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Welcome to all the new subscribers! (Information on how
to leave this list or change your e-mail address are at
the bottom of the list)
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Communicating Using Technology
Vol. 2 Issue 19 September 16, 2003
Published and Copyright by Dave Paradi
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In this issue:
Special Item: Critical MS Office Updates
1. Keeping Your Computer Safe - High-Speed Connections
2. New way to travel with your presentation
3. Useful Resource - PC Mag Windows XP Survival Guide
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Privacy Policy: I will never sell or distribute your
e-mail or information to anyone.
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Reminder of Survey on Bad PowerPoint
If you have not done so already, click on the link below to
tell me what annoys you the most about bad PowerPoint
presentations. I will publish the results in the September
30th issue of this newsletter. Forward the link to others so
they can tell us what annoys them too.
http://www.communicateusingtechnology.com/pptsurvey.htm
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If you have received this as a forward from a friend, sign up
for your own copy at:
http://www.communicateusingtechnology.com/newsletter.htm
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Special Item: Critical Office Updates
If you are using Microsoft Office, you need to know about
four new security updates that Microsoft recently released.
The best explanation I have seen of what the updates do and
why they are so important is in this issue of the Woody's
Watch newsletter:
http://www.woodyswatch.com/office/archtemplate.asp?v8-n35
I highly recommend you read the information and follow the
instructions to update your version of MS Office.
1. Keeping Your Computer Safe - High-Speed Connections
Many of you, like I, have a high speed connection to the
Internet at home, through a cable provider or through a DSL
connection from a phone company. It makes using the Internet
so much better to have a high speed connection, but there are
dangers that you must protect yourself from. In order to
offer this high speed link, your provider has set up a
permanent (or semi-permanent) connection from your computer
to the Internet. This means that anyone else on the Internet
can access your computer if they know (or guess) the address
that your provider has set up. There are many shady
characters out there who have set up programs to scan all the
addresses to find out who has a computer available on the
other end. And when they find you, they can connect to your
PC and find out what you have on your computer. Scary thing.
But you can protect yourself. If you have a high speed
connection, you should always have a hardware firewall to
protect you. This small box, often called a cable/DSL
router, sits between the Internet and your computer and is
the only thing anyone outside can see. It prevents those
outside from seeing past that small box, protecting your
computer from prying eyes. These devices are available at
all computer and electronics stores, just ask for a cable/DSL
router and they will point you to a shelf full of them. My
two preferred brands are Linksys (which I use) and Microsoft
(which I have installed for others). You can get ones that
allow four computers to be connected and share the high speed
service, which is great if you have more than one computer in
the house. You can also get a device that includes a
wireless access point. This allows you to connect without
wires by using a special wireless card that you install in
your computer. If you go the wireless route, make sure you
follow the instructions to set up high level encryption
access to your device. I noticed unusual activity on our
device one night and when I checked who was on, I found our
neighbor was connected to our system! I quickly ended his
session and turned on the highest level of security. These
are the basics about using a cable/DSL router, if you need
more details, search the articles in PC Magazine for articles
that go into more technical details. In my experience, if
you follow the instructions with the device, you will not
have any problems.
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Who else wants to sell more and boost their career with
better PowerPoint slides? Learn an easy 13-step process in
under two hours with this e-book. Click on this link:
http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=45805
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2. New way to travel with your presentation
I have discovered a new way to travel with your presentation
that just may help you avoid buying a laptop computer. If
you are presenting in a room where they already have a
computer and projector set up (as many meeting rooms or
conferences do these days), you may be able to use this
method. It involves buying a USB hub, which is a small
device that allows you to plug four USB devices into it and
it then connects to one USB port on a computer (it costs
about $15-20). Into this USB hub, you plug a USB drive (a
small device that is like a hard drive but is made up of just
memory chips) that contains your presentation (just plug it
into your desktop computer and copy the presentation file
over). You also plug in the receiver from your remote
control (like the Interlink RemotePoint Navigator that I have
recommended in the past). Now you can plug the USB hub into
any other computer and it will recognize the devices and
allow you to deliver your presentation from the computer that
they already have. You may also need to carry the driver for
the USB drive on CD because Windows 98 will not automatically
recognize the device (most computers are running later
versions of Windows these days). If the computer in the room
does not have PowerPoint, you can also take the PowerPoint
viewer along either on CD or on the USB drive. This approach
gives you an option of carrying a very small package instead
of a laptop and allows those with only desktop computers to
take their presentation on the road. If you haven't got a
USB drive yet, I suggest buying one that is at least 128 MB
so that you can fit the new PowerPoint viewer that will be
released later this year.
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Would you like me to speak to your professional association
or chapter event? I am always looking for opportunities to
share my information with others and would consider speaking
to your group if you are in or near the following areas:
Rochester, NY, Buffalo NY, Detroit, MI, Cleveland, OH,
Pittsburgh, PA or Toronto, ON. Just e-mail me at:
dave@communicateusingtechnology.com for more info.
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3. Useful Resource - PC Mag Windows XP Survival Guide
This recent article in PC Magazine is another example of the
great stuff they write. It is full of tips on how to upgrade
to Windows XP (if you are running Windows 98 or Windows ME, I
strongly suggest upgrading) and to better use Windows XP.
Two of my favorite tips are: 1) how to turn off IP messaging
(those annoying pop-up messages that appear in the middle of
your screen that you have to close every few minutes) link
is:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1203121,00.asp
2) how to set the password so it never expires, link is:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1203115,00.asp
The entire article is at this link:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1207086,00.asp
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Check out the books, e-books and other learning tools at:
http://www.communicateusingtechnology.com/tools.htm
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If you want to read back issues of this newsletter, click on
the following link to go to the Archives:
http://tinyurl.com/nhgl
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