Last month I provided information detailing how to personalize your Desktop with regard to Windows 7 supplied scenes.  I hope you enjoyed the article and tried some of the scenes available.

This month I’m going to describe how you can become more creative and place a photograph of your choice, or even a slide show of your photographs, on the Desktop.

To locate a single picture from your Pictures folder, click Start and the following window will appear:

In the Search programs and files box at the bottom of the window, type the words Desktop Background.

At the top of the window, under the words Control Panel, click on the phrase Change desktop background and the following window will appear:

Click on the drop-down arrow to the right of Picture location and the following options will be shown:

Select Pictures Library and all of your albums will be shown.  First, select the photo that you’d like to appear as your Desktop Background.  Then, click on the drop-down arrow to the right of Picture position and select Fill.  Finally, click on Save changes at the bottom right of the window, and the selected photo will now appear on your Desktop, filling the entire screen

Just like you make your home comfortable with warming in the winter months and cooling during the summer, you can make your Desktop background pleasing to your eyes, with a wide variety of scenes or pictures.

Your Desktop background, also called wallpaper, doesn’t have to be the Windows default image.  You can get creative and turn your background into a personal photo, a Windows-supplied image, a single color, or a photo outlined in color.  If you can’t decide which image to use, it’s also possible to create a slideshow, changing the timing of each image displayed.

This month’s article will deal only with using Windows supplied Desktop images.  Next month I will cover the steps needed to use a single photo, or photo slide show, as your Desktop Background.

To access your wallpaper settings, right-click on any empty area of your Desktop and select Personalize:

When you select Personalize, a wide variety of backgrounds will be displayed from which to choose.  For example, you may select themes relating to Architecture, Characters, Landscapes, Nature, Scenes, United States, or one of several other subjects.  Let’s say you choose Landscapes, which contain six different images.  Click on the Landscapes image and then click on Desktop Background

Now that you’ve decided on the Desktop Background, you’ll want to determine how often the images, or slide show, should change.  There’s a wide variety of timing from which to choose, from as often as once every ten seconds to as little as once every day, with several increments in between.  This will also allow you to see what all the images look like.

When you click on the Drop Down symbol under Change picture every:, you’ll have the opportunity to select the frequency of change.

To see how the images actually appear on your screen, select ten seconds so that you’ll be able to see each of the images in the slide show one after the other, every ten seconds.

Once you’ve selected the frequency of change to ten seconds, click Save changes at the bottom right of the window and then close the open window by clicking on the “X” at the top right:

As we all know, computers don’t last forever.  And, with today’s processing power and lower prices, it’s a better choice to buy a new one instead of repairing an older one.  But, if your computer does what you want, and is responsive to your needs, there’s no reason to replace it.  Sometimes, the addition of more memory and optimization of your current PC could do much to enhance it.

Most casual users surf the Internet, send and receive emails, store and edit photos, and play games.  But, buyers often try to get the fastest, biggest, and best of everything, adding unnecessary features and software.  The real questions should take into consideration how much you want to spend, how much do you really need, and should you buy a laptop or a desktop?

Most of the buying decision is a game of specs, with processor, memory, and hard drive size being the most prominent.  You don’t have to look for the fastest computer, but should make sure that you buy one with a second generation processor chip, like Intel’s Core I3, I5, or I7 series.  And, don’t forget about memory, probably the most important consideration.  For a Windows 7 PC, I recommend at least 4GB of memory.  If a computer comes with 6G, or even 8GB of memory, all the better.

Most PCs today come with at least a 500GB disk drive, and many come with 750GB, or even 1TB (1,000GB).

I’ll share a story I tell many people.  My prior PC had an 80GB disk drive, which at the time I purchased it, was a considered a large drive.  On this drive, I had the operating system, all my application programs, thousands of pictures, a music library of about 500 songs, and tons of Word, Excel, Publisher and PowerPoint files.  Sounds like a ton of data, doesn’t it?  Well, all of this information consumed only 25GB of space, leaving me with 55GB of free disk space.  Can you imagine how much data you can fit on a 500GB disk drive?

In terms of capabilities, current desktops and laptops are pretty much equivalent.  Desktops are usually faster in terms of processor speed, although the typical user should not notice the difference.   Further, desktops and are easier to work with if the need arises to add new components, like memory, video cards, etc.  Anything one can do, the other can do just about as well.  The major difference is price.  A laptop is likely to be at least $200 to $300 more expensive than the equivalent desktop.

Although laptops account for 52% of PC sales, and desktops, 59%, laptop sales continue to grow.  Contrast this to 2006, when laptops accounted for only 30% of PC ownership.   Small screens and cramped keyboards have been replaced by bigger, crisper displays, improved processor speed, and ample disk drives.  A continued growing interest in wireless computing plays to the laptop’s main strength: its portability.

Dell and others pioneered the notion that every computer can be tailored to an individual buyer’s needs, much like choosing the options for a car.  This configure-to-order model is now common practice for laptops as well as desktops.

You can also purchase a pre-configured computer off the shelf in a store or on-line.  That’s fine if you don’t have very strict requirements for how a PC is configured or if you want to take advantage of an attractive sale.

Configure-to-order menus show you all the options and let you see how a change in one affects the overall price.  You may decide to use a less-expensive processor, for example, but spend more for expanded memory.  Configure-to-order will often give you choices you won’t get if you buy off the shelf.  And configure-to-order means less chance of overlooking important details.

The PC has become just another appliance you use every day.  Replacement sales, and not first-time purchases, now drive the computer market.  Fully loaded desktops selling for less than $600 are common, even among established brands.  And, even the least expensive desktop PC delivers impressive performance.

Before you commit to a new purchase, decide whether upgrading your old PC will do.  Upgrading, rather than replacing it, may make sense if you’re on a budget or your additional needs are modest.  For example, adding more memory is usually more cost-effective than buying a whole new machine.  If your PC has become unreliable, your want list is more demanding, or if there’s software you must run that your system is not up to, a new PC is the logical answer.

Unlike past models, today’s workhorse laptops perform much like desktops. But there are still reasons to choose one over the other that go beyond portability.

If you’ll use a laptop mostly at home, and have a network installed, you can easily move it from room to room, or even use it on your patio.  And while all the Windows desktops are tower models that can be placed below the desk, the keyboard and mouse take up more width on the desk than a laptop.

But, what you get in a desktop is greater storage capacity, memory, multimedia features, and ease of expansion.  A desktop offers more flexibility in configuring your workspace for better ergonomics.  Also, desktops cost less overall (with prices that start at roughly $400, plus the cost of a monitor, compared with a minimum of $500 for laptops), and their more standardized designs translate into lower repair costs.

A new type of desktop, called an All-in-One is making a big statement: no tower!  Dell offers one at $600 which comes with a 23” HD display, a wireless mouse and keyboard, 4GB of memory, a 500GB disk drive, and a Pentium Processor.

Until next month, happy computing!

Alan Briskin@seniortech.biz

Do you have difficulty typing on your keyboard? Do you use the ‘hunt and peck’ method? Although unfamiliarity with the keyboard presents the most difficulty, I’ve also witnessed problems with students who have physical difficulties with their hands and women with long fingernails struggling to type. Well, if you fit into one of these categories, you might want to learn more about a program called Dragon Naturally Speaking, designed and distributed by Nuance Software.

When I began teaching Microsoft Word, I started to realize the difficulty my students had with using the keyboard to type sample documents. Most used the ‘hunt and peck’ method, slowing my instruction to a crawl. As a result, I decided to provide the sample documents electronically, as part of my courses so that my students would not have to spend an inordinate amount of time to type them. And, this saved me huge amounts of time, allowing me to maintain the teaching continuity that I strive for.

With Dragon Home, you’ll be surprised at how much productivity and creativity is inside you. Dragon understands what you say and how you say it. Simply speak words and they appear on the screen – three times faster than typing – with no typos. Tell your PC what to do and it does it. Use Dragon Home with your favorite applications to dictate reports, send email, surf the Web, update Facebook, and more.

Stop Typing, Start Talking
Say words and watch them appear on your screen in Word, WordPerfect, Outlook, and more, with up to 99% recognition accuracy right out of the box.

Express Yourself
Transform ideas into text at the speed of thought without letting typing or spelling slow you down. Convert your thoughts into words just by talking, it’s that simple!

Say It, Do It
Tell your PC what to do, such as “Search maps for financial advisors in Boston, Massachusetts” and it does it. Dragon understands and obeys your voice commands. It even gets to know you better over time so recognition accuracy keeps increasing.

Sit Back, Relax, and Get More Done
Control your PC in a comfortable, hands-free mode without being frustrated by your keyboard and mouse.

Get Personal
Dragon adapts to your voice and the words you use. You can even personalize Dragon with your own word lists of acronyms, proper names and other unique phrases.

Nuance also has a product called Dragon Dictation, which is available for the iPad™, iPhone™ and iPod Touch™. Just download the app on your Apple device. And, best of all, it’s free. It’s an easy-to-use voice recognition application that allows you to quickly speak and instantly see your text or email messages, up to five times faster than typing on the keyboard. So, when you are on-the-go, turn talk into type with Dragon Dictation – from short text messages to longer email messages, and anything in between.

Dragon Home for the PC retails for $99.99. Nuance has been offering a sale price of $74.99. There’s also a version available for the MAC which retails for $199.99, currently on sale for $174.99.

Check www.nuance.com for additional product information, support and pricing,

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me via email at AlanBriskin@seniortech.biz.

Did you know that this and all previous Tips & Pointers articles are available on the Internet? Just go to the Senior Technology Associates website, www.seniortech.biz and click on the Tips & Pointers tab.

Although buying on-line creates a certain amount of fear, it does present several opportunities and conveniences. Rather than waste time fighting through traffic and searching for parking spaces at the mall, why not shop from the comfort of your home?

The first concern that many have is that their credit card information will be “out there” in cyberspace for hackers to hijack. But, if you deal with third-party payment services, such as PayPal (www.paypal.com), you could be assured that their security measures are more than sufficient to protect you and your personal information from cyber-criminals. Most on-line retailers have stringent security layers in place to protect customers from cyber crimes, such as identity theft.

These services let you set up an account that includes all of your information, (including your name, address, and credit card number), and then allow you to use the account to pay for your merchandise on-line rather than directly providing your personal information for each purchase. Just enter your User ID or email address and Password.

There are other third-party payment services such as Google Checkout (www.google.com/checkout), Amazon (www.amazon.com), and several others, in addition to PayPal.

I still buy and sell on-line from eBay. In the recent past, when you won an auction, your payment went directly to the seller and this is someone you don’t know. There have been many fraudulent transactions in the early years because of this. A few years ago, eBay purchased PayPal to handle all buy and sell transaction. Now, you have a safety net to ensure that your payment will reach the seller only if you receive and are satisfied with the item you purchased. And, the seller is also protected. If no payment reaches PayPal, you don’t ship the item.

My wife, Susan, frequently buys from HSN and QVC. We initially set up an account, providing all of the information required. Now, all purchases from these Websites are transacted securely, with a minimum of effort on her part. I, too, purchase items from various Websites. But I use PayPal to make the payment for me.

According to Tim Callan, vice-president of marketing for VeriSign (www.verisign.com; the security technology for many on-line payment outlets, including PayPal), consumers sign up for these services for two reasons: convenience and security.

However, Callan says the way we pay on-line has changed and evolved overtime. “If you look at where PayPal started – and the reason why PayPal even existed – it is so people could make payments on (the on-line auction site) eBay when they didn’t know who the person was on the other side and weren’t prepared to give them a credit card. So that is very much the noncredit card payment legacy,” he says.

People have transitioned to using alternative payment methods for convenience because they don’t have to enter all their personal information for every on-line purchase. This makes it quicker and easier to buy things on-line, in addition to being safer. On-line payment services also protect consumers and make them feel secure because consumers only have to build a trust relationship with a handful of organizations.

PayPal is the most ubiquitous third-party payment service. Once you’ve set up an account with your personal and billing information, you can begin shopping at merchants that support the PayPal payment method. When you’re ready to make a purchase with one of these on-line retailers, you sign in to your PayPal account with your email address and Password, rather than insert your credit card information. Then, you can continue the transaction through your PayPal account.

The best way for consumers to protect themselves is to give out information only to trusted on-line merchants (and not individuals that sell goods on-line) and use reputable third-party payment services for transactions.

Additionally, when you are on a Website, take a look at the address. All Website addresses begin with http. To ensure that you are on a secure Website, make certain that it has an “s” after the http so it will read https.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me via email at AlanBriskin@seniortech.biz

There are several methods you can use to back up your data. Many use one of the following :

External USB Connected Hard Drive
CDs or DVDs
Flash (Thumb) Drives

Any of these methods are fine but in no way fully protect your data. Most users that Senior Technology Associates sees don’t back up at all. We’ve seen too many that have suffered a disk drive crash, rendering your PC unusable and, therefore, provides no access to your data. Recovering your data is usually an expensive proposition. And, there are times when your disk drive becomes so corrupted, that data recovery is impossible.

Backing up to media, such as mentioned above, is better than not backing up at all. Usually, those that back up to removable media keep this media right next to, or connected to, their PC. If, for example, you have a fire or flood, there’s a good chance that your backup media could also be destroyed. One way to protect your media is to store them in a fireproof safe. But, if you’re like most PC users, those that do not back up at all, it’s doubtful that if you do use external back up media, you would take the time to store if safely.

It’s absolutely critical to perform some sort of regularly scheduled back up to ensure the integrity of your data, including all of those beautiful, and irreplaceable, pictures.

On-line backup programs, which have the capability to back up your data on a regularly scheduled basis, appear to be the best method available. Think about it: once you set the schedule, there’s nothing else for you to do. You won’t have to worry about making the time to backup your data or safely protecting your in-house backup media. Further, the backup data is encrypted, fully protecting anyone from viewing, changing or copying any or all of it.

Although there are many on-line backup services available, I’m going to briefly discuss one of the most widely used providers, Carbonite. According to the NY Times, “Carbonite is the easiest on-line backup software to use.”

Installing Carbonite on your computer is easy because the software takes you through the quick setup process step-by-step. You won’t need to restart your computer or close anything you’re working on. Just select automatic setup during installation and Carbonite will take care of the rest.

Once you install Carbonite, you’ll never have to remember to back up again. The automatic backup runs continually in the background, backing up new and changed files whenever your computer is connected to the internet. Using Carbonite will not affect the way you use your computer. It’s designed to go to sleep when you’re using your computer so that it doesn’t slow you down.

I’ve written many articles about the importance of backing up your data Using Carbonite is not only an excellent means of backing up all of your data but, more importantly, it provides you with a resource you’ll need if you ever have to retrieve any of your data.

If you accidentally delete a file or folder, Carbonite, for a period of thirty days, retains your information. After that time period, Carbonite deletes those files or folders from their servers. You can easily find a list of your deleted data by using their “Restore” procedure

If your computer crashes, is stolen, or just dies, you can log in to Carbonite and click “Restore.” Carbonite provides a step by step tutorial to guide you through the entire procedure to restore your data.

When we go away for a period of time, whether it’s a vacation or winter getaway, we usually take a laptop or netbook with us to be able to continue with our emailing and web searching. If you’re away from home and need to access a file that’s stored on your home computer, you just have to log in to your account at Carbonite.com to retrieve it. Of course, you’ll need to have Internet access to do this. You’ll see your files arranged exactly as they are on your home computer. Locate the file you need and open it, save it, or attach it to an email and pass it along.

If your computer dies, you won’t have to worry about how, and if, you can recover your information to transfer it to a new one… or the high cost of data recovery. Whether it’s a MAC or a PC, you can use Carbonite to fully restore your files. You can also transfer your subscription to the new computer.

For $59 a year, per computer, you will receive unlimited storage for fully protecting your data. Realize that all of the programs you have on your old computer will have to be manually installed on your new computer.

A real plus is that every Carbonite subscription includes free support by email, chat, and phone.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me via email at AlanBriskin@seniortech.biz.

I would imagine you might be a bit confused when you read the title of this month’s Tips and Pointers article: Viewers. Although it has nothing to do with telescopes, binoculars, or any other physical device that helps you see something, it does help you see certain kinds of email attachments.

The term Viewers in this article deals with viewing PowerPoint or Word documents sent as attachments through email. If you have Microsoft Office or OpenOffice.org’s OpenOffice installed in your PC, you don’t need any type of Viewer program. But, for those of you that do not have these programs installed, you won’t be able to view any email attachments written in PowerPoint or Word.

There have been several occasions when I have received phone calls telling me that an email attachment can’t be opened. I ask the caller to forward the email to me so that I can review it and try to answer their question. Invariably, the attachment is written in PowerPoint or Word. And, since I have Microsoft Office installed on my PC, I have no problem opening and viewing the document.

It is at this point that I tell the caller to install both the PowerPoint and Word Viewer Programs, both of which are offered by Microsoft, and both free of charge. Be aware, though, that these Viewer programs do not afford you the opportunity to create or modify any PowerPoint or Word documents. They only allow you to view these types of documents sent to you via email.

To download PowerPoint and Word Viewers, go to Microsoft.com. When the Home Page appears, type in the word Viewers, as shown below, and press the Enter key.

The page that now appears provides you with several search results. Choose the first one in the list: Office Online Converters and Viewers.The screen that now displays provides you with several choices: which program Viewer and which version of the Viewer do you want to download. Scroll down the page until you see PowerPoint converters and viewers. Under the caption PowerPoint converters and viewers, select PowerPoint Viewer 2003.

Once you have selected PowerPoint Viewer 2003, the following screen appears. Click on the Download button and follow the prompts.

Once the download is complete, you’ll be able to view any PowerPoint documents that are sent to you, attached to an email.

Follow the same script to download Microsoft’s Word Viewer.

Again, be aware that if you have Microsoft Office or OpenOffice.org’s OpenOffice installed on your PC, you don’t have to be concerned with these Viewer programs. By token of having the programs on your PC, you will always be able to open PowerPoint or Word attachments sent to you via emails… or even given to you on a CD, Thumb Drive, etc.

Many of Senior Technology Associates’ clients use their PCs for surfing the ‘net and for email. And, I’ve found that most of them don’t want to pay for a suite of programs, such as Microsoft Office, that they won’t use. Microsoft should be applauded for enabling users such as these to download Viewer programs free of charge.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me via email at AlanBriskin@seniortech.biz.

Years ago, many of us took pictures using film cameras. Whether it was on vacation or function, or just a fun day with family, we always had the film developed and then placed the pictures we liked into a photo album. And, it lived forever… to be shared, or just to bring back fond memories.

Well, today we live in a digital world. All the pictures we take with our digital cameras are downloaded to our computers. And, unlike days of yore, we now either show these images on our computer or email them to friends or family. Seldom do we print any, and that’s a shame.

I see families looking through photo albums that they’ve created and there are always smiles on their faces. These photo albums are great keepsakes and keep yesterday’s fond memories alive through generations.

But, did you know you can have professional looking albums of your digital images created for you at very reasonable prices?

Four years ago, we celebrated my sister’s 75th birthday at Trump International Hotel, in Sunny Isles, Florida. Of course it was a surprise. The entire family attended: siblings, their spouses, children, and grandchildren. There I was, at the ready with my digital camera, taking every opportunity to capture the weekend event.

When I returned home, I downloaded the pictures, all 100 of them, printed a “proof” set of four pictures to a page, and mailed them to my sister with a promise that I’d make her an album to keep that event alive and rekindle the fond memories of a terrific party weekend.

Well, when we reached the two year mark, I still haven’t kept my promise.

Two years ago, at our annual family Thanksgiving gathering, my sister finally reviewed with me those pictures she’d like included. The count was sixty-six.

Then, I spoke to some members of the Regency Digital Photography Club who used an on-line service to create very professional photo albums at a reasonable cost. Two of the most frequented Websites used were Shutterfly (www.shutterfly.com), and Snapfish (www.snapfish.com).

I spoke with Al Ross and Howard Wichansky about the services they used, the ease of navigating the Website, creating the front and back covers, the spine, and the pages, and, of course, how the final product looked.

Al brought over a few albums he created using Shutterfly. And, they were absolutely magnificent. So, I made the commitment to finally create an album for my sister and have it ready for this Thanksgiving holiday.

Looking back at creating this album, I’d have to say it was fairly easy once I familiarized myself with the various page layouts, covers and spine. The only real difficulty I had was choosing the styles and colors. Imagine going to a department store like Macy’s where all they sell are ties. Five floors of ties! Can you envision how difficult it would be to choose just one?

Well, Shutterfly was the service I chose. And, the album they produced was a work of art! A real Coffee Table Photo Book!

Now, how do you start? The first step is to register on-line, providing your name and address, telephone number, and email address.

Then, what you must do is upload your selected images to Shutterfly. It may sound difficult, but the on-line screens are easy to understand and, one by one, take you through every step of this process. And, this is the easy part!

Now that all of the images have been captured, you have to make several decisions. And, I found this to be the most challenging part (think Macy’s). You can place one or more images to a page. You have the option of choosing any of the many templates and colors provided by Shutterfly.

It’s all about decision-making. Do I use one, two, three, or more images on this page? Should I make one larger than the others? Should I tilt one of them? All of them? Do I want to add text to an individual image? To a page? How about a collage on one page? Decisions, decisions! Wait, I just got started.

Now I had to choose a background and a color. Wait! I could choose more than one background and any of what seemed like a never-ending choice of colors (again, think Macy’s). Well, this is where I stalled. This color looks good, but so does this other one. What a great background, but look at the other choices. So many decisions! So, I did what every husband does and asked my wife, Susan, to help me make the choices. And, what a job she did!

We reviewed each page layout and the accompanying text, the background and colors, the front and back covers, the spine, and finally, (she) we were done.

After choosing a 12X12 hard cover album, I submitted the finished package to Shutterfly. The cost was $59.95 plus tax (Shutterfly was offering free shipping at the time I placed the order).

Five days after I submitted the order, the album was at my front door. Susan and I excitedly looked at the front and back covers and the spine. Next, we leafed through each page and the smiles never left our faces. A professional looking Coffee Table Photo Book. One that can be physically and electronically (through Shutterfly) shared with friends and family. Or just by ourselves.

Photo paper and ink would have cost a lot more than the cost of this album. More importantly, it wouldn’t have looked as professional.

That Thanksgiving weekend, Susan and I presented it to my sister and, of course, I had my camera ready to capture the moment. And what a wonderful day it was! My sister was overwhelmed with the album, and couldn’t get over how professional it looked. As a matter of fact, there are some times we speak and she tells me that she just finished looking at the album… again!

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me via email at AlanBriskin@seniortech.biz.

On-Line banking can save you time, provides you with a convenient method to pay your bills, and allow you to better monitor and control your budget.

We all hear about the perils of on-line banking, such as losing funds, identity theft, etc.  But, this is only true if you don’t take the necessary precautions when banking on-line.

It took me several years to finally succumb to this time-saving and convenient method to pay my bills.  I, too, mistrusted on-line banking.  But, the many on-line features and precautions offered by banks far outweigh the perils you read about.

If you’re careful with your on-line banking, you’ll appreciate the many benefits available.  For example, you will save money by no longer needing postage stamps to mail your bills.  Further, you can schedule payments to be made on future dates.  Not only can you pay your bills electronically, but you can also transfer money between accounts.  Additionally, when you pay your bills through on-line banking, you’ll know exactly when the payment will be received… another nice benefit.

Since its debut just a decade ago, on-line banking has become one of the fastest-growing activities on the Internet.  Roughly 43% of people who use the Internet, or about 63 million Americans, do some banking there, according to a 2006 survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project – even more than make travel reservations online.

If you understand and practice the precautions below, on-line banking is for you.

When you log on to your banks Website, look closely at the URL to make certain it matches the bank’s name.  Also be aware that a more secure URL will begin with https:// and be followed with the bank’s name.  Then, make sure that the bank’s padlock is displayed in a corner of its Website before you sign on.

Log on to your bank’s Website from a secure computer only.  Never log on from a public computer in a hotel or café, and be careful when logging on to unknown networks with a laptop.

If you get a warning email that appears to be from your bank, do not reply without first calling your bank to verify its authenticity.  Under no circumstances should you click on any links shown.  Some emails look like the real thing.  And, they carry a message stating that your account will be suspended if you don’t update your profile.  There are PC users that fall prey to these “phishing” emails and do provide the information requested.

If your computer appears to be misbehaving, that is, running slowly, getting pop-ups, have your system checked before resuming on-line banking activities.

Be certain your anti-virus and spyware programs are up to date.

Make sure your Firewall is ON.

Banks and credit card companies will never ask you for personal information in an email such as your User ID, Password, Social Security Number, etc.  If you get emails requesting this information, do not reply and notify your bank as soon as possible.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me via email at AlanBriskin@seniortech.biz.

As with all of us, there are always emails we receive that we’d like to share with friends and family. So, what do we do? Well, the easiest and fastest way to share information in emails is to forward them.

Well, just like there are protocols we follow for email and Website addresses, there are also protocols for forwarding emails. Do you know how to forward emails? Recent statistics indicate that half of us do and half of us do not.

Have you ever wondered why you get viruses or junk mail? Don’t you just hate it? Every time you forward an email there is information left over from the people who got the message before you, namely their email addresses and names. As the messages get forwarded along, the list of addresses builds, and builds, and builds, and all it takes is for one of the recipients to get a virus, and his or her computer can send that virus to every email address that has come across his computer. Or, someone can take all of those addresses and sell them or send junk mail to them in the hopes that you will go to the site and he will make five cents for each hit. That’s right, all of that inconvenience over a nickel! How do you stop it? Well, there are several easy steps.

Try the following if you haven’t done it before:

When you forward an email, delete all of the other addresses that appear in the body of the message (at the top). That’s right, delete them. Highlight them and delete them, backspace them, cut them, whatever it is you know how to do. It only takes a second. You must click the Forward button first and then you will have full editing capabilities against the body and headers of the message. If you don’t click on Forward first, you won’t be able to edit the message at all.

Whenever you send an email to more than one person, do NOT use the To or CC fields for adding the recipients’ email addresses. Always use the BCC (blind carbon copy) field for listing the email addresses. By doing it this way, the people you send to will only see their own email address. If you don’t see your BCC option, click on where it says To and your Address Book will appear. Highlight the address and choose BCC and that’s it, it’s that easy. When you send using BCC, your message will automatically indicate Undisclosed Recipients in the To field of the people who receive it.

Remove the word FWD in the subject line. You can also rename the subject if you wish or even fix spelling errors.

ALWAYS hit your Forward button from the actual email you are reading. Ever get those emails where you have to open 10 pages to read the one page with the information on it? By forwarding from the actual page you wish someone to view, you stop them from having to open many emails just to see what you sent.

Better yet, rather than forward the message, just copy and paste it into a new email.

Have you ever gotten an email that is a petition? It states a position and asks you to add your name and address and to forward it to 10 or 15 people or your entire Address Book. The email can be forwarded on and on and can collect thousands of names and email addresses.

FACT: The completed petition is actually worth a couple of bucks to a professional spammer because of the wealth of valid names and email addresses contained therein.

DO NOT put your email address on any petition. If you want to support the petition, send it as your own personal letter to the intended group or recipient. Your position may carry more weight as a personal letter than a laundry list of names and email address on a petition. And don’t believe the ones that say that the email is being traced, because it just isn’t so!

Some of the other emails to delete and not forward are:

The one that says something like “Send this email to 10 people and you’ll see something great run across your screen.” Or sometimes they’ll just tease you by saying “something really cute will happen.” Don’t believe it!!! We’re still seeing some of the same emails that we waited on 10 years ago!

Don’t let the bad luck ones scare you either, just trash them.

Before you forward an Amber Alert, or a Virus Alert, or some of the other emails floating around nowadays, check them out before you forward them. Most of them are junk mail that’s been circling the ‘net for years! Just about everything you receive in an email that is in question can be checked out at http://www.snopes.com/ or www.truthorfiction.com. It’s really easy to find out if it’s real or not. If it’s not, please don’t pass it on. And, if it is false, you may want to contact the person who sent it to you.

For example, I recently received a “warning” email telling me and all the other recipients that we’d better register with the National Do No Call Registry because cellular telephone numbers are going to be sold to marketers by the end of June. Well, I checked it out on Snopes.com and found it to be false. It usually floods email mailboxes in January and June. I notified the sender, provided the link to the article on Snopes.com, and asked her to inform the other recipients. All she did was reply to my email telling me everyone at home was fine.

So please, in the future, let’s stop the junk mail and the viruses.

Finally, here’s an idea: Let’s send this to everyone we know (but strip my address off first, please). This is something that should be forwarded, so do it.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me via email at AlanBriskin@seniortech.biz.