Editor: Nora Rubinoff
At Your Service Cincinnati Ltd
 |
Nora Rubinoff has over two decades of computing, technical and administrative experience. Nora's enthusiasm for helping both emerging and established Virtual Assistants navigate technology and best business practices is well known in the industry. She works daily to help colleagues, clients and friends manage technology to enhance business productivity. |
Nora's tips...
Gmail As Anti-Spam and as a Collection Point for All Your E-mail Accounts
Gmail is one of the most robust free e-mail programs available. Currently, Gmail offers more than 5 gig of storage in its free accounts. If you need more storage, it can be purchased for a nominal yearly fee.
Gmail's anti-spam capabilities are impressive. I get a fair amount of spam -- probably due to online shopping and because my e-mail address is out there on the net in so many places. I've tried a variety of anti-spam software options through the years with varying success.
Recently, I've read some blog posts on filtering your e-mail through Gmail for its anti-spam functionality. I've found that this works better than many anti-spam services out there that charge a fee for their product.
I can forward my current e-mail addresses to my Gmail account through the control panel (or web mail panel) associated with each e-mail address. One of my accounts doesn't allow forwarding. Not to worry -- one of Gmail's many features is that you can have it pull your mail via POP right from within Gmail. This works beautifully. Note that you can only pull your e-mail from within Gmail for up to 5 accounts.
Between forwarding and using POP mail for my one account that doesn't allow forwarding, I've redirected all my mail through Gmail.
In the settings area of Gmail, I can set Gmail to always reply to the sender of the e-mail using the e-mail address they sent the message to. So, if they sent the message to me at 12345@mydomain.com, even though my Gmail address might be something else, I can still send my reply from my 12345@mydomain.com e-mail address, right from within the
Gmail web client.
In addition, Gmail has keyboard shortcuts that help you make quick work of the volumes of e-mail you receive each day. Once you've turned on keyboard shortcuts in the settings menu within Gmail, you may use the following shortcuts:
c to compose a new message
/ to put your cursor in the search box to conduct a search
n to move to the next message
p to move to the previous message
y to archive a message
m to mute a message (This archives the conversation, and all future messages skip the Inbox unless sent or cc'd directly to you.)
x checks and selects a conversation so that you can archive, apply a label or choose an action
! reports the message as spam
r opens a reply to a message
f forwards a message
There are many more keyboard shortcuts. Log into your Gmail account, enable keyboard shortcuts from the settings menu and click to "learn more" next to the shortcuts selection.
Vista to XP Downgrade
I chose to switch to the Mac platform rather than adopt Vista. I’m very glad I made that choice. I still run a PC in my office with XP Professional (I have a KVM switch that toggles keyboard and mouse control between my Mac and my PC), and I run XP Professional on Parallels on my Mac as well.Bob Rankin’s TOURBUS e-mail newsletter has a write up today on how to downgrade your PC from Vista to XP. Many Windows users who adopted Vista are choosing to do this, for a variety of reasons, including hardware incompatibility, lack of available drivers, sluggish performance, software incompatibilities (including freezes and crashes) and the new Digital Rights Management feature that “unfairly restricts the freedom of users.”
As long as you are NOT running Vista Home Basic or Home Premium (in those cases, you have to completely wipe your hard drive and reinstall a new copy of XP - ugh!), read Bob Rankin’s how to instructions on downgrading to XP by clicking http://askbobrankin.com/vista_to_xp_downgrade.html.
Organize Your Mac Mail Messages By Color
If you are a Mac Mail user, you can color code message subject lines in Mail with a few quick clicks.
From your inbox, select the subject line of a message while it is sitting unopened in your inbox. Depress Command ("Apple Key")-Shift- C. A color palette will appear. Select the color of your choice. When you select off the subject line, you'll notice that the message is now highlighted in the color you selected.
While you can use Rules to always color the text of a message with a certain subject line or from a certain sender, Command-Shift-C allows you to create a highlighter effect over selected messages. Those who utilize GTD (Getting Things Done) methodologies will find this feature useful as a method of organizing mail into contexts. This feature is also useful for prioritizing messages in Mail -- for example, red for priority action items, yellow for items that need completed this week and green for items that have a low priority.
Frozen in a Powered-Off State
I recently purchased an Apple iPhone. I love it. As a virtual assistant and small business owner, the iPhone makes the time I spend away from my computer pleasant and productive.
I was surprised yesterday when I reached for my iPhone and could not get it to awaken. Pushing the home button or the power key did nothing to bring the device back to life. If you are an iPhone user and have not experienced this issue yet, there's a decent chance you will. Don't panic!
After a quick call to AT&T, we were transferred to Apple Care, where we described our symptom. The tech had an amusing way of explaining our plight. "So," he said, "it appears that your device is frozen in a powered-off state." My husband and I chuckled at his description. (The next time some piece of electronics is dead in our house, we've resolved to refer to it not as dead, but as "frozen in a powered-off state!")
The tech instructed us to perform a hard reset on the phone, but assured us we would lose no data. To do this, depress the home button and the power button at the same time, for 10-30 seconds, until the Apple logo appears in the center of the device's screen. The phone resets and you are back in business.
The tech told us that this issue has been reported by others, and that Apple will address this issue in a future update.
The next time your Apple iPhone appears to be "frozen in a powered-off state," try performing a hard reset to awaken it.
Remove formatting from documents
A discussion group recently had a post from a virtual assistant who was frustrated because he received data to be added to a web site as a Word document, and the formatting was improper when dropped into his html document.
First, remember that good html editing tools like Macromedia Dreamweaver provide some built in mechanisms for removing formatting (particularly Word documents). However, sometimes you need more flexibility.
I use a “stripper” to remove formatting (viewable and hidden) such as Text Monkey from Boxer Software or TextPad from Helios Software Solutions when I’m working with content that’s been sent to me with formatting.
These are also handy tools when you need to strip content from e-mail messages such as forwarding marks and the like. If you only need to strip formatting marks and such from e-mail messages, check out Email Stripper from www.papercut.biz — it’s free.
Hey, would it be okay if I upload this picture of you to my blog?
Have you heard a request like this? If you regularly blog, this wouldn’t be an out of line query to receive.
However, InfoWorld reported that this is a form of AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) worm. You may receive a message from a colleague who is infected or from an address you don’t know with a question like “Hey, would it be okay if I upload this picture of you to my blog?”
“The worm, known as W32.pipeline, propagates when AIM users click on a Web link that appears to have been sent to them by someone on their buddy list,” says InfoWorld.
My five top tips for instant messaging safety:
1) Never click on an attachment from a source, known or unknown, unless you are certain that they are sending you a file you’ve asked for and are expecting. When in doubt, call them or e-mail them to confirm before selecting the file to download.
2) Never respond to IM messages from people you do not know. Immediately put them on your “block” list.
3) Always keep your anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall software up to date. AVG Anti-Virus from Grisoft has a great free anti-virus product. If you’re a Windows user, use Windows firewall at the minimum (enable in your Control Panel / Security area) or download and use the ZoneAlarm Personal Firewall from Zone Labs. Ad-Aware from Lavasoft is a good start for a free adware and spyware scanning application, or check out Grisoft’s new free offering, Ewido.
4) Educate your clients and colleagues/friends about IM safety, and about news of worms such as this one that threaten their computer’s security.
5) Finally, keep your instant messaging software up to date. Usually, selecting Help / Check for Update from the pull down menus in your IM app will allow you to check for the latest updates.
Instant messaging is a critical tool for your productivity. Following these guidelines will help keep you safe.
Be aware when using Wi-Fi in an airport
From PC Magazine’s Security Watch…
“Authentium, a developer of security software-as-a-service technologies, conducted a study that indicates that a high percentage of public wireless networks are imposter networks set up to capture confidential communications and facilitate identity theft.”
“Recent tests at Chicago’s O’Hare airport revealed that more than 90% of wireless networks available within the passenger terminals were ad-hoc, or peer-to-peer, connections, and more than 80% of these were advertising “free” Wi-Fi access. Many also displayed fake or misleading MAC addresses.”
“Users who casually join one of these networks are at risk of experiencing a “channeling” attack, which is a form of man-in-the-middle attack in which the fake access point can intercept and capture usernames, passwords, and other sensitive information. In fact, Windows is often set up to connect to networks automatically.”
Surf safely in airports or public places. Only sign on to trusted networks, such as a T-Mobile Hot Spot or free Panera wifi. And, as always, be aware of what your children are viewing and connecting to online, especially in public free wifi areas. Instruct them about making safe choices for site viewing and for connecting to other networks.
Basic image editing on the fly
If you’ve ever had a need to edit an image quickly — something basic like cropping or resizing — you know the hassle and time involved in letting Photoshop, Photoshop Elements or some other image editing program open so you can do your 20 seconds of work.
Enter Snipshot.com. Snipshot.com allows you to edit images right from their web site, and does it all quickly and painlessly. It can work with images up to 10 meg in size or 5000 by 5000 pixels in size. Resize, crop, rotate or adjust (basic stuff like brightness & contrast). It works beautifully on my Mac as well as on my PC.
Flaming
Flame, noun - an insulting message exchanged via e-mail or within newsgroups. A series of flames are known as flame wars.
Flame, verb - to send an angry, hostile, or abusive electronic message.
—
The medium of e-mail seems to make it very easy for people to flame. As a person who sends and receives many messages each day, and as a moderator of several online discussion groups, I’ve witnessed the impact that flaming can have.
There are a number of reasons why flaming occurs:
E-mail lacks face to face interaction with another person. When humans communicate, we rely on not only the message but on vocal tone and non-verbal queues such as facial expression and body language to make our interpretations. In an e-mail, if someone responds with “Yeah, sure,” that could be interpreted two ways. The sender of “Yeah, sure” could have been extremely busy, wanted to respond quickly and get back to work OR could have intended the response to be a sarcastic denial. If you can’t see your sender’s face, how do you know what they meant?
Some flamers seem to be utilizing e-mail as an electronic version of road rage. They’re in a bad mood and their recipient is going to bear the brunt of it. E-mail’s speed is wonderfully handy — and terribly dangerous.
From a Purdue University Business Writing Etiquette workshop:
“It is easy for writers to let their guards down when communicating electronically because they are not actually getting immediate feedback. The nature of communication changes. Sometimes people tend to do and say things over email and on electronic mailing lists that they would never do in an office meeting or face to face with a co-worker. Flaming e-mails are unproductive and can create a snowball effect because they can be forwarded or printed.”
When you are tempted to respond with anger, take time to cool down before sending your message. Ask clarifying questions of your sender to ensure you’re interpreting their message correctly, or consider picking up the telephone and discussing it voice to voice.
If your sender is indeed sending a flame, consider whether a response is even necessary. If a response is required, respond with professionalism and after careful review.
How to unblock attachments in Outlook 2003
Outlook 2003 (but not Outlook 2000 or 98) allows the user to use a registry key to open up access to blocked attachments.
Before proceeding, a note to the wise…always make a back up copy of your registry file before editing it!
To use this key:
Run Regedit, go to this key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Security
Add a new string value named: “Level1Remove” if it is not already there.
Set the Value for Level1Remove: enter a semicolon-delimited list of file extensions.
For example, entering this… exe;mdb;url …would unblock executable programs, Microsoft Access files and Internet shortcuts.
If you are using this registry entry, Help > About Microsoft Outlook will show Security Mode “User Controlled” above the license information.
Create a .pdf online for free with PDFOnline.com
ePublishingDaily.com writes about PDF Online, a quick, free and easy tool for creating .pdf documents online.
At PDFOnline.com, you browse to the document located on your computer that you wish to convert (maximum size is 2 meg), give the .pdf output a name and have the output emailed directly to you.
Protect yourself from Phishing
Phishing is the act of sending an e-mail to a user under the pretense that the sender is a legitimate business in an attempt to trick the user out of personal information such as credit card numbers, passwords, Social Security numbers and so forth. The user is sent via a link in the e-mail to a web site which claims to be legitimate (but is not) for purposes of harvesting such information.
If you receive an e-mail or popup asking for information such as your user name, password, credit card information or other important personal data…don’t bite! Remember, PayPal, your ISP, credit card provider, bank and other important companies will never ask you for your password or to re-key sensitive information. Delete the e-mail or close the popup. If you are in doubt, call the bank, credit card company, etc. first.
Look for clues that the message is a phishing scam:
Often, the English, spelling or grammar is not perfect in these messages - a dead giveaway.
Mouse over (without clicking) on a link in the e-mail or popup (or right click and view properties). Typically, you’ll see the link is directing you to a web address that is nothing like the web address of your bank, credit card company, etc. Often, it will be an IP address (all numbers with periods in between) or it will be an address that directs you to a foreign web site.
Keep your e-mail address private. Consider signing up for a free e-mail account through Hotmail or Yahoo and using it for all your online purchasing, e-mail newsletter subscriptions and the like. Never e-mail personal information or credit card information.
E-mail is not secure. When making an online purchase, look for the yellow padlock icon in the lower right corner of your browser window, or look that the web address of the page you are purchasing from starts with https:// — both signs of a secure transaction.
If you receive suspicious e-mail, report it to the FTC by forwarding it to spam@uce.gov.
Keep your antivirus software up to date. Need a free antivirus software application? Download AVG Antivirus from Grisoft.
Finally, always review your credit card and banking statements monthly and question any transactions you don’t recognize.
GoogleTalk Tips
I use GoogleTalk quite a bit to speak with colleagues, clients and family across the miles. I use it as well when my husband makes trips to the UK. I always find myself much faster with keyboard shortcuts, probably dating back to my old DOS and WordPerfect 5.1 days. From , here are a few quick reference tips for getting started.
CTRL + Mousewheel up/down: Change the font size in a conversation window.
CTRL + E: Center text
CTRL + R: Right justify text
CTRL + L or CTRL+J: Left justify text
CTRL + 1 (keypad): Change lineheight (single)
CTRL + 2 (keypad): Change lineheight (1,5)
CTRL + 5 (keypad): Change lineheight (double)
F9: Open Gmail to send an email to your friend
F11: Start a call with your friend
F12: Stop the current call
ESC: Close the current window
ALT + ESC: Minimize the current window
CTRL + SHIFT + L: Switch between points, numbers, letters, capital letters, roman numbers and capital roman numbers
TAB: Switch between multiple chat windows
CTRL + I: Same as TAB
SHIFT + TAB: Same as TAB but in reverse order
CTRL + TAB: Same as SHIFT + TAB
Text/SMS messaging made easy
The Hassle: I need to send text messages to friends’ and coworkers’ cell phones. I’ve tried using my phone to do it, but that’s cumbersome. Using my PC is even worse because I have to know the carrier, the domain, and other complicated syntax. Got a better way?
The Fix: Just enter the ten-digit phone number followed by @teleflip.com into the To: box of an e-mail message. It looks like this: 4255551212@teleflip.com. And yes, the Teleflip service is a freebie.