One on One Computer Consultants
July 2008 eNewsletter

New Computer Technologies and General Information

Bill Gates Retires (from his day job)

In case you haven't heard, Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, retired from his full time job on June 27^th. No matter if you love him or hate him, you have to admit that he changed the computer world forever. He built Microsoft from a garage based geek center into one of the largest and most profitable companies in the world. To watch videos of his career, go to: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/billg/videos/

Virus/Spyware/Spam/Fraud Warning & Updates

Help in the Fight Against Malware (www.stopbadware.org/)

A partnership has been formed by academic institutions, technology leaders, and volunteers to protect Internet and computer users from bad software (malware) threats. The team has joined to together and created a web site to expose companies that are using the Internet to infect computers with malware, spyware, and other security threats. Their database has over 128,000 websites that have been reported to contain potentially harmful software. There are tips to avoiding these attacks and methods of cleaning up your computer, if you should fall victim to one of these “badware” websites. Go to: ( http://www.stopbadware.org/ ).

Cash our Checks

The latest email fraud to circulate is the “cash our check” fraud. The “target” is contacted by an off-shore company with a proposition to make some easy money by cashing payment checks and forwarding the monies to an off-shore account. The “target” doesn’t have to give any account information, but the scam still seems to work to cheat you out of your money. Here’s how it works. You get a check for $1000.00, you cash the check by depositing the money into your account, after the check seems to “clear”, then you send $900.00 to the off-shore account via wire transfer and keep $100.00 for yourself. The problem is that the checks are bogus, altered, forged, or stolen. Once your bank realizes that the check is fraudulent, they deduct the $1000.00 from your account. And, the off-shore account has your account information from the wire transfer. Now, they can execute a “demand draft” and withdraw money from your account.

To read more about related scams, go to:
( http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/03/AR2007100302323.html ) or ( http://fakechecks.org/index2.html ).

For “free” on-line security scanning of your computer go to the bottom of the 1on1cc.com home page and select from a variety of providers.
Go to: ( www.1on1cc.com )

"Free" Software Downloads

OpenOffice 2.4.1 and Extensions

Are you thinking about investing the money to upgrade to Microsoft Office 2007? Well, do yourself a favor and try the latest version of the “free” OpenOffice 2.4.1 suite of programs. The primary update was to install a security fix, but other updates have been added including support for MS Office 2007. The program interface doesn’t resemble Office 2007, but you can open and save MS Word and MS Excel files in their Microsoft format. The beefier version of the OpenOffice suite (about 440 Meg after installation) is called OxygenOffice (about another 200 Meg) and sports more bells and whistles (properly known as “extensions”). Most of the “extensions” including templates, clipart, documentation, etc. can be downloaded separately, if you’re not interested in the in the complete package. (It’s much easier to download the complete OxygenOffice package).

For OpenOffice 2.4.1, go to: ( http://www.openoffice.org/ ).

For OxygenOffice Professional, go to: ( http://ooop.wiki.sourceforge.net/ ).

For Extensions for both versions, go to: ( http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/project ).

There is support available through a forum, at: ( http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/forum/ ).

Or, you can purchase professional support through Sun Microsystems at: ( http://www.support-central.org/openoffice/ ).

Tips & Tricks

Google 411

A new free service from the Search engine people allows you to find information from with your phone. Just call 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-4664-411). You’ll get a voice prompt asking for the city and state or zip code. You say the city and state or zip code you’re interested in and it’s repeated back to confirm your selection. Then, you’ll be prompted to say the business or category of what you’re looking for. The service will search its database and begin saying a list of results. Just press in the number of the result you would like to connect to, and you’re automatically connected to that phone number. If you’re calling from a mobile device, you can say “Text Message” or “Map it” and you’ll be sent a text message or map. And, it’s free! Go to: ( http://www.google.com/goog411/ )

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