Deter identity theft by safeguarding your information.

• Shred financial documents and paperwork with personal information before you discard them.
• Protect your Social Security number. Don’t carry your Social Security card with you or write your Social Security number on a check. give it out only if absolutely necessary or ask to use another identifier.
• Don’t give out personal information on the phone, through the mail, or over the Internet unless you know who you are dealing with.
• Never click on links sent in unsolicited emails: instead, type in a web address you know. use firewalls, anti-spyware, and anti-virus software to protect your home computer. Be sure to keep the software up-to-date.
• Don’t use an obvious password like your birth date, your mothers maiden name, or the last four digits of your Social Security number.
• Keep your personal information in a secure place at home, especially if you have roommates, employ outside help, or are having work done in your home.

Detect suspicious activity by routinely monitoring your financial accounts and billing statements. Be alert to signs that require immediate attention:

• Bills that do not arrive as expected
• Unexpected credit cards or account statements
• Denials of credit for no apparent reason
• Calls or letters about purchases you did not make

Inspect your credit report.

• Credit reports contain information about you, including what accounts you have and your bill paying history. The law requires the major nationwide consumer reporting companies – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, to give you a free copy of your credit report each year if you ask for it. Visit Annual Credit Report a service created by
  these companies, to order your free credit reports each year.
• Review financial accounts and billing statements regularly looking for charges you did not make.

Defend against ID theft as soon as you suspect it. Place a “Fraud Alert” on your credit reports and review the reports carefully. The three nationwide consumer reporting companies have toll-free numbers for placing an initial 90-day fraud alert. A call to one company is sufficient:

• Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
• Experian: 1-888-397-3742
• TransUnion: 1-800-680-7289

Close any accounts that have been tampered with or established fraudulently. File a report of criminal identity theft with law enforcement officials to help you with creditors who may want proof of the crime.

If your computer is not already protected from Internet identity theft, look for reputable award-winning software such as Zone Alarm Security Suite.

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If you’re not already protected, look for reputable award-winning software such as Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus or Zone Alarm Security Suite and ensure you apply security updates regularly.

Use [Ctrl]S or click the Save button on the Standard toolbar. Save your work frequently. You can also instruct Word to automatically save your work periodically. Open the Tools menu, select Options, click the Save tab, and activate the Save AutoRecovery Info Every option. You can specify an interval from 1 to 120 minutes.

To move to the top of a document, press [Ctrl][Home]. To move to the bottom of a document, press [Ctrl][End]. To go to the top of the next page, press [Ctrl][Page Down]. For the top of the preceding page, press [Ctrl][Page Up].

To open menus and select commands from the keyboard press [Alt] plus the letter that’s underlined to open a menu such as File, Edit, View, and so on. Once a menu is open, you don’t need to press [Alt] to select a command; just press the underlined letter of the command you want to select. Here are some common examples: Quick print preview: [Alt]F,V. Quick save as: [Alt]F,A. Quickly reopen the first document in the most recently used file list: [Alt]F,1.

Four ways to select a block of text.

• Use the mouse. Just click and drag the mouse to select text.
• Use [Shift] plus the arrow keys. Hold down [Shift] and press an arrow key to select text in the desired direction. To select a word at a time, press [Ctrl][Shift] and the left or right arrow key.
• Use the mouse with the [Shift] key. Move the mouse pointer away from the cursor position, hold down [Shift] and click to select all the text between the cursor and the place where you clicked.
• Frustrated when you try to select text with the mouse past the bottom of the currently visible page and Word leaps past what you want to select? Those are the times to use [Shift] plus the down arrow key instead of the mouse.

To select a word double-click on it. If a space immediately follows the word you select, the space gets selected, too. Punctuation is ignored.

To select a sentence hold down [Ctrl] and click anywhere in the sentence. Why would you want to select a sentence? To change something about the sentence’s appearance, to count the words or letters in the sentence by opening the Tools menu and choosing Word Count, to run a spelling or grammar check on the sentence, or to copy, move, or delete it.

To select a paragraph triple-click within the paragraph or move the mouse just past the left margin of the paragraph. When the pointer changes to a right-pointing arrow, double-click to select the whole paragraph.

Select a table by holding down [Alt] and double-clicking anywhere in the table.

To select all the text between the cursor and the end of the current line, press [Shift][End]. To select the text from the cursor through the end of the current paragraph, press [Ctrl][Shift] and the down arrow. To select the text from the cursor to the end of the document, press [Ctrl][Shift][End].

To select an entire document press [Ctrl]A. Why would you want to? To change the font or to add or remove formatting. Once you’ve selected the entire document, apply the formatting to everything, and either leave it applied or apply it again to remove it. For example, suppose some text in your document is underlined and you want nothing underlined. To avoid spending time visiting each underlined section of text and un-underlining it, select the whole document with [Ctrl]A. Press [Ctrl]U to apply underlining to the entire document, then press [Ctrl]U again to remove the underlining. Be careful when you use [Ctrl]A. If you accidentally press [Delete] or type a keystroke and erase everything, don’t panic and don’t fret. Just press [Ctrl]Z or choose Undo from the Edit menu.

The first three commands on the View menu are: Normal, Web Layout and Print Layout. You’ll probably want to work in Print Layout most of the time—it’s the WYSIWWP (“what you see is what will print”) view.

When you need to use an existing document as the basis for a new one, don’t overwrite the old document. As soon as you open it, press [Alt]F and then press A. (Or open the File menu and choose Save As.) Then immediately type a new name or change some part of the old one.

To address your envelopes in the printer type an address in a blank document or open a letter. Open the Tools menu and select Envelopes And Labels. Click the Envelopes tab, enter the return address if you want one, and click Print.

To access the built-in thesaurus press [Shift][F7] or open the Tools menu, select Language, and then Thesaurus. Word will display a list of synonyms for the word you’ve selected or the word closest to the cursor.

When you right-click on a block of text or a table cell the shortcut menu offers immediate access to some handy formatting options.

When you copy and paste text from a Web page or another document, the text brings its formatting into your document. To get around that behavior, copy the text and place the cursor where you want to insert the copy. Then, open the Edit menu, choose Paste Special, and select the Unformatted Text option.

Learn Microsoft Office inside and out without the high price tag you’ll find with other instructional guides

• Change the defaults. Wireless routers come with a preset administrator password and SSID (network name). These are usually the same for all routers of that model, so it’s common knowledge to hackers. A hacker can use that info to change your WAP settings or connect to your network.
• Turn off SSID broadcasting. SSID broadcasting makes your network visible to anyone in the area who has a wireless-equipped computer. Turning it off doesn’t hide it from WLAN “sniffers” but it does keep the neighbors from knowing you have a wireless network.
• Turn on MAC address filtering. This allows only computers whose MAC addresses have been entered by the router administrator to connect to the network. It’s not foolproof since some hackers can spoof MAC addresses, but it provides a layer of security.
• Assign static IP addresses to your wireless clients and turn off DHCP, so that unauthorized persons who try to connect won’t automatically get an IP address.
• Use encryption. And use WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) encryption instead of WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy). For instructions on how to configure WPA in XP, see:

  Improve the security of your wireless home network with Windows XP

Install your printer in the right place
Place your printer where there is good air flow around it, out of strong light, particularly direct sunlight, and away from other major office equipment. Strong light, especially sunlight, can have two effects. It can increase the operating temperature to the detriment of your printer. Remember that toner is being fused into the paper at a temperature of around 220 degrees Celsius so the inside of your printer is already very hot. Light can “leak” inside the printer affecting the quality of your output. Static electricity from other equipment, such as large photocopiers and certain types of heaters, can cause print quality problems.

Keep your printer clean
Accumulation of dirt and debris causes most damage done to printerssuch as electronic failures. Every time you change the toner cartridge clean out the inside of the printer with a lint free cloth to remove toner and paper dust. Don’t neglect the outside. Because the laser printing process uses a lot of static electricity dust is attracted to your printer so clean under and around it.

Manage your toner
All toner cartridges will release some loose toner into the printer. This is why cleaning is important. Check the print density setting to prevent the printer from using too much toner when printing. Modern 1200 dpi lasser printers sacrifices black for better gray scale, so increasing the print density will have little result other than more toner consumed while printing.

Use good quality paper
Cheap paper tends to have a high clay content making it susceptible to swelling (and causing paper jams) in humid weather and in winter. The clay is more abrasive causing greater wear. Find a good quality paper you are happy with and ignore the specials on paper brands you’ve never heard of. You will save yourself many paper jams and some costly service calls.

Have your printer serviced annually
If you maintain your printer well then a professional technician should be able to service your prinetr in less than an hour. An annual service and clean will set you up for a trouble free year.

Windows XP Professional uses transparent encryption. This means you don’t need to remember your encryption key. Your data is unencrypted automatically when you sign on to Windows. Furthermore, the encryption key is a long line of gibberish. And it is generated randomly.

Back up your encryption key.

Backing up the key is complicated, so let’s go through the steps. First, log into your user account. Then click Start>Run. Enter “mmc” (no quotes) and click OK.

Click File>Add/Remove Snap-in and click Add. Click Certificates under Available Standalone Snap-ins. Then Click Add. Click “My user account” and then Finish. Click Close and OK.

Next, double-click Certificates – Current User, and double-click Personal. Then double-click Certificates.

Find the certificate that says File Recover in the Intended Purposes column. Right-click it and select All Tasks. Click Export. The Export Wizard starts. Click Next. Click “Yes, export the private key” and click Next. Click Personal Information Exchange.

Important: Do not select “Delete the private key if the export is successful.” Otherwise, you won’t be able to decrypt documents on the computer.

Click Next and specify a password. Click Next. Name the file and location where to export the certificate and key (I recommend a USB drive). Click Next. Finally, click Finish.

At some point, you may need to restore the encryption key. To do this, log on to the computer with your account. Click Start>>Run. Enter “mmc” (no quotes) and click Enter. Click the Console menu and select Add/Remove Snap-In.

Click the Add button, and double-click the Certificates snap-in. Choose My User Account and click Finish. Click Close on the Add Standalone Snap-In dialog box and then click OK on the Add/Remove Snap-in dialog box.

Click Certificates, Current User, Personal and then Certificates. Right-click the folder and select All Tasks>>Import. When the Certificate Import Wizard launches, click Next. Browse to find your backup file.

Enter your password. Make sure “Mark this key as exportable” is checked. Click Next. If prompted, select “Place all certificates in the following store.” Click Next. Highlight the Personal store and click OK. Click Next. Finally, click Finish.

The most common cause for users of the Microsoft Windows operating system to seek technical support is the infestation of spyware. In most cases the user thinks that the system’s stability, performance, and/or connectivity issues relate to Microsoft Windows, hardware, or to a virus. Extremely infected systems sometimes require a clean re-install of all their software to allow the system to function properly. This is a highly time-consuming chore, even for accomplished users.

Normally, a single piece of spyware does not make a computer unusable. However, an infected computer almost always has more than one piece of spyware installed. A study in 2008 concluded that if a computer has any spyware at all, it will be infected by dozens of different pieces. Its the cumulative effect of the different spyware components that cause the problems reported by users. The computer slows down to a crawl, overpowered by the many power-draining processes running on it. Some spyware disarms anti-virus software and firewalls, and/or lowers browser security settings, which subjects the system to additional infections.

There are some forms of spyware that modify system files to make themselves very difficult to remove. A Windows user generally has administrative-level system privileges. Because of this, any program which the user runs, intentionally or not, will have full access to the entire system.

Before reformatting, in My Computer, double click the drive letter on which you installed XP, and navigate to WINDOWS\System32. Click “Show the contents of this folder” if necessary. Copy the following files to a floppy, USB drive, CD/DVD or network location: wpa.dbl and wpa.bak. After reformatting and reinstalling XP, select NO when asked if you want to activate Windows now.

Restart in Safe Mode. In My Computer, open the WINDOWS\System32 folder and rename the existing wpa.dbl and wpa.bak files (if you have them). Now copy your old wpa.dbl and wpa.bak files to the System32 folder.

Restart and you should not be requested to activate again. This only works when you reinstall Windows on the same computer and the hardware remains the same.

Wireless routers are configured through a browser such as Internet Explorer. First, you need to connect your wireless router to a computer with a Network Interface Card (NIC). Connect the router from one of it’s LAN ports to your computers Network Interface Card using a RJ-45 cable.

Open your Internet browser. To communicate with the router, you’ll need its IP address. You can find this in your manual under a heading like "configuration setup" or "manual configuration." Most routers, for example, have an IP address like 192.168.0.1. Type it directly into your Internet browser’s address bar. You’ll then be prompted for a user name and password. These will also be listed in your manual.

Now, you’ll see your router’s configuration tool. It looks like an ordinary Web page. Most new wireless routers have a network configuration wizard. Just follow the steps in the setup wizard. The wizard will detect whether you are using broadband cable or DSL. Each one requires a different configuration, (for example DSL uses PPoE authentication), however the setup wizard will walk though all the steps. It’s really that easy.

Wireless routers default settings disregard security. That’s because low security makes them easy to install, but you need change your router’s settings to add security. Different routers put these settings under different menus. You should be able to find each without trouble. You need to change the default settings.

• Change the default administrator’s password
• Change the default SSID (Short for service set identifier. An SSID is also referred to as a network name because essentially it is a name that identifies a wireless network)
• Disable SSID broadcasting

The best way to protect your wireless network is through encryption. Use WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) for your encryption setting. All new wireless routers support this standard. You’ll typically see this setting as WPA-PSK (pre-shared key). You’ll be prompted to enter a passphrase of eight to 63 characters-letters, numbers and symbols. The router will use your passphrase to build an encryption key. WPA is a safe version of encryption. The only weak point of WPA is your passphrase. So make it as strong as possible. Here are some tips:

• Use at least 20 characters.
• Avoid words found in a dictionary.
• Include letters, numbers and symbols.

Now your router is switched to use WPA encryption. But your computers don’t yet know what you’ve done. You’ll have to update them with the new setup. Here’s what to do for each computer you’ve got on the network. For Windows XP follow these steps.

Click Start – Control Panel. Double-click Network Connections. Right-click Wireless Network Connection. Select Properties from the pop-up menu. Select the Wireless Networks tab. Under “Preferred networks”, click the Add button. In the box labeled “Network name (SSID)”, enter your network’s name.

Under Network Authentication, select WPA-PSK. Under “Data encryption”, select TKIP. Under “Network key”, enter the same passphrase you used for your router. You’ll have to enter it twice to confirm it. Then make sure that the checkbox labeled “The key is provided for me automatically” is not marked. Finally, click OK.

And that’s all there is to it. Encryption makes your network a less attractive target for hackers. And if your neighbors were using your Internet service, they’ve just lost their connection.

The physical damage to a hard drive could occur due to several mechanical failures such as failed motors or head crashes. The physical damage of a hard drive can always lead to some data loss and in many cases this can also results in damage to the logical structures of the file system. In fact, logical damages to a file system are more common than physical damage. This includes damages caused by power outages, which prevents file system structures from being completely written to the hard drive, system crashes, and problems with hardware (particularly RAID controllers).

Most physical damage to hard drives cannot be repaired by end users. For instance, opening a hard drive in a normal environment can cause dust to settle on the surface, resulting in further damage to the platters. Mind you, normal computer users may not have enough technical experience to make type of repairs. This is where hard drive data recovery companies play a major role in helping the end user to recover their valuable data from a damaged hard drive. Almost all these hard drive data recovery firms use Class 100 clean room facilities to protect your hard drive while repairing, and use the latest tools such as magnetometers to retrieve the lost bits from the magnetic media. The extracted raw bits retrieved from the damaged disk are used to rebuild a disk image, which can then be mounted to have its logical damage repaired.

Nowadays, there are several companies which offer hard drive data recovery software programs which help the end users to recover all their important files or folders lost after an accidental format, partition loss, software malfunction, file or directory deletion, or virus crash. Whether your computer crashes or you accidentally delete the files, hard drive data recovery software helps you to locate, recover and restore lost information from your disk.

Some of the main contexts where hard drive data recovery software could save one from the blues include a formatted drive, deleted file or directory, missing file or directory, drive not booting, inaccessible drive, support copying of system locked files like registry hives, damaged or corrupted partition table, recovery of deleted files and folders on FAT and NTFS hard drive or partitions, retrieve compressed files from NTFS partitions, data recovery on damaged FAT and NTFS partitions, and formatted hard drives.

Most of the hard drive data recovery software programs available in the market are easy to install and use and are virtually self maintaining. I recommend Restore My Files.

Restore My Files is an advanced data recovery software for recovering deleted files or lost files. It will:

• Restore deleted files or lost files
• Restore deleted or lost Graphic files
• Restore deleted or lost Music and Video files
• Restore deleted or lost Zip Files.

Restore My Files is the only computer data recovery software you will ever need to recover deleted files, lost files emptied from the windows recycle Bin, or recover deleted or lost files due to the format of a hard drive, virus infection, unexpected system shutdown or software failure. Its perfect for recovering deleted files using software made just for you.

Restore My Files allows you to recover critically important documents, or other files, which have been lost by accidental deletion. These files may be lost by emptying the Recycle Bin, or using other deletion actions that bypass the Recycle Bin altogether. Such actions include Windows Shift-Delete, command line deletion, deleting excessively large files or using applications that delete files without the Recycle Bin.

Restore My Files feature highlights:

• Recovers files instantly from hard drives, floppy drives and other types of fixed media. If you are a home user or a network administrator, Restore My Files fills a critical gap in your data protection strategy.
• Rapid scan engine – a typical hard drive can be scanned for recoverable files within minutes. Scan all files and directories on selected hard drives.
• Search for a recoverable file using part or all of its file name. Utilizing a non-destructive, read-only file recovery approach. Restore My Files will not write or make changes to the section of the drive from which it is recovering data.
• Batch file recovery (recovers multiple files in one action).
  Works around bad-sector disk areas. Recovers data where other programs fail.
• Supports standard IDE/ATA/SCSI hard drives.
• Supports hard drives formatted with Windows FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS file systems.

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Does your computer have one of the following problems?

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