Number 275 - April 2006

UPDATE
News Item Definitions    In the Beginner's section we have provided some definitions relating to the subject matter covered in the section following it under the heading News Items. These brief notes on Phishing, Elimination of Pop-ups and Rootkits were provided by Ray Mills as items of current interest to members.    Under News Items are three short articles discussing how these three pesky practices are being promulgated by unexpected sources. Some suggestions are made about how you can cope with them. Communications    In the Communications section, TOG member Carl Tenning describes a couple of problems he had with his computers and how he solved them. Carl describes a problem he had with one of the computers in the network running Windows ME, which after having run successfully with the Zone Alarm firewall installed did not work after some modifications to the installation. He discusses how he got it going again.    The e-mail problem was related to the extension given to e-mail attachments. Apparently one recipient was using software that required the extension to be .eml and not .email which Carl used. Read how they coped with it.	System Notes    Do you want to get rid of certain programs on your hard drive? The author of Erasing Hard Drives wanted to erase his drives before selling or junking his old computer. How do you do it? He gives several options.    Floridian Brian Lewis discusses what a cache is and how useful it is in speeding and otherwise assisting your CPU in its calculations. General Interest    In the Analog/Digital Divide the author decries the move of the television industry to all digital transmission obsoleting analog equipment. Do you care? Read it and see.    Do you use the Internet to look for stuff to buy and sell. EBay has been popular for years of course. In recent years a new site has arisen. It is called Craig's List and it is very comprehensive. Take a look at The Insider's Guide to Carig's List.    If you want get some idea of how tax rates are tied to earnings take a look at The Tax System Explained... Hardware    Finally, a nontechnical author describes her tussle with customer service representative when her mouse stopped working and her travails in getting a satisfatory response. Read how she finally got a working mouse that she was pleased with. (I know it should be "with which she was pleased", but do you really talk that way?)
Number 275 - April 2006