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5 Star
Support Monthly Newsletter
November 2001 Issue
Inside this issue:
1) Notes from the editor
2) Outlook Express – A Deeper Look into the Popular E-Mail
Client
3) Windows XP Released
4) Helpful Web Sites
5) Windows 95/98 Tips and Tricks
6) State targets Oregon man in first anti-spam lawsuit
7) Questions and Answers
8) Contact Information
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[1] Notes from the editor:
Welcome to all new 5 Star Support subscribers and welcome back to all of you
5 Star Supporters!
I would like to welcome all of the new volunteer techs. They are listed in
the order that they applied.
1) Dale
2) Fred
3) Joseph Thomas
4) John Schultz
5) Abbas
6) Steven Duncan
...4 others elected to remain anonymous.
Welcome to all of you! Thank you for devoting some of your time and talents!
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[2] Outlook Express – A Deeper Look into the Popular
E-Mail Client:
by: Brandon Ng
5 Star Support Level 2 Technician
Outlook Express still stands today as one of the more popular e-mail clients
used by millions of people every day. It’s easy interface and advanced
features make it an excellent program to use in checking and sending e-mail.
Outlook Express is a toned down version of Outlook, a more advanced e-mail
client that comes with Microsoft Office. If you are looking to just send and
receive your e-mail, then Outlook Express is probably your best bet.
The first thing you must do to send and receive e-mail in OE is to set up an
account. You can do so by going to Tools > Accounts in the menu bar. Then
choose Add and then Mail. The wizard will guide you through setting up an
account. The two most important things you will need to know are your POP
server and SMTP server. The majority of e-mail services offer POP accounts
(in fact, Hotmail makes it even simpler to setup an account in OE. Just go
to Tools > New Account Signup > Hotmail.) If you already have a
Hotmail account, you can find information on how to set it up at the
following site: http://help.msn.com/EN_US/data/hotmailv3_3.its51/$content$/CREATEOE.HTM?
Yahoo also offers POP access. In order to access your Yahoo mail from OE,
you need to enter the POP server as “pop.mail.yahoo.com” and the SMTP
server as “smtp.mail.yahoo.com.” You will have to check the help section
of your e-mail service to see if they offer POP access. A note to AOL users:
you cannot check your e-mail using Outlook Express because AOL uses a unique
e-mail system that does not allow this. However, there is a piece of
software called EnetBot that will allow you to use your screen name and
force OE to work with AOL. You can download a 30-day trial at
www.enetbot.com. The program cost $20 to register.
Once you have set up an account, all you have to do in order to check your
e-mail is to click Send/Receive on the OE toolbar. You can store e-mail
addresses by clicking on the Address Book. Another great feature about OE is
the Inbox Wizard, which allows you to filter your incoming mail into
separate folders. Go to Tools>Message Rules>Mail in order to set up
filters. Outlook Express also offers stationary for your e-mail which you
can add by going to New Mail and choosing the stationary. However, many
users will not be able to see the stationary except as an attachment, such
as AOL users. A number of other advanced features such as flagging important
messages and “watching” messages in your inbox are also included. One of
the best and most important features of OE is being able to check multiple
accounts all at the same time. With this feature, if you have an account at
Hotmail and Yahoo you can receive all your messages from BOTH accounts in
your inbox.
Outlook Express is available with the IE download at www.microsoft.com/ie/
It is definitely the best choice for fast and easy access to your e-mail.
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[3] Windows XP Relesed:
Microsoft Corp. officially launched the latest version of its flagship
product Windows Thursday, kicking off a $250 million marketing campaign for
what it calls its hottest product to date.
The widely anticipated operating system, Windows XP, which has been
pre-installed on new personal computers for many weeks now, is available as
a separate product in shops as of Thursday. It sells for $199 for the
complete version and $99 for the upgrade.
True to style, Microsoft used its $36.2 billion cash pile to throw launch
parties around the globe for thousands of customers and business partners.
Microsoft's festivities are an attempt to rekindle memories of the
high-profile Windows 95 launch, when customers lined up in front of shops at
midnight, boosting Microsoft's top line.
The software release is much more than a simple operating system to run a
computer. Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, decided to bundle
an unprecedented number of applications, such as a Web browser, an e-mail
program, an instant messenger and a digital photo editor.
"Windows XP is the first release in 10 years where we have been able to
bring all our innovations together," Microsoft President and CEO Steve
Ballmer told journalists at an Italian preview Wednesday.
The new version does away with the decades-old DOS fundamentals on which its
predecessors were built, sharing instead the basic source code with Windows
2000, which is used predominantly by corporations.
Computer manufacturers hope Windows XP will give the ailing PC industry a
much needed shot in the arm.
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[5] Windows 95/98 Tips and Tricks:
<>Creating new file types:
If you have a lot of work documents that you would like to be able to stand
out, you can create a different file extension rather than the normal .DOC
file format.
Here's how it's done:
1) Go to Start/Settings/Folder Options.
2) Select the File Types tab
3) Click New Type and the "Add New File Type" box will
appear.
4) Fill out the description however you want
5) In the "Associated extension" box, type Work (or whatever you
want). Do not use spaces or periods in the name.
6) Click the New Button and the "New Action" box appears.
7) In the Action box, type "Open"
8) Click the Browse button to find the application you want to use to open
your files (Word, in this case).
9) Click Open, and then click OK.
Now you can select some additional options such as "Enable Quick
View" (if supported), "Always Show Extension," and more. You
can also choose to change the Icon. OK, all done. Now your new file type
will appear in the Folder Options Box.
<================>
<>Delete fonts from your computer:
Go to Start> Settings> Control Panel> Double-click on the Fonts
Icon. Highlight the fonts you want to delete then navigate up to File and
choose Delete.
Note: You can highlight specific fonts by holding down the CTRL key while
clicking on the font file. Or you can select a range of font files by
holding down the SHIFT key while clicking on the font files. Or, you can
select all of the files with one fell swoop by going up to Edit (in the top
navigation bar), and choose "Select all".
<=================>
<>Add programs to Send To:
To add programs to your Send To feature, open Windows Explorer and go to
Windows> Send To. Click on the "Send To" folder to open its
contents in the right pane. Drag and drop any program into this folder that
you would like. For an example of its usefulness:
If you have a file that you would like to send to your text editor
(Notepad), instead of opening up Notepad and selecting "Open" and
finding the file of choice...why not put Notepad in "Send To" so
that all you have to do is right-click the file, select "Send To"
and choose Notepad.
<==================>
<>Computer Information:
To find out information on system memory, hardware, DLL's installed...and
more. Go to Start> Find> Files or Folders...Ensure that your C: drive
is listed in the "Look in" text box then type in: MSInfo32.exe
press enter, then double click the file.
<=================>
<>Remove items from the Start Menu:
As always, before making any changes to you system via any system altering
utility, be sure to back up the registry.
Open regedit (start>run>type in: regedit) to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Policies
\Explorer. Click once on Explorer to place it's contents in the right pane.
Right-click the right pane and select New, Binary Value:
To remove Documents, name the binary value: NoRecentDocsMenu
To remove Favorites, name the binary value: NoFavoritesMenu
To remove Find, name the binary value: NoFind
To remove Log Off, name the binary value: NoLogOff
To remove Run, name the binary value: NoRun
To disable Shut Down, name the binary value: NoClose
To disable Control Panel and Printer folders, name the binary value:
NoSetFolders
To disable Taskbar context menu, name the binary value: NoTrayContextMenu
Double-click the new entry, select modify and add this value: 1
To reverse the action, change the value to: 0
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[6] State targets Oregon man in first anti-spam
lawsuit
by Peter Lewis
Seattle Times staff reporter
Washington authorities today targeted a 24-year-old Salem, Ore., man in the
first action brought by the state attorney general under the state's anti-spam
statute.
Under a special remedy available only to the attorney general, the complaint
seeks $2,000 for each piece of unsolicited commercial e-mail sent to
Washington residents in violation of the 4-month-old law.
The law bans unsolicited commercial e-mail, popularly known as spam, that
has misleading information in the subject line, disguises the path it took
across the Internet, or contains an invalid reply address.
In the suit filed in King County Superior Court, Assistant State Attorney
General Paula Selis alleges that Jason Heckel, doing business as Natural
Instincts, committed all three acts when he sent spam to Washington
residents.
Heckel, who used the e-mail to sell a "How to Profit From the Internet
Package," said he plans to consult an attorney.
"I'm only 24 years old. I have no idea what kind of legal issues are
here," he said. "I was barely making a living at this, conducting
business, selling my book on the Internet by e-mail. They (the Washington
state attorney general) bent me over. . . . They entrapped me."
Washington's law is generally regarded as the first effective legal stick in
the country to beat back spam. Some private parties have sought redress
under it since it took effect, but today's filing marks the first time the
state has acted. If it goes to trial, the lawsuit could be
precedent-setting, Selis said.
By some estimates, spam accounts for 10 percent of the total volume of
e-mail passing across the Internet daily, and costs tens of millions of
dollars to control annually.
Put another way, the costs of spam-fighting hardware and other equipment are
said to eat up between $2 and $3 of the $20 monthly fee most users pay to
the companies that provide their Internet connection.
Selis declined to discuss the criteria her office used to decide whom to go
after under the law. But she said the state has received 17 complaints from
citizens who said they had received spam from Heckel, and that she believed
the number represents the "tip of the iceberg."
The lawsuit alleges Heckel sends between "100,000 and 1 million"
unsolicited commercial e-mail messages per week. It also alleges that each
month, he sells 30 to 50 of his "How To Profit From The Internet"
packages for $39.95.
Selis said that, unlike other spammers, Heckel declined to change his ways
after being apprised of Washington's law.
Heckel defended spamming, though he prefers the term "sending
unsolicited commercial e-mail."
"That's the term people should use," he said. "I don't think
there's anything wrong with that. Nothing whatsoever."
"This is a kid that has been on the verge of bankruptcy," Heckel's
mother said. "So what he earned at this kept his head above water. It
let him make his car payments."
The complaint alleges that Heckel uses a software program called Extractor
Pro that mines e-mail addresses from various Internet sources and, at the
user's command, automatically sends messages to those addresses. The
complaint also alleges that: "Despite the fact that (Heckel's)
electronic-mail accounts are either immediately canceled by his Internet
service provider or quickly lose their capacity to receive replies, (he)
continues to send out unsolicited commercial mail.
"Once an electronic-mail account is canceled, (Heckel) simply opens
another account and sends out another bulk mailing."
Julie Berry of Auburn, a recipient of Heckel's spam, said she thinks it's
great the state is going after him.
She is annoyed by spam because it "takes forever to download your
mail," because subject lines such as Heckel's " `Do I have the
right e-mail address?' " fool recipients into wondering if it's
legitimate, and because "I'm paying for this (Internet) service, and
they're trying to deceive me into opening up their mail."
She said she has noticed a drop in the volume of spam she has received since
the state law went into effect.
In addition to civil penalties of $2,000 for each violation, the complaint
seeks attorney's fees and a permanent injunction barring Heckel from
continuing to engage in the alleged violations.
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[7] Questions and Answers:
Generated from 5 Star Support
<>Question:
Outlook Express "Sent Folders"
When folders are created in the 'Sent Items' the headings given are: 'From'
,'Subject' and 'Received'.as this is a one user pc, the name of sender is no
use, and 'Received' is meaningless, how do I get headings of say 'To',
'Subject' and 'Sent'?
<>Answer:
When creating additional folders(highlight the function :ie Sent, Received
etc, click File, select New, select Folder, enter Folder name, click OK.) To
set up headings, highlight the folder, Right click the heading, select
Columns, Tick check boxes required, Width by pixel can also be specified,
click OK.
<>Question:
In Netscape Composer, my website looks fine as it does when you browse to it
on the internet, but if you try to print it, it prints all down one side of
the page If you open it in a print preview, it does this also. I want to
know how I can change this so that it will print properly if people want to
print my webpage. The website is http://www.users.qwest.net/umc/youth.htm
<>Answer:
Without viewing your webpage I can almost diagnose the problem right now.
When you created your webpage it has too many width pixels, meaning it
cannot fit on a piece of paper. You can change this by redesigning your site
if you think it is that important. Me being a webmaster as well, not a lot
of users will print out a webpage, but if it is a big concern, you can make
sure as you are developing the frames, that it remains 8 x 11 inch. I wish
you my best on your webpage, and it is a good site overall. Best of luck.
<>Question:
CD-ROM doesn't "spin up", will not read any type of CD, when you
try and run a CD it says "Please insert disk into drive D:". I
have tried everything from updating the drivers, to opening the case and
reinstalling the physical CD-ROM drive. The computer has done this before
with the original drive, and we had to have a CD-ROM drive so we bought a
new one and installed it and it worked fine until now.
<>Answer:
Try disconnecting the data cable from the CD-Rom and just leave the power
cable, If it spins up then look at the cable, Is it in correctly? If it
doesn't spin up when nothing but the power is connected try plugging
something else into the power plug, does it work? if not check the power
supply. Check that the ID your CD is set to isn't the same as the controller
or hard drive, Change it to make sure. Try it on another computer if you
can.
<>Question:
The floppy disk drive appears to be locked, there is no disk in it and I
can't get one in. The flap that is there is being held closed by the
computer.
<>Answer:
On some floppy drives, inside the door are 2 leaders the disk is supposed to
slide in on. One side may be hung up. Get a small screw driver and see if
you can insert it to re-align the door. Make sure that the computer power is
off.
<>Question:
I would like to know what hardware is needed to transfer files from one hard
drive to another. In other words, I upgraded to a larger hard drive and I
need to upload the information from the smaller old hard drive to the larger
new one.
<>Answer:
1) Open an Explorer window to the root directory for the C drive.
2) Select everything in that window by holding down Ctrl and the A key.
3) Right-click and select Copy.
4) Open an Explorer window to the new drive.
5) Click in that window.
6) Right click and select Paste.
Before you do this, you should connect the new drive and configure it as a
slave. The drive should also be formatted and partitioned. I'm assuming you
know how to do this. When you do the drive setup, you should make it
bootable.
After you complete the copy process, shut down the computer. Pull out the
old drive. Connect the new drive where the old one was and configure it as
the master.
Some folks prefer to do the copying from the DOS prompt using the xcopy
command.
<>Question:
I use my CD re-writer to back up files. As I keep the CD at work in case of
fire, burglary etc. I would like to know if it is possible to secure the
information held on the disk with a password. IE: a password protection to
prevent unauthorized viewing of the contents.
<>Answer:
You might try a data encryption program to encrypt your data prior to
writing the CD. This would require any user of the CD to have the software
necessary to decode it in addition to the encryption key.
An alternative to this process would be to find a backup program which will
write to DOS devices and permit the use of a password. Create a data backup
file on your hard drive and write the backup file on a CD.
Any user of the CD would have to have both the password and the backup
program to restore data from the CD. Using this process, it is possible to
write more than one backup file (each with a different password) to the
same CD.
One more possibility is the use of the password encryption feature of
PKWARE's PKZIP. Use this program to create an encrypted zip file on your
hard drive and then write it to CD.
<http://www.pkware.com/>
<>Question:
I accidentally disabled access to my Control Panel using TweakUI. How can I
restore this?
<>Answer:
Using Regedit (start>run>type in: regedit then hit enter), go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
and click Explorer to highlight it. In the right pane double-click on 'NoControlPanel'
and in the Edit box change to 00 00 00 00
Make sure that you back up your registry before you mess around in
here.
<>Question:
My computer keeps losing time and will sometimes just shut down. This seems
to be occurring more and more over the last two weeks or so. Is there
anything that may be happening to cause this?
<>Answer:
Change your CMOS battery and all should be well again.
How to change a CMOS battery:
First, go into BIOS and write down *every* setting. It actually will revert
to "Default" when the battery is popped out, so if you don't have
any unusual settings, you will notice no change. Next, turn off & unplug
the computer. Open the box, and somewhere on the motherboard, probably not
to hard to find, will be a disk style battery, such as what comes in
watches, cameras, etc., only likely to be larger--say the size of a quarter,
maybe. Pop that out, carefully, and pop in the new one. Be careful not to
unload any static electricity from yourself to the motherboard. Before you
touch the battery, touch the side of the metal box to unload any static you
may have.
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[8] Contact Information:
This Newsletter is brought to you by 5 Star Support - Free Technical
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Thanks for your support!
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contact: admin@5starsupport.com
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Thank-you for subscribing to the 5 Star Support Monthly Newsletter.
Regards,
Newsletter Staff
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