Byte by Bite

Needs Headline

by Marv Dealy

Let’s try this – ask around. Get names and phone numbers of 2 or 3 folks who have used the proposed installer and see what they say. Don’t, in the case of WildBlue, just take the first installer available on their web site. I have some references to pass along, both good and bad, but you’ll have to email me for them.

The email is stacking up faster than I can answer, so let’s run through an abbreviated bunch. First, William Barnes writes that he installed Office 97 on his “newer computer” because he likes the Word program. However, he can’t save Word documents to a CD getting a “You do not have access to the folder E: See your administrator for access to this folder” error message.

A couple of possibilities pop up here, William. First, if you don’t have Windows XP you can’t write straight to a CD as far as I know. Second, from your error message I wonder if you might not be logged on as the administrator for the computer. And third, try writing the file to your hard drive then transferring to your CD.

From reader Michael Sweeley comes a warning about a phishing email he received which claimed eBay’s security folk had noticed that his apparently stolen credit card was being fraudulently used somewhere in India. The phishers then asked Michael to click on a link and sign into a website where he would be asked for personal information, completing the phishing game.

Michael says he did click on the link in the email, and even tried filling out the online form although he doesn’t think it actually got sent. Michael writes “I read your discussion of phishing in the UD but never paid much attention.”

This is a good time to pay attention.

No reputable company will ever contact you by email and ask you to click on a link and go to a website and fill out a bunch of personal information. It won’t ever happen.

If you get an email claiming your supposedly stolen credit card is being used by someone else, call your credit card company for verification. Don’t respond to the email.

Michael, I do hope your information really didn’t get out into the Internet, but to paraphrase a former president “trust ‘em, but watch ‘em.” I’d suggest you call your credit card company and report the incident to them and see if there are any surprises waiting for you.

I received a phishing email along with the morning junk recently, purportedly from VISA and addressed to “Dear VISA card holder.” Sheesh. They couldn’t even address it to me personally. They include a link I’m supposed to click on and tell them why my credit card was used in Hungary at the following ATM location: “ATM location: Budai Ut 13.Martonvasar H-2462 at BUDAPEST BANK MARTONVASARI KIRENDELTSEG”

Pretty scary stuff, and sounds official too, doesn’t it. But it’s not – repeat after me “no reputable company will ever send me an email asking for personal stuff.” When I put my mouse over the link in the email (didn’t click on it, by the way) I could see right away that the www address revealed in the bottom of my email window wasn’t the same as what they’d typed in the body of the email. That’s a big clue it’s not a great idea to click on the link.

A question from reader Susan Machin concerns a printer that won’t work after a Windows update. Susan wrote “Help - my husband installed the latest Windows update to our computer, IBM ThinkVision, which is fairly new with Windows 2000. Now the printer we have does not work. The printer is HP DeskJet 952C, which is left over from our old Gateway. First the light went off and it appeared dead. After about 3 weeks the light went back on - a miracle. It printed a test page, but then would not print a document. My husband uninstalled the printer and then went to re-install. He got a message that the system does not support the printer. So now what? Do we never update the system again or do we have to buy a new printer?”

Well, Susan, I’m a little confused here. I did some Googling around to see what I could learn about your problem and I can’t find any mention of a ThinkVision computer from IBM. I did find lots of talk of ThinkVision monitors from IBM, or Lenovo as the case may be.

Go to your System Control Panel (go to Start, then Control Panels, then click on System) and read the “manufactured by” information at the bottom of the screen, email me that and let’s see what we can figure out. And I need a better idea what light went off then came back on. I’m guessing it might be on the printer and if so, is there some kind of a label or symbol indicating what the light might be trying to tell us?

Bill mmGates Retiring?

On a completely different note, I see where Bill Gates has announced his impending semi-retirement and somewhat-of-a-withdrawal from day-to-day operations at Microsoft, a well-known Redmond, Washington megalith.

Exhausted after counting all his money one day, Bill reportedly jumped to his feet and started yelling “that’s it! I have enough money!” and ran from the room.

Reports that claim he’ll actually let someone else be Microsoft’s chairman in the foreseeable future are exaggerated, however.

Other reports of Gates considering a run for political office are unsettling – imagine a politician more boring as a public speaker than was Gray Davis.

Friday Freebie

OK, these aren’t really free, but they’re pretty cheap – fifty different items from TigerDirect.com under fifty bucks each. The list includes a 160GB EIDE internal hard drive, a Sony DVD writer, a Polaroid digital camera, a combo MP3 player and FM tuner, a portable USB/Firewire external hard drive, an entire motherboard, and a mid-tower with 450 watt power supply. In fact, if you know what you’re doing, they have enough parts for under $50 each that you can make a computer yourself. Just don’t ask me to troubleshoot it.