run about ten to twenty dollars per month, running 24 hours per day. There’s also the question of stress on your computer components. Whereas having it on is harder on your components than having it off, the process of shutting down and starting up your PC puts more stress on these components than simply leaving themon.

So what it comes down to is personal preference. In my case, I leave my computer on at night to run virus scans, hard drive scans and defragging. The monitor is pretty much off by itself. If you do leave your computer on overnight, it’s a good idea to do a restartin the morning. This allows your computer to clear any information in the memory cache and in your RAM and allows your computer to run more quickly.

Windows 7 Autoplay SettingsWhen you connect a device or media to your computer (digital cameras, phones, DVDs, CDs, etc.) are you happy with the choices your computer gives you? For example, when you insert an audio CD, you may not want iTunes to load it – maybe you would rather import through Windows Media Player. And with a DVD should it play automatically, just like your regular family room DVD player?

Here is how to make your media do exactly what you expect it to do. Click Start and in the Search Box type, AutoPlay and hit Enter. A window will pop up. Now simply go down the list and use the provided drop-down menus to choose what each media type does when it’s inserted into your computer. When you are done, press Save. That’s all there is to it. If for any reason you want to go back to the default Windows 7 settings, hit the Reset all defaults button at the bottom.

Setting WIN7 Default ApplicationsBy Dick MaybachJune 2012 issue, BUG Bytes, Brookdale Computer Users’ Group, NJwww.bcug.comn2nd (at) charter.net Windows 7 offers a convenience that previous versions had – when you double-click on a file icon in its file manager, an appropriate application program starts and opens the file. However, you may disagree with Windows about what is appropriate. Fortunately, it is easy to make a one-time over-ride of the default or permanently change it to what you prefer.

Windows uses the file’s extension to identify the file type and to select the application to use for it. The extension is the text that follows the last period (.) in the filename. For example, .doc or .docx identifies an MS Word file, and its default application is usually MS Word. Windows 7 is often configured to hide file extensions, but you can change this by navigating to Control Panel Appearance and Personalization Folder Options, selecting the View tab, and removing the check from the item Hide extensions for know file types, as shown in the screen shot below.

I prefer this because I can look at a list of files and immediately see which are, for example, text, music, or spreadsheets.

While using Windows Explorer, double-clicking on a filename will start an application and open the file with it. If you want to open it with a different application, right-click on the filename, then click on Open with. The screen-shot below shows the result, which is a list of the applications that can open the file (a JPEG image in this case). To change the application that starts when you double-click a file with this extension, click on Choose default program …, and select a new default for all files with the same extension (.jpg in this case).

The above approach is tedious if you, for example, wanted to change the default application for all image files, not just JPEG ones. In this case, you would probably prefer the following. Use the sequence Start Control Panel Programs Set your default programs. You will see a list of all the programs that have been as defaults. Select one and click on Choose defaults for this program. The screen below shows the result for Windows Photo Viewer, which is a list of all the file types that this application can open. Note that the only image type isn’t currently assigned to is GIF image. You could change this by selecting GIF and

clicking on the Save button.

This approach doesn’t always work – the list of default programs is incomplete, and applications that are not already defaults won’t appear. A more robust, but more tedious, approach is to go back one window and select Associate a file type or protocol with a program instead of Set your default programs. (Before taking the screen-shot, I had clicked on the heading Current Default, which sorts the display by default application, Windows Photo Viewer in this case).

To change a default, just select the program type, click the Change program … button, and select the application. Since many different image file types

appear together, it is must easier if you want to change them all. You would probably scan the entire list in case some image files were assigned a different default, and of course, you have no assurance that the application you select can actually open the file.

While we are discussing defaults, you can also select what happens when you insert a disc in your DVD drive. Use the sequence Start Control Panel Programs Change AutoPlay settings. The screen-shot below show the result of selecting the Choose a default button in the Audio CD line.

My PC is set up to take no action, but I could pick any action on the list.

By setting the defaults you can adapt your Windows 7 computer to your own preferences and make it easier and faster to use. A dying granny was talking to her granddaughter. “I may die any minute so I want you to inherit my farm including the villa, tractor, the farmhouse and all the livestock and $22,389,630.00 cash”.“WoW!!” said the granddaughter ‘Thanks granny, I didn’t know you even had a farm & all this wealth! Where is it??” Granny says with her last dying breath.....”It’s on my Facebook.”

Behind the Scenes with LegacyBy Bill Ellis, member of the Computer Users of Erie, PAwww.cuerie.comcuerie1 (at) verizon.net

Have you ever wondered what the Legacy Family Tree program was doing for you as you keyed in your family data. I never did, until one day, as I sat staring at my family file in the family view screen and I noticed there was some data showing up that I hadn’t entered or that some of the information that I had entered was in a place other then where I had put it. This got me to wondering what the Legacy program was doing behind to scenes and why. Let me run a few of these behind the scenes operations by you and see if they ring a bell. First off, I would key in my family data, much like a robot, and not give any thought to what was really happening to that information. I put the name here, and the date and place of birth goes on this line. Marriage info goes in this section. And let’s not forget about that whole brood of kids. We’ll key them into the spaces below the parent’s name. We are entering this information routinely from documents that we gathered and we are more concerned with being accurate, than to be concerned about anything else. While we are doing our thing, the Legacy program is doing its thing in the background. First of all, when we name our family file and tell Legacy to save it, Legacy turns the file into a database file. It doesn’t look like a database file that we are familiar with, as we view our family file in a pedigree or family view, but that’s what it is. As we know, a database file keeps everything in order and labeled correctly. The database file created by Legacy will end with an .fdb extension. (Family database?) As we continue to add people to our family file, Legacy creates another file as a companion to the database file. This companion file will have a .TC extension. (Table on contents?). This file holds the names of all the people that are entered into the Legacy program and we can view these names by going to the name list within Legacy. As we add more names to our family file, this name list file will continue to grow and be updated automatically. When we’re done working with our family and shut the Legacy program down, we are asked if you want to make a backup copy of the family file. That is, of course, if you haven’t changed the defaults setting for closing down Legacy. When we select yes to make

a backup, Legacy creates another file. This third file will have the same name as the other two files, but with a .ZIP extension. A ZIP file is a compacted file. Its size is smaller than the original file and easier to store or transport. These are the basic files that are created, behind the scenes, as we work with Legacy. As we work with Legacy’s other features, Legacy will continue to created additional files to keep how we work simple and easy to understand and recreate.

To see more of Legacy’s behind the scenes work, let’s take a look at our family file using the family view screen. Hopefully, you’ll be looking at your own family file or a close relative’s file with parents listed above and children listed below. In other words, I’d like you to have a full screen of people as we navigate through this window. Let’s look at the male on the left side. In Legacy, males are on the left and females on the right. Above the males name is the label “Husb”. Looking at the female, you’ll see “Wife” above her name. By default, Legacy labels all married couples as husband and wife. If they are not married, or if you only a female on the right and no male on the left or vise versa, they are labeled “Male” and “Female”, instead of husband and wife since there is no spouse. Above the man and woman you’ll see the parents for each. For each parent that is deceased, you will see their birth and death year. If the person is still living, you will only see their birth year. You will also see a plus sign at the end of their entries. This indicates that they have descendants. I know you’re going to say this is rather obvious, since a child is listed below. That sign also indicates that there are more descendants than the one you are seeing. Legacy puts this information there, so your family file is easy to read, understand and easy to navigate. Below this man and woman will be the section for their marriage information such as date and place if they were married. This section will also indicate the status of their union such as, married, unmarried, divorced, separated and so on. In the children’s section you’ll see the birth year for each child. If a child is deceased, you’ll also see the death year. You will also see some strange symbols. These symbols indicate different events about the child. They indicate whether a child has children, whether a child is married and doesn’t have children, whether a child never married and never had children, etc. These are just some of Legacy’s behind the scenes operations. You’ve entered all the information, but Legacy will lump it together to

make the family file easier to read and understood.

Looking at the very bottom of the family view screen, you’ll see the time of day in the middle. Legacy gets this from your computer’s internal clock. This is also an alarm clock. If you’re like me and work on your family history until the wee hours, an alarms clock really comes in handy. Place your cursor on the time of day and left click. This will open a window so you can set the alarm. You can also type in a reminder message, so you know what you’re supposed to do when the alarm goes off.

To the right of the time of day are four windows. The information in these windows is also created by Legacy behind the scenes. In the first three windows are numbers with an H, M, or W. prefix. These are (RIN) record identification numbers and an H, W or M prefix stands for Husband (Male), Wife (Female) and Marriage respectively. As each individual and/or marriage is entered into your family tree the record identification number is increased by one. For example, if you were the first male to be entered in your family file, your RIN would be H1 and if you are married, your marriage will be assigned the married record identification number of MRIN1. To some people, the H and W prefix for man and woman are considered a flaw in the program. I call it a quirk and no big deal. No matter what, I’m glad that Legacy keeps track of my individuals and their marriages chronologically, because I don’t have to remember to do it. I file all of my documents for each individual or marriage by their RIN. I label the documents with the RIN, put them in acid free, clear sheet protectors and file them in several three ring binders. Previously, I had filed all of my documents in a file cabinet, using the same RIN filing system. It didn’t take me long to figure out is it much easier to lug binders with me on my genealogical research excursions then a file cabinet. Needless to say, I’ve abandoned my first filing system.

The date at the far right is the last date that this couples and/or individual’s records were modified. If you modified the record today, it will show today’s date. Otherwise you’ll see a previous date. Maybe you will to.

All of these appearances are being done, behind the scenes, by the Legacy program. It has been setup this

way by default. You have the power to change any or all of these behind the scenes operations by going to the custom menu under options. Most will be found under the view tab. I have found the default settings to be AOK for my use and have left them that way. Maybe you will to.

I hope you enjoy what Legacy does for you, behind the scenes. Creating a family history is a daunting task and it’s great to have a little help on our side.

Microsoft Officially Releases Internet Explorer 11by Ira Wilsker WEBSITES:http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/internet-explorer/download-iehttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/dn269977.aspxhttp://www.7tutorials.com/browser-wars-does-internet-explorer-11-deliver-browsing-performancehttp://www.pcworld.com/article/2061156/best-parts-of-internet-explorer-11-for-windows-7-are-for-windows-8-users.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic_%28web_browser%29 Microsoft finally released the stable version of Internet Explorer 11. Actually, there were two public releases of Internet Explorer 11; there was an official release of the Windows 8.1 version on October 17, and a release for Windows 7 on November 7. Microsoft has made it clear that the newly minted Internet Explorer is for Windows 7 and 8 only, and will not run on older versions of Windows including Vista and XP. In the earliest days of what we now call the “world wide web” or “WWW”, there was no Internet Explorer. While there was a slightly earlier Windows browser called Cello, which never gained any significant popularity, and an early Unix version of Mosaic that had a small following, the first successful Windows web browser was Mosaic, which was developed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in late 1992. The Windows version of Mosaic was officially released to the public in early 1993, and was discontinued in 1997. Several of the creators of Mosaic, along with several of their students and staff, left NCSA and started a new company, Mosaic Communications Corporation. Mosaic Communications eventually morphed into Netscape Communications Corporation, which

released an improved version of the Mosaic browser, widely marketed as Netscape. Another company, Spyglass, licensed the Mosaic technology and trademarks from NCSA, and produced their own browser with their own original code. In 1995, after seeing the potential for the explosive growth of the internet, Microsoft entered the fray by licensing the Spyglass version of Mosaic for a paltry $2 million (later increased by another $8 million), and started giving away the “new” Microsoft Internet Explorer to compete with the commercially available (paid) Netscape web browser. All versions of Internet Explorer through Internet Explorer 6 displayed the statement, “Based on NCSA Mosaic” whenever a user clicked on the “About” button on the menu bar. Starting with Internet Explorer 7, there was no Mosaic code used in Microsoft’s browser.

As the popularity of the internet grew dramatically, Netscape earned a 90% share of the world browser market. Microsoft wanted Internet Explorer to be the dominant web browser, so Microsoft gave it away, and built in at the system level of all subsequent versions of Windows; as Netscape was a paid commercial program, it quickly lost market share to Internet Explorer, eventually dropping to only a 1% market share in 2006 (Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape). In 1999, Netscape was purchased by AOL, but not before releasing the source code for the browser, and created the Mozilla Organization. This code was revised and rewritten, and eventually became the very popular Firefox browser. AOL continued to develop its final version of Netscape Navigator 9 until 2007, effectively discontinuing it in 2008. Netscape only survives today as an AOL owned, discount internet service provider (ISP).

Today, while all versions of Internet Explorer maintains the majority of the browser market, with an estimated 55% market share (Source: http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/03/01/internet-explorer-continues-growth-past-55-market-share-thanks-to-ie9-and-ie10-as-chrome-hits-17-month-low/) Mozilla Firefox is a distant second with 20%, Google’s Chrome browser third at 16%, Apple’s Safari at 5%, Opera at 2%, with the small remaining market share belonging to several less known browsers. Among Internet Explorer (IE) users, the older IE 8 and IE 9 combined make up about 45% of the browsers in use, with the newer IE10, and the older IE 7 each having about a 2% market share; the older and somewhat insecure Internet Explorer 6 that Microsoft has been warning users to upgrade from, has more than a 6% share of the entire browser market. Now that Internet Explorer 11 has been officially released, it appears that Microsoft once again not only intends to maintain its market share, but also apparently wants to take market share from its major competitors. According to Microsoft (technet.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/dn269977.aspx), IE11 offers several changes and improvements not only over earlier versions of Internet Explorer, but also over its major competitors. Among these improvements are: faster and more efficient web browsing, even over slow connections; fast and fluid navigation with smart web page caching, prefetch and prerender, and faster search results; fast 2D and 3D displays with support for the newly emerging Web Graphics Library (WebGL) standards, with improved gaming and interactive performance along with hardware accelerated DirectX 9 (and later). According to Microsoft, “ (users) ... will see a 9 percent performance improvement versus IE10, which is about 30 percent faster than competing browsers.” This performance improvement has been corroborated on several other websites which tested the performance of IE11 against its leading competitors. In one such comprehensive test which disputed the IE11 supremacy, “Browser Wars: What Performance Does Internet Explorer 11 Deliver?”, dated October 24, 2013, (www.7tutorials.com/browser-wars-does-internet-explorer-11-deliver-browsing-performance), that even though IE11 has substantially improved in terms of performance, Google’s Chrome browser was overall faster than IE11. The display on IE 11 has been improved to look better on any size screen, and includes side-by-side browsing, multi-monitor support, and enhanced

pixel scaling for large screens. Many users of IE11 will immediately notice the enhanced compatibility with evolving web standards, other browsers, and popular websites; even older websites utilizing older obsolescent web standards display correctly on IE11. Now that touch screen devices are becoming very common, IE11 supports touch based devices, touch drag and drop, and other touch enhancements. IE11 allows up to 100 open tabs per window. Users of Windows 8 can pin websites to Live Tiles, which creates a seamless interface between apps (applications) and web apps. Now that VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) applications and devices are being widely used to make telephone calls over the internet, IE11 offers “Click to call” which makes phone numbers into clickable links for apps such as Skype; clicking on a browser link connects the voice call. As IE11 is being released for multiple devices, IE11 can automatically sync with other devices, such that when IE11 is opened on other synched computers or devices, the user will see the same tabs, browsing history, typed URLs (web addresses), favorites and bookmarks, user configured settings, and passwords. I downloaded and installed IE11 for my primary Windows 7-64 directly from Microsoft (windows.microsoft.com/en-US/internet-explorer/download-ie). On the download page the user is presented with a checkbox that is checked by default which says, “I would also like Bing and MSN defaults”. Since I prefer to set my own defaults for search engines and other items, I chose to uncheck the box. The initial IE11 installer downloaded quickly, but had a minor issue on my computer, which will likely happen on many other computers; the IE11 installer did not like many of the utilities and applications currently running on my computer, and offered to stop them prior to continuing the installation, or I could manually exit them, and then continue installing IE11. The remainder of the install went smoothly, with the IE11 installer performing two system reboots, one of which displayed a boot progress screen similar to a monthly Windows update. After the second automatic reboot, all of my programs that the installer stopped prior to the install were back and functioning properly. For the past few days, I have been using IE11 exclusively in order to better get a handle on it and its performance. I can definitively say anecdotally that it does seem to be faster than the IE10 that I had used previously, and it definitely has improved the displays

of some web pages that I visit. All of my third-party add-ons, mostly security enhancements, were accepted without issue by IE11 and load and function well. My only issue with IE11 that I will find an add-on to resolve, is the appearance of the tabs at the top of the page which show the loaded websites. On IE11, unlike my primary browser, Firefox, or my secondary browser, Chrome, the tab for the currently viewed webpage is not adequately colored or highlighted enough to make it quickly identifiable among the other tabs. There is likely a quick fix for this, but I have not yet searched for it. Since many of the websites that I regularly access are Java based, I was interested in IE11’s performance on those sites; utilizing IE11’s integral Chakra JavaScript engine, those Java based pages loaded very quickly and look fine. One feature that I unexpectedly found, which I really appreciated, was that if a webpage displayed under a tab crashes, only that tab is effected; the other tabs remain functional. I also found that there is an option in IE11 to enable “Start” with the tabs that were open when the prior session was closed, meaning that I can start where I left off in a previous browsing session. Another cute feature in IE11 is “Tab Grouping” where tabs are grouped by color. Tab grouping takes place when a link is opened from another tab; both tabs, and subsequent links from those tabs, will be the same tab color. Ungrouped tabs will always be light blue. I found Internet Explorer 11 to be fast, reliable, feature rich, and highly compatible. Users of Windows 7 and 8 should strongly consider upgrading to Internet Explorer 11. Users of older versions of Windows, such as XP and Vista, can continue to use earlier versions of Internet Explorer, but should be aware that older versions still widely used, particularly Internet Explorer 6, are very vulnerable to attacks by hackers. If users of Vista and XP would like to continue to use older versions on Internet Explorer, rather than the more capable and secure updated competitors such as Firefox or Opera, they should go to microsoft.com/ie to download and install the latest version of Internet Explorer supported by their operating system. Users of Windows 7 and 8 can get Internet Explorer 11 from the same link at microsoft.com/ie which will automatically direct the user to the proper page. While I did not use Internet Explorer 10 very much in the past, preferring my newer versions of Firefox and Chrome, Internet Explorer 11 has proven itself to be worthy of consideration, and a very worthy competitor.

Get creative with Text BoxesNancy DeMarte, Regular Columnist (Office Talk), Sarasota PCUG, FloridaSeptember 2012 issue, Sarasota PC Monitorwww.spcug.orgndemarte (at) Verizon.net

When you use Microsoft Office, you create and edit text all the time. Word, of course, is dominated by text; Excel and PowerPoint both use text in many of their functions. All recent versions of Office also include a tool called a “text box” for special uses of text. Let’s find out what it is and how to use it.

A text box is a specialized shape in which you can enter text. It functions outside the regular margin constraints of a document and can be moved or resized as needed. A text box is useful for adding a caption to a photo or annotating a diagram or chart. If you want to emphasize an important statement in a document, you can use a text box to repeat the statement in a “pull quote” and locate it in an unexpected spot, such as along a margin (known as a Sidebar) or across columns in the document. Its flexibility makes a text box useful in many situations.

Text boxes have most of the same properties as shapes. In Word 2007 and 2010, when you click the Insert tab, then Text Box, you open the Text Box gallery of 36 preformatted text boxes, as well as the “Draw text box” option. If one of the preset boxes meets your needs, click to insert it into the document. Older versions of Word lack this gallery, but you can still draw a text box, which is most often my choice. Click “Draw text box” at the bottom of the gallery. Then click anywhere in your document where you want the text box to appear and drag diagonally down the page to the right to create the text box. At first the box covers a portion of the normal text. This is because the default text wrapping setting is “in front of text.” If you don’t want the text box to hide the document text, select the text box so “handles” appear around the box. At this point, the Text Box Tools Format tab appears on the ribbon. Click Format, and then Text Wrapping in the Arrange group. Change the setting to Tight, which will position the text box within the existing text and also allow you to move the text box. Do this by clicking an edge so a crossed arrows icon appears and dragging it to a new location. You can also resize the box by dragging an edge or corner. To enter text in

the box, replace the informational text with your own.

Once a text box is created and located in the document, it can be formatted in many ways. To format the text, select it, and a small version of the Font group on the Home tab will appear. Use these tools to change the font style, size, color, and other attributes. (You can also click the Home tab and use the full set of options in the Font group.) To format the text box itself, select it and use the tools on the Text Box Tools Format tab. For example, you can fill the box with a color, remove or change the border styles, make the text read vertically, or add special 3-D effects.

In Office 2007 and 2010, text boxes are not limited to a rectangular shape. You can add text to any of the items in the shapes gallery. Click Insert – Shapes and click a shape. Click in your document and draw the shape in the same way you drew the text box. Change the text wrapping to Tight as you did above, then right click inside the shape and choose “Add Text.” The large number of shape choices gives you many options for text boxes. Another approach is to begin with a classic text box, even after it is filled with text. Select it, which opens the Text Box Tools Format tab. Click Format and select “Change shape,” which opens the shapes gallery. Click a new shape, and the text box transforms into that shape with all its contents intact. Another interesting possibility is inserting a photo or piece of clip art into a text box. With the text box or shape selected, click the Insert tab – Picture. Click the photo you want, then Insert. The photo appears in the text box, resized to fit. The same steps work to insert clip art, charts or tables within text boxes.

Text boxes can be rotated for a dramatic effect. In Office 2010, select the text box, and click and drag the little green rotator circle above the box to rotate it left or right. In Word 2007, for an unknown reason, classic text boxes cannot be rotated, even though shapes can. One way to work around this problem is to create a text box, cut it using the Cut command on the Home tab, and then paste it as a “Picture (Windows Metafile)” using the Paste Special command option under the Paste icon.

Occasionally, you might create a text box in Word that you’d like to reuse at a later time. You can save it by selecting the text inside the box and then clicking

Insert and the arrow under the Text Box icon. Choose “Save Selection to Text Box Gallery.”

Besides Word, text boxes appear in Excel and PowerPoint 2007/10. Neither program contains a text box gallery, but each has the “Draw a Text Box” tool, which gives you all the functions that Word does, including rotation. You can also start with a shape and include text by right clicking and using the “Edit Text” command.

Have a little fun. Create a few text boxes in your next document, spreadsheet or presentation.

A Minister decided that a visual demonstration would add emphasis to his Sunday sermon. Four worms were placed into four separate jars. The first worm was put into a container of alcohol. The second worm was put into a container of cigarette smoke. The third worm was put into a container of chocolate syrup. The fourth worm was put into a container of good, clean soil. At the conclusion of the sermon, the Minister reported the following results:

The first worm in alcohol ... Dead . The second worm in cigarette smoke ... Dead. The third worm in chocolate syrup ... Dead. The fourth worm in good, clean soil ... Alive . So the Minister asked the congregation, “What did you learn from this demonstration?”

Maxine was sitting in the back and quickly raised her hand and said,

“As long as you drink, smoke, and eat chocolate, you won’t have worms!”

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