In This Issue:
- E-mail viruses and other hoaxes
Virus News
If you have not received a warning about one of several E-mail viruses, just sit back and wait; one will show up sooner or later. At this time, the names include: Good Times, XX-1, Deeyenda, PenPal, Irina, and MMF [Make Money Fast]. Warnings about these “viruses” generally talk about opening and reading E-mail with one of those names in the subject. A variety of nasty things are supposed to happen if you do.
The point to remember is that simply reading a text message cannot damage your computer in any way.
Of course, you should never open any attachment to E-mail without first checking it with an up-to-date scanner. This may involve you changing the setup on your mail program as some come with “open on click” as the default. You should change this so that attachments are saved to a file without automatically opening them. This allows you to check the file before you do anything with it.
For more information about virus myths and hoaxes take a look at:
http://www.kumite.com/myths/ [Now http://www.vmyths.com/
]
Another joke currently circulating consists of a link that claims to be able to examine the contents of your hard drive. When you click on the link you indeed see the contents of your drive and the impression is left that this comes from the site in question. If you look closely at the link, however, you will see that it is nothing more than a direct link to your hard disk: <file:///c|/>. When activated, this link causes your browser to do a directory of your C-drive and present it to you. Nothing gets sent from your computer to the remote site.
New on the Web Site
We’ve established a new general information page at:
https://www.cknow.com/ckinfo/ [Note: URL has changed; and most of the old information removed as being too old and outdated.]
So far there are pages describing web searching, how to handle ZIP files, drive letter assignment, and the answer to the naming argument for Santa’s reindeer (Donder versus Donner). [Don’t ask! – And, that link has been removed due to copyright issues.]
One of the functions of this newsletter will be to announce new pages added to that collection. If you have a particular topic suited to a single page discussion, please let us know and we’ll attempt to construct a page around that topic and then let you know via the newsletter when it’s up.
Our link page has also been updated. The search dialogs from the search engines we use most often have been placed on the page so you can search the net directly from the Computer Knowledge site! (This isn’t particularly difficult to do; if you want the code for your site just “borrow” it from ours by saving the source and then pasting the appropriate portions into your page. The forms we use came directly from the search sites using similar means.)
And, we are pleased to announce an alignment with Amazon.com Books, a premier internet book seller. Some customers have asked for references to books that complement our tutorials. We’ve added a bookstore page to the site to honor this request. You can scroll through the recommended titles and if you see something you like can click on the book’s title and be taken to Amazon.com where you can read further information and place an order at a discounted price. Amazon.com has several secure methods for payment and the book comes straight to your door. You won’t find much easier book purchasing!
In closing: The best of the New Year to everyone.