Computer Education and Services

  "Love grows as a spark in one's heart, just as a seed grows to be a flower in the garden.  Both need to be nourished and cared for to become as beautiful as they are."*

Internet and Browser Tips

Here, you will find tips, ideas, and solutions concerning the Internet and browsers.

Topics

Red X Where a Picture Should Be 

When you go to some Web sites, the text displays okay but the pictures don't. Instead there's a red X where the picture should be. What's the problem and how can it be fixed?

There are several different reasons that pictures don't display in IE (Internet Explorer). Some you can fix, and some you can't. A common one (that can only be fixed by the Web site designer) is incorrect HTML code that points to the wrong location for the picture. For example, in writing the code for the page, the designer may have pointed to a location on his/her local hard drive where the picture is stored. The photo would show up when the designer previewed it on his own computer, but you can't access his hard disk when viewing it over the Internet. If you right click the red X and select Properties, it will show you the location. If it looks like a local disk path (for example, c:\graphics\picture.jpg), that's the problem. Contact the Web designer, if possible, and let him/her know.

Another problem might be that the picture isn't in a format supported by IE (for example, Corel PhotoPaint's .CPT or Adobe PhotoShop's .PSD formats). IE supports the following image formats: .GIF, .JPG, .BMP, .ART, .WMF, .EMF, .PNG, .MOV, .XBM, .AVI, .MPG, .MPEG. Again, there's nothing you can do about this.

If neither of these is the problem, check to be sure Show Pictures is turned on. Click Tools | Internet Options, click the Advanced tab, and under Multimedia, ensure that Show Pictures is checked. Some images may need ActiveX or Java to display. On the Security tab, click Default level for Internet zone and ensure the setting is Medium.

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Change Internet Explorer's Window Size

When you open IE, do you always have to resize the window because it's too large or too small? You can change the window size at opening by doing the following:

Now your IE windows should open in the sizes you've set, depending on how you open the browser (from a link or by clicking the IE icon to launch the browser).

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Email Dangers

Email is a very convenient way of communicating.  It is also turning into a dangerous communication tool.  Below are some ways to protect yourself and your privacy:

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Ending Windows Messenger

For some Messenger is a nuisance that sits in the system tray.  It can also create far more problems than it solves. Luckily, it's easy to keep it from coming back - if you know what to do:

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Searching the Internet

Several search engines have taken on the formidable task of indexing the entire World Wide Web.  Their electronic robots visit Web sites every few weeks, analyze the text for key words, and follow every hypertext link they find to discover new pages.  So how can you find the information that you're looking for in these massive databases?  Here are some searching tips to help you find what you are looking for as quickly as possible: 

Have fun. To sharpen your skills, practice looking up things that interests you. Search for your name, company, school, or town!

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Delete Internet Explorer History Files Easily

We typically don't worry about deleting our Internet Explorer history files, but we do get a lot of requests about how to get rid of hard to whack Internet Explorer history entries. Here's a tip for readers who have problems getting rid of pesky history entries that never delete:

Close Internet Explorer.

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Where Did My Download Go?

Can't find the file you just downloaded from the Internet? Don't worry. The file is probably around; you're just not looking in the right place. Internet Explorer (and most of the other major browsers) offers a Save As dialog box that you must complete before downloading a file, so presumably you know where the file has been saved. However, you can all too easily click OK without really looking at this dialog box when it appears.

Fortunately, all you have to do is choose File, Save As to recall the Save As dialog box, which by default opens the same folder the dialog box was last opened to. Just check the Save In field at the top of the dialog box to find out the folder where you saved your file.

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High Speed Network Security

Many homes are changing over from "dial-up" services to "always on" services using dsl or cable modems.  After all, your connection to the Internet should be speedier and more rewarding.  However, using the faster services pose a major security threat that could allow others access to your system.  I found this site, Home Network Security, to be chock full of information that can make your web surfing more pleasing and worry free.  If you have high speed Internet access, head to the site for informative information.  An upcoming tip will suggest software to help make your "always on" service safer.

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Searching in Netscape 7

Netscape 7 offers a number of search engines. You can very easily select the one that you want to use for a particular search. Just run Netscape 7 and then choose Bookmarks|Search and Directory and then you can choose from Netscape Search, Ask Jeeves, Google, Overture, LookSmart, or Lycos.

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Finding Content in your Browser

Although you use a search engine to locate information on the Internet, you may often find that you're faced with many pages of text that you must read through to locate the information that you need. Instead of plodding through all that text, just press Ctrl + F and type in the word or phrase that you need to locate. Press Enter to start the page search.

This works in Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, Netscape 6/7, and Opera 6.

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Copying a Web Address

Sometimes, clicking on a Web address doesn't take you to the page. For example, if a friend e-mails you an address, you may need to type it in by hand. But here's how to avoid any misspellings:  

Press Enter, and your browser should whisk you off to that new site.

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Open a New Window

There can be many links on a web page that you are visiting.  Some of these links you may want to visit, but you don't want to lose the original page.  A lot of the time you find yourself clicking the back button or back arrow to return to the original page or closing with the "X" and losing the whole thing.  Frustrating!  Here are 2 easy ways to help prevent this:

Both methods will take you to the new page without losing the original.  The original will be behind the new page.  Close the new page and you will see the original.

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Web Page Won’t Open

There are times that you click a link and the page doesn't open. Don't give up too soon. We find that trying a link immediately after it fails often brings up the page. Even if you can't access a page immediately, you may be able to reach it later.

Don't assume that a page is down. It may be simply a case of an overworked web server. And sometimes the web is just too slow. When you try again, you may get a better route to the site.

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Quick Access to Your WWW dot COM Sites

Try out this trick! Suppose you want to go to www.microsoft.com. Instead of typing out the entire name, just type Microsoft and then hold down the CTRL key and press the ENTER key. Bingo! www.microsoft.com is automatically entered for you. After a while, it'll become second nature for you to just type in the site name and press the keys on the keyboard to automatically fill in the rest.

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Free Security Testing Utilities
(For all versions of Windows)

The Gibson Research Corporation [ http://grc.com ] earned a formidable reputation for Internet security over a decade ago. In recent years, Gibson has also made a name for himself by speaking out against security weaknesses in Microsoft Windows XP – a viewpoint which put him under fire from hackers. You can read all about his battles with the hackers  (http://grc.com/dos/drdos.htm) , and check out the GRC utilities -- such as ShieldsUp! and Port Probe -- that can help you protect your system.

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Web Servers and Clients

To understand Web design, you first need to understand the basic relationship between clients and servers on the World Wide Web.  The client-server relationship is the yin and yang that keeps the Internet running. A server is any computer that contains and distributes information. A client is the program that requests and processes or displays that information. Web servers store and serve Web pages, and Web clients, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator (more often referred to as Web browsers), display the pages on your screen. Clients and servers are useless without each other, much like separate halves of a piece of Velcro.

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Cookies

Cookies are small files placed onto your computer by Web sites to keep track of various types of information. Some are completely benign, some are helpful, and others are invasion of privacy. How can you tell the difference?  Right click the IE (Internet Explorer, blue “E”) icon and click Properties. Click the 'View files' button. Up will pop a list of the various cookies (and other files) that have been placed onto your computer as you have been surfing the net. If you see file names from sites you know and trust, leave them alone; the others you can selectively delete.  Remember that some cookies contain information that may be helping you as you surf, such as loading up a page faster.  Be selective when deleting!

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Erasing History

Both Netscape and Internet Explorer have a somewhat useful feature called History. Next to the box where you can type a URL, there's a little arrow that, when clicked, shows you a list of recently visited URLs. Now, you may wonder how you can clear out that box from time to time -- if, for example, you want to remove all evidence of having visited an unseemly Web site (of course, for some perfectly innocent reason). Here are the details:

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Free Up Memory in Internet Explorer 6
 
If you install Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 and later decide that you never want to go back to Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x, then you can free up about 10 Mg of disk space by deleting the older IE backup files. These are the files that let you recover your Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x installation.

To delete the files, click Start|Settings|Control Panel. Next, double-click Add/Remove Programs. Then click Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Tools. Finally, click Add/Remove|Advanced, and select the option to delete the backup. Note that 10 Mg isn't much space these days. So if you have any doubts at all, just leave the files on your disk.

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Removing The Marks When Forwarding Outlook Express 6 E-mail

When you forward e-mail, you may not want the recipient to get all those < marks that are used to indent an original message. You don't have to use these marks in Outlook Express 6. Just choose Tools|Options. When the Options dialog opens, click the Send tab. Now, under "Mail Sending Format" click Plain Text Settings. Deselect the check box labeled "Indent the original text with < when replying or forwarding" and then click OK. Back in Options, click OK to close the dialog box and save your new selection.

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Cannot Find File

If, after downloading a file, you cannot find it, begin the download procedure again from the web page, except do a 'Save As' and look to see what the default folder is. Cancel the download, and open Explorer. Go to the folder identified in the 'Save As', and most likely your file will be located here.

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Outlook Express' Preview Pane
 
Although the Outlook Express preview pane is very handy, in these days of e-mail virus contamination, many users believe that it's safer to do without the preview. To turn off the preview pane, choose View|Layout. When the dialog box opens, deselect the "Show preview pane" check box and click OK.

Now, you can look at the "From" information and decide whether to open an e-mail or just delete it.

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Hotmail Users Beware

It seems that Microsoft, in its last upgrade of Hotmail, has made a few changes in your personal profile preferences without your knowledge.  Click on the link below for the full story.  If you are a Hotmail subscriber, you may follow these directions to help secure your privacy from 3^rd party vendors.

http://www.eastsidejournal.com/sited/story/html/92308

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Privacy Reports

Internet Explorer 6 includes a new tool that tells you about the cookie settings for a particular Web site and how the site measures up against your cookie settings. For example, if your cookie settings prohibit third-party cookies, the report tells you about any violation that the site attempted.

You can easily get this Privacy Report by accessing the desired Web site using IE, and then choosing View, Privacy Report. A single window appears, based on the page and linked information.  You see a note at the top of the page telling you if any cookies were restricted or blocked.

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Undeliverable Email

*   Undeliverable: Chances are that sooner of later you're going to get a message with that heading in your Inbox telling you that a message you sent failed to reach its destination. At first glance the contents of the  error message may look like nonsense, but you can look for these clues to give you insight into what went wrong:

*    Unknown host (or Host unknown): This is probably the most common error message that you'll receive. It means that the mail delivery system can't find the address that you gave it. Double-check the e-mail message that you sent and make sure that you didn't mistyped the address.

*    Network Unreachable, Connection Timed Out, or Bad File Number: A message like this usually signals that the recipient's server is down (or experiencing some other kind of problem). The only thing you can do is to wait and try again later. This kind of problem is usually
temporary, but you may have to wait anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of days before the message is delivered successfully.

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Filtering Your Mail with Outlook Express

A common complaint of frequent e-mail users is receiving too much unsolicited mail and/or spam. Outlook Express has several features that let you deal with this problem, the simplest of which is message rules. Message rules let you set up Outlook Express so that it automatically takes a specific action whenever a certain type of message arrives. For example, you can set up a message rule to automatically delete any message sent to you from a specific e-mail address. Or you can have Outlook Express automatically move any message that contains specific text in the subject line to a folder that you've created.

A message rule consists of two parts. The first part -- called a condition -- identifies the specific e-mail messages that the rule applies to. You can specify more than one condition for a rule. For example, you can set up a rule to handle all messages that contain the word Picture in the Subject line and are larger than 10K. The second part of the rule is the action, which indicates what you want Outlook Express to do with messages that meet the criteria for the rule's condition(s). For example, you can shunt the identified message into a specified folder, highlight it in a pretty color, or prevent it being downloaded from the server, among other options. 

When you choose Tools, Message Rules from the main Outlook Express window, the New Rule dialog box appears, and you can fill in the blanks for creating a rule from there. If you've already created rules, the Message Rules dialog box appears, in which case click the New button to add a new one.

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Searching The Web
 
There are some standard search engine procedures that you can use to enhance your Web searches. For example, if you search for "chocolate cake" (using no quote marks in the search box) you'll probably get pages that refer to "chocolate" and "cake" and "chocolate cake." However, if you enclose the search words in quotes--as in "chocolate cake"--you'll get mostly responses that refer only to chocolate cake.

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Debugging In Microsoft Internet Explorer 6
 
Do you sometimes navigate to a Web page only to have IE ask if you want to debug a script? This wouldn't be so bad if there weren't so many Web pages that seem to offend Microsoft Internet Explorer.
 
The question is whether you would like to rid yourself of that "debug" message. If so, run IE and choose Tools|Internet Options. When the dialog box opens, click the Advanced tab. Select the check box labeled "Disable script debugging" and Click OK to close the dialog box and save your selection. Close Internet Explorer and then run it again. This time you shouldn't get any "debug" messages.

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Closing A Web Window

Have you ever had one of those windows that misbehave?  By "misbehave," I mean you cannot get it to Maximize, Minimize, or Close. Sometimes Web programmers want to splash a screen or "pop-up" window onto your PC with no controls and will use this technique so that you can't get their junk off your screen. For some bizarre reason they think this is a good thing. Anyway, you do have some control with the standard Windows window control options. Click anywhere in the misbehaving window and hit Alt + Spacebar. On the resulting menu, you can choose Close and kill the window.  You can quickly close a window by pressing Ctrl + W on your keyboard and the offending window will disappear.  If that doesn't work, try pressing the Alt + F4 keys.

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Cookie Security In Microsoft Internet Explorer 6

In past versions of Internet Explorer, we basically had three choices when it came to cookies -- accept them all, be asked before accepting them, and reject them all. Internet Explorer version 6 offers the user considerably more latitude.

To determine how your IE 6 deals with cookies, run the program and choose Tools|Internet Options. When the Internet Options dialog box opens, click the Privacy tab. You'll see that you can set IE 6's response to cookies from "Accept All Cookies" to "Block All Cookies" with four steps of security between the two. Just move the slider to see all your options.

When you're finished working with your privacy setting, click OK to close the dialog box and save your new selection.

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Adding Folders In Outlook Express

The best way to keep track of all your mail messages is to move them into topic-related folders. This is an easy thing to do if you use Outlook Express. To add a new folder, open your folders, right-click Local Folders and choose New Folder. Type in a name for your new folder and click OK.

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Kid-Safe Surfing

Before you even think about letting your kids use the Internet, you must set some rules for them and make sure they understand them. Here are a few of the basics:

Ask your kids to give you a tour of the Internet.  You can find out a great deal through their eyes.  Become INVOLVED!!!

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Web Shortcuts

Do you like to visit specific Web sites on a regular basis? To simplify your life, you can either create Favorites within Explorer, or you can actually create a shortcut on your desktop that, when clicked, takes you directly to the Web page you want to view. Here's how:

Open Explorer. Then open the Web page. Place the mouse in an area of the Web page with no links or banners. Right-click that area and select Create Shortcut.

Now, when you're connected to the Web, simply click the new desktop icon, and it will bring up Explorer and take you to your favorite Web site!

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I Can't Open My Attachment

When you cannot view an attachment, it may be because your computer doesn't recognize the file extension. First, make sure you have the associated software installed on your system. If you have the application, save the attachment to your hard drive, open the application and then try to open the attachment within the application. Also, you may ask the sender to send the file in a different type of format.

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Eliminate Blank Mail

Often email viruses, worms, and Trojan horses come attached to blank mail. That is, email with no body text. You can guard against some of the malicious attachments by simply never opening mail with no body text.

If you get an email with an attachment and no body text, it's a good idea to delete the message immediately.

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Password Protection

Many of us bank or invest online. This great feature allows us access to a myriad of options, possibilities, and combinations. Information has never been so readily available. Unfortunately, there are unscrupulous individuals who would love nothing better than to get into your account and begin transferring your money to them.

If you have an online account, I would recommend NOT allowing Windows to remember your password for your banking sites. Also, when choosing passwords, make them completely random, odd, and confusing. It would be easy for someone to figure out that your son's first name is your password, but not so easy to guess Jugg~!leKlo*wn as a password. Also, choose different passwords for different sites, tempting though it may be to use the same one each time.

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Buyer Beware

As an online shopper, you need to look out for yourself. The virtual shopping world isn't all that different from the physical shopping world, and the common sense you use every day as you spend your money works as well online as it does offline. The following can make your online shopping more fun and certainly more rewarding:

*    Be sure that site is secure. This can't be said enough.  If you don't see a little lock icon at the bottom of your browser window, don't click the button that sends your credit card info. You should expect any online store to be secure.

*    Word of mouth is your friend. If you're not sure what shopping sites to start with, ask your friends and family. If you're not sure which shopping sites to avoid, ask your friends and family. Recommendations are a great source of information on and off the Web.

*    Let reviews guide you through the forest of stuff. Most shopping sites let buyers review products. Customer reviews are generally right on target and can help you avoid spending money on a bad product. Shop frequently at sites that offer reviews, read the reviews, and be sure to contribute to the reviews if you have some insight into a product.

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Scrolling Through Web Pages

Some Web pages are very long.  There is a quicker way to get to the bottom of a long Web page from the top.

There are a number of ways to navigate through a Web page. First, you can use the mouse and the scroll bars at the right side of the Web page window to scroll up and down. To move one screen at a time, use the Page Up and Page Down keys. The arrow keys move you up and down a few lines.

To get from the bottom of the page to the top, just press the Home key. If you're at the top of the page and want to get to the bottom quickly, press the End key.

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You've Got Mail Anywhere

If you are an AOL member, the AOL Netmail feature lets you get at your e-mail inbox from anywhere you can find a Net connection with a Web browser.  Just type in www.aol.com or click on the link below.

http://www.aol.com/netmail/home.html/

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A Password Tip

It's a shame someone is always out to abuse a good thing, but Instant Messages sometimes are used to try to sucker new users out of their passwords. AOL officials NEVER ask for your password online. If you receive an Instant Message -- or a message in a chat room or even an e-mail message -- asking for your password, it is a fraud. Don't play their game.  NEVER give out your password to anyone, and change it often.

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Clearing Your AOL History Trail

As you may know, AOL stores the addresses of the last 25 sites you've visited in a drop-down list on the toolbar. But if you share your account with others, you may not want to store all the sites you've visited. Fortunately, you can tell AOL to purge all the sites from the history each time you sign off or change screen names:

1. Click the My AOL toolbar button and select Preferences.
2. Click the Toolbar icon to open the Toolbar Preferences dialog box.
3. Select Clear History Trail after each Sign Off or Switch Screen Name and click OK. (To delete the history only occasionally, leave the option turned off and click the Clear History Now button on those occasions when you want to delete the history.)

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Selectively Blocking E-Mail in AOL

You can tell AOL to block all e-mail from individual addresses or domains that send you a lot of junk mail. Suppose, for example, that you get lots of junk mail from "buck@winmillions.com." The domain name in this address is winmillions.com. To block all mail from this domain, follow these steps:
1. Sign on to AOL, using your master account name.
2. Enter Keyword: Mail Controls.
3. Click the Set Up Mail Controls button.
4. If you have multiple screen names, click the one you want to modify and click Edit.
5. Click the Block E-mail from Selected AOL Members, Internet Domains and Addresses option.
6. In the Type Domain Name or E-mail Address Here box, enter the e-mail name or domain name you no longer want to receive mail from.
7. Click Add.
8. Click OK to save your change.
9. Click OK when you see the message saying that your mail controls have been changed.
Happy blocking!

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Transferring Your AOL Favorites to a New PC

There have been several questions about transferring your AOL Favorites to a new PC.  First, locate and copy the file AOL uses to keep track of your Favorites.  This file is in the Organize folder inside the AOL Program folder.  In this folder, you see a file with your screen name. (If you have several screen names, you see files for each one.) This file contains not only your AOL Favorites but also your Personal Filing cabinet of saved mail.  To transfer this file to a new PC:
1. Copy the file to a diskette.
2. At your new PC, copy the file to the Organize folder inside the AOL Program folder. Now you have all your Favorites at your fingertips on the new PC.

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Inserting Graphics in E-Mail

One of AOL's neat features is that it lets you insert images in e-mail messages. You no longer need to send the image file as an attachment. When you're composing e-mail and want to insert a digitized photo or other image, follow these easy steps:

1. Click the camera icon on the toolbar.
2. Choose Inset a Picture from the drop-down menu.
3. In the Open dialog box, locate the image file you want.
4. AOL may ask whether you want to resize the image to better fit in the e-mail message. Select No to leave it alone; select Yes, Resize the Image, if you want AOL to automatically size the image to best fit in the message.

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Sending Links With Internet Mail

Internet Mail makes sending links extremely easy. All you have to do is navigate to a site you'd like to e-mail to someone, then click the Mail button and choose Send A Link. When the Mail window opens, add the recipient's address and type any message you like. Click Send and
you're finished.

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Jump to Your Favorite Web Page

Is there a Web page you find yourself visiting again and again? You COULD add the page to your browser's Favorites or Bookmarks list--in fact, we recommend you do. But you can also add a shortcut to the page to your desktop so that you can visit it with just a double-click.

1. In your Web browser, right-click a blank area of the Web page.
2. Choose Create Shortcut from the shortcut menu.
3. Click OK in the confirmation box that appears.

A shortcut icon appears on your desktop. Next time you want to get to this page, just double-click the icon. Windows opens your browser, initiates your Internet connection (if necessary), and takes you to the page.

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Deleting Unwanted Favorites (For Internet Explorer Users)

When you're surfing the Web, here's a convenient way to file away URLs you might want to revisit: Simply right-click each one and choose Add To Favorites. That way, they all end up on the root level of your Favorites folder. After you finish your research, however, you may want to get rid of any URLs you no longer need.

To weed out extra URLs in the Favorites folder, choose Favorites, Organize Favorites. When the Organize Favorites window opens, select the files you want to delete and click Delete. To delete more than one file at a time, click the first file and then hold down the Ctrl key as you select additional URLs. Once you've selected all the files, release Ctrl and click Delete.

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Take Ctrl and Go Straight to the Top

If you want to quickly navigate to the very top of a document or web page, press Ctrl-Home.   To get to the end, press Ctrl-End.  And, just in case you don't already know, Ctrl-A will select the entire document; Ctrl-C will copy the selected text (or graphics);  Ctrl-X will cut selected text (or graphics); Ctrl-V will paste data from the Clipboard; and Ctrl-Z will undo the last operation.

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