Here are questions from some of my clients and TBCS members, along with the best answers I could give them; most of my answers were arrived at by searching the Internet using Google.   In those cases where I say things nice or otherwise about a particular program, please note that I'm expressing only my opinion, and not necessarily that of TBCS, its members, or its board of directors.

Some time back, I received an email; I've copied the first part of it below.  I feel stupid having to ask, but I don't know what, if anything, I'm supposed to do about it.

"...Thank you for your previous donation.  Just to let you know version CCleaner v.*.**.*** has been released and is available for download at:  http://www.ccleaner.com/download/downloadpage.aspx?f=5 ..."

This is an ad for a program called CCleaner, a competitor to EasyCleaner 2.0.  I've tried it, and it's a very good program.  But this unsolicited commercial email says you paid for a previous version; knowing you like I do, I'm willing to bet you didn't.  Which makes this sort of marketing spam.  Ignore and delete.

I received the email quoted below.  Sounds too good to be true.  Is it?

"...To receive your $500 Home Depot Gift Card simply answer our survey and verify your email address on our website:  pagenets.com/75/home.htm?0a3-ms5w4-o7g4-5-akzz

I've received and rejected that email several times in the past.  It's not from HomeDepot.com.  It might actually be from one of their business partners, but I don't think so.  If you didn't fill out a form at Home Depot, offering to take an online survey in return for $500 in gift certificates, assume it's a scam.  Ignore and delete.

I received this warning.    Should I be concerned?

"Warning:  READ AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! I checked snopes.com and this is for real. Get this sent around to your contacts ASAP...  we don't need this spreading around. PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS: You should be alert during the next few days:  Do not open any message with an attached file called 'Invitation' regardless of who sent it.  It is a virus that opens an Olympic Torch which 'burns' the whole hard disc C:  of your computer. If you receive an email called 'Invitation', even though it's sent by a friend, do not open it, and shut down your computer immediately.  This is the worst virus ever; according to CNN, it has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever. This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus.  This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept. SEND THIS E-MAIL TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW, COPY THIS E-MAIL AND SEND IT TO YOUR FRIENDS AND REMEMBER:  IF YOU SEND IT TO THEM, YOU WILL BENEFIT ALL OF US!"

Here's my list of rules regarding email virus warnings:

1. Never ever Ever EVER send a warning email about a virus, no matter where you heard about it, even if it's supposed to have come from Norton or McAfee or the Dalai Lama.  Nearly all are hoaxes — this one was — and almost no one, myself included, can tell by looking which might be real.

2. Never follow any instructions given in any email virus warning message a friend might send you, EVEN if it's from me (and I'm something of an expert).  Your friends and family, myself included, know no more about viruses than you do; their suggestions could do more harm than good.

3. Never forward any virus warning message you receive.  You'll just add to the already-considerable Internet congestion caused by people forwarding 4- and 8-megabyte videos to everyone they know (instead of just sending links to the online copy of the video).  If your friends know and follow rule #2, they're gonna ignore your warning anyway.

4. Any message that includes the line, "I'd rather receive this warning 25 times than not at all," is automatically a scam and a hoax.

5. Ditto "Send this to everyone you know..." or "...to everyone in your address book."

6. On this or any other story you think you should forward, go to  Snopes.com  and check it out beforehand.  I know this message said they had already done that — they were lying outright.  Here's what Snopes had to say about this bogus warning, which has been circulating since 2000.
   www.snopes.com/computer/virus/invitation.asp

   When you get right down to it, almost every story you receive via email is at least an exaggeration, if not a plain old bald-faced lie.  Some people delight in making up stupid tales and seeing how many other folk they can get to believe it.

7. The Internet, and its attendant email capabilities, are for promulgating jokes and porn — there are few other legitimate uses for either resource.  If no one is naked in a message you receive, and there's no obvious punchline, then the joke is more subtle, and most likely it's on you.

I recently updated  my Email Tutorial; please share it with your friends.

My browser opens too small a window.  I can click the 'Maximize' button to make it large, but next time I open the browser, the window is small again.  How do I make it larger all the time?

Open your browser.  With the left mouse button, click on the blue title bar at the top of the window, and drag it to the top left of the screen; let go of the left mouse button.  Move the cursor to the bottom right-hand corner of the browser window, until it (the cursor) turns into a double-ended arrow.  Again with the left mouse button, click and drag the lower right-hand corner further down and right, expanding the window.  From now on, every time you open your browser, it will open in a window exactly this size.

I am having problems getting into some of my "secure" accounts from home.  For instance, when I try to log on to my bank account, I keep getting a funny sound and see an icon with a little red hand which will not let me access my account.  I have the same problem with one of my charge accounts.  I don't have this problem when I log on from the public library.

Sounds to me like you've either got a problem with pop-up blocking, or the Privacy level is set too high. 

Try this:  go to the bank website.  Just before you click on the Log In button, click on the Pop-up Blocker button in the Google or Yahoo toolbars, whichever you're using, and tell it to allow pop-ups on this site.  Then click on Log In or Sign In or whatever they're calling the button this week, and see if you still get an error.

If you do, try turning down the Privacy setting:  Start  »  Settings  »  Control Panel  »  Internet Options  »  Privacy.  If the slider is set to Medium High, drag it to Medium, and click OK.  Close Control Panel, and try again.

If neither of these work, try calling me while you're online trying to connect to a secure server, and we'll try and figger it out in 'real time'.

What's the deal with MS Word and Normal.dot?  Every time I close Word, I get a warning about Normal.dot being corrupted, or asking if I want to save the changes to Normal.dot.  Make it go away!

Click on  Start  »  Search  »  All Files and Folders  »  Normal.dot  »  Search.  When it's done, delete all files found.  The next time you start Word, it will create a new Normal.dot in the background, on which it will base all new Word docs.