Moderated by Frank Myers



  1. Some members are having trouble with the club CD. How do you fix that?
      2. Answer:
    • Insert Club CD in the CD/DVD drive
      • Double Click "My Computer"
      • Click Right Mouse button on CD/DVD Player icon
      • Select "Explore" from menu
      • Open the "ftp" folder.
      • Click on any program listed in that folder to install.
      • Don't forget to re-start the computer after each install to ensure a safe install.

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  2. McAfee AntiVirus system won't work with Sympatico Firewall. Is there a conflict between AVG and McAfee?
      3. Answer:
    • Some members have found that the two can work together sometimes, however, it is recommended that McAfee be stopped when you run AVG.
    • Frank suggests that because the members who are using McAfee are satisfied with it, perhaps there is no need to run AVG if you are using McAfee.

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  3. How do you get rid of "TeaTime" associated with "Spybot"?
      4. Answer:
    • Use RevoUninstaller and remove Spybot completely. RevoUninstaller is available from our "Software" page or from the Club CD.
    • The club does not recommend Spybot any longer. Use Adaware, SuperAntiSpyware and MalwareBytes-AntiMalware instead.

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  4. A member has a new computer and wants to know how to get rid of the preview pane in Outlook Express.
      5. Answer:
    • On the top menu bar of Outlook Express, click on "View"
    • Click on "Layout"
    • Remove the check mark in the "Show Preview Pane" box by clicking it.
    • Click "Apply" then "OK"
    • NOTE: This applies to Window Mail also.

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  5. A member pointed out that when in Vista and surfing, if you land on a suspicious web site there is an "!" added to your cursor. Does that mean that it is too late and you have already been "phished"
      6. Answer:
    • Probably not.
    • It usually takes some sort of communication between the surfer and the site - such as closing a "Pop-up" or clicking on one of the connectors on the page. This triggers off the fact that an actual person has arrived at the site.
    • Just click the "back" arrow button and remove yourself from that Page.

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  6. What do you do when you know that you have received a "SPAM" e-mail?
      7. Answer:
    • Some folks put the email address in their spam filter, and others try other tricks to try to avoid more spam from the source.
    • It's a waste of time. Just delete the email and carry on.
    • The Spammers use a lot of throw-away email addresses and The next one you receive from them will probably be totally different from the one you see and therefore will pass your filtering of the current one.
    • If SPAM upsets you, switch to Google Mail who have the world's best filters for reprehensible mail, including SPAM.

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  7. When you clear history in e-mail client, does that get rid of SPAM?
      8. Answer:
    • No it doesn't.

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  8. In Microsoft's Excel - How do you freeze headings?
      9. Answer:

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  9. A Member is looking for a T45 HP computer.
      10. Answer:
    • Please contact:

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  10. A member had a web site lock up his computer - so he pulled the plug on his power (including his UPS system)
      11. Answer:
    • It is suggested that in the future he try the 3-finger salute (Cntrl + Alt + Del keys together).
      • This brings up the Task Manager window - Click on the "Applications" tab - Highlight "Internet Explorer" - click on "End Task" button at the bottom of the window.
    • This action will close Internet Explorer and thus the web site that is causing the "freeze".
    • If this does not work, then shutting off the computer is a valid solution.
      • Push and hold the "power-on" button for eight seconds.
    • NOTE: Be sure to make a note of the web site to ensure that you do not return.

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  11. A member said that sending Blind Carbon Copies (BCC) prevents the bad guys from picking up email addresses for "Phishing".
      12. Answer:
    • It was pointed out that because these email addresses are carried in the header of the message, people who can't see the addresses are recipients.
    • The bad guys have the tools that will be able to read the headers and thus the BCC addresses.
    • The header of a message is used to ensure that the "packets" That make up the total message are routed to the destination and that all the "packets" arrive together.

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  12. A member suggested that the technique of using an image of characters to be used to enter a confirming code is a way of protecting a web site from "robots" searching. This method is used on our "Forum" for posting messages and prevents "robots' from filling the Forum with their advertisements. So far, it has worked very well.
      13. Answer:
    • The image is called "capTcha" and looks like this:
    • "capTcha" stands for "completely automated public Turing test to tell computers and humans apart";
    • For more examples and detail, click on:
    • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captcha
    • Another member has heard that there is an industry in India that has workers translating these character images to gain access to the web site and get around this blocking technique. They would then run the code that this company's "robots" had planned. This is a very labour intensive method that would only work in a country that had low wages. The member said that they were paid $0.03 per site.

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  13. A member said that he has replaced his hard drive and was able to transfer his photos/images over to the new hard drive. The question arose concerning the best method of long term storage of photos. The member had heard that CDs would only be good for two years.
      14. Answer:
    • A discussion took place about the CD/DVD strengths and weaknesses. It was decided that a good storage method for a large volume of photos was an external hard drive for backup. DVDs could be used to do a further back up of the external hard drive as long as these DVDs were replaced after about 3 years.

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  14. A member asked about "Add-ons" to browsers such as Internet Explorer and Firefox. What were they and should they be used?
      15. Answer:
    • It was pointed out that "Add-ons' were small programs that added a special feature to the browser. One that was mentioned was the add-0n for "Roboform" that created a taskbar to be able to log on to security sites, fill in personal information, etc. Frank Pointed out that he uses this add-on when using Firefox and Internet Explorer and could not use Roboform without it.
    • There are hundreds of "Add-ons" available for browsers and serve various functions. The only caution is that the more you have the slower you browser loads and the more operating memory it needs.

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  15. What is "Silverlight"?
      16. Answer:
    • Microsoft's Silverlight is a programmable web browser plugin that was developed to rival Flash for animations, interactivity, and other web effects. It enables features such as animation, vector graphics and audio-video playback that characterizes rich Internet applications. It is offered as an optional Windows Internet Explorer update but it is not widely used as yet because it is based on Microsoft's .Net Framework.

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  16. A member has installed a Webcam and wants to install "Skype"
      17. Answer:
    • Tom Rosebush says to Google it and on the site click on "More" and then "Even More" and Skype will install.

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  17. A member has a problem with AVG Scheduling. After he ran the currently scheduled task, he could not delete 4 older scheduled tasks that were past their scheduled times.
      18. Answer:
    • It was suggested that he turn off the scheduling feature, restart the computer and then turn the scheduling back on.
    • That should clear out all the old uncompleted tasks.
    • If that does not work, go to the AVG web site and search the FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) for scheduling problems

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