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Muglett 440 - Screen Shot Tools

Muglett 439 - Tim 'The Toolbar' Tricks (X Tip)

Muglett 438 - Browsing shortcuts

Muglett 437 - QTV (General)

Muglett 436 - PDFs On The Fly (X Tip)

Muglett 435 - Microsoft Office - Adding A Document Button

Muglett 434 - iTunes Windows (General)

Muglett 433
- Microsoft Office - Finding The Next Occurrence In Word Documents

Muglett 432 - Sort The Mail (General)

Muglett 431 - Microsoft Office - Custom PowerPoint Slide Shows

Muglett 430 - International Flavor (X Tip)


Muglett 429 - Microsoft Office - Creating An Excel WordArt Button

Muglett 428 - Final Outlook (Classic)

Muglett 427 - Startup Items (X Tip)

Muglett 426 - Microsoft Office - Spell Check Your Word Headings

Muglett 425 - It's All About The Content (Classic)

Muglett 424 - Microsoft Office - Moving Between Excel Worksheets

Muglett 423 - Microsoft Office - A Word Macro Shortcut

Muglett 422
- AppleTalk Chat (X Tip)

Muglett 421 - SirCam virus can indirectly affect Mac users

Muglett 420 - Disk First Aid, X Style (X Tip)

Muglett 419 - Microsoft Office - Previewing Web Pages In Word


Muglett 418 - Mac OS Tip-Back To The Future

Muglett 417 - Microsoft Office POWERPOINT


Muglett 416 - Ergonomics

Muglett 415 - Acrobat 5: install issues; problem reports

Muglett 414 - Filter That Junk

Muglett 413 -
Microsoft Office WORD: With a Bullet

Muglett 412 - Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 : Faster Loading

Muglett 411 - MAC OS SHERLOCK

Muglett 410 - Photoshop DOCKING PALETTES IN THE OPTIONS BAR

Muglett 409 - Shortcut Trivia

Muglett 408 - Legal Apples


Muglett 407 - JUDGE RIPS AWAY THE DARK CLOAK OF ANONYMITY And now for Today's Tip...

Muglett 406 - Microsoft Internet Explorer 5

Muglett 405 - MAC OS - OS 9.1: BEWARE OF EMPTY TRASH SHORTCUT

Muglett 404 - Netscape THE KEYS TO WEB PAGE SECURITY

Muglett 403 - Photoshop EXPLORING YOUR OPTIONS

Muglett 402 - Photoshop MOVING THE OPTIONS BAR

Muglett 401 - Netscape IT'S A SECURE SITE, NOT A DMZ

 

Screen Shot Tools

Want to save a picture of your Internet screen? If so, the Mac has three useful screen shot tools available.

1. To take a Mac picture of the whole screen, simultaneously press AppleKey+Shift+3. You'll hear a camera click to let you know that you've gotten your picture.

2. To take a picture of any selected rectangular region of a screen, simultaneously press AppleKey+Shift+4. Release the keys. You won't hear a sound but the cursor will turn into a cross hair. Position the cross hair in the upper left corner of a target region -- say, a single photograph or graphic. Hold the mouse button down and drag across the region. Release the mouse button to take the picture; the camera click will sound. All of the extraneous material on the screen outside the dragged rectangle will be excluded from the picture.

3. To take a picture of an open window, but not the whole monitor screen, do this: Depress the "caps lock" key. Then simultaneously press AppleKey+Shift+4. Release keys. The mouse cursor will turn into a bull's eye. Now click once on an open window and only that window will be captured. Once again, the camera click will let you know that you've gotten the picture.

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Tim 'The Toolbar' Tricks (X Tip)

You'll find the Toolbar in that little area at the top of OS X windows. The Toolbar contains other icons for easy access. But your Toolbar can include other items that would be more useful to you. For a look at these options, choose Customize Toolbar from the View menu. Customize yours to suit your needs. (One nice addition I particularly like is the eject button.) Oh, and Tim Allen, you can contact me any time to help you keep your Macs running in top shape.

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Browsing shortcuts

Whether you use Netscape or Internet Explorer, you can help stamp out repetitive strain injuries by avoiding the mouse whenever possible--and you'll save time too! For a blissfully mouse-free browsing experience with Netscape Communicator, use these shortcuts:

Command+H opens the History list Command+D adds the current page to your Bookmark list Command+B lets you edit your bookmarks Command+2 opens the Message Center Command+Option-2 opens the Address Book Command+M starts a new e-mail message Command+N opens a new browser window.

Try these commands to speed up your browsing with Internet Explorer:

Command+Left Arrow is the same as the Back button Command+Right Arrow is the same as the Forward button Command+R will Refresh.

You can combine these commands with the Tab key, which moves you around any input boxes on the Web page (such as forms or Search boxes). Option+Tab moves you through all elements on the Web page, including links. When you get to the link you want, hit Return to follow it.

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QTV (General)

QuickTime TV is part of the newer QuickTime players. Open your QuickTime player and locate the Q and TV tab on the top and click. You'll be presented several pre-selected locations. To get to one of the locations, simply click on the box you wish to watch. If you locate a favorite QuickTime movie location, you can add it to your Favorites tab or menu.

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PDFs On The Fly (X Tip)

This is a VERY cool part of X. Most Carbonized applications can create a PDF file on the fly -- easily! To try this, we'll start with a couple of applications every X user has. You can try WorldText or SimpleText for this. Locate these applications and type something in an empty file. Then go to the Print option under File. When the Print dialog box appears, choose the Preview tab. A PDF will be created. You can now save this PDF by going to the File menu and choosing Save as PDF!

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Microsoft Office - Adding A Document Button

Adding A Document Button Did you know that you can place buttons for your documents on the Office Shortcut toolbar? To do this, control-click the toolbar and choose Customize. When the Customize dialog box opens, click the Buttons tab. Now, click Add File. When the Add File dialog opens, locate the file you want to add and double-click its icon. When you get back to Customize, click OK to close the dialog box and record your selection. Your selected document button will now appear in the Office Shortcut toolbar.

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iTunes Windows (General)

One of the neat things about iTunes is its multiple windows view. With your main library selected, click on the browse button. You now have a three-pane window allowing you to view by Artist and Album. Clicking on one item in either window will show the pertinent songs in the lower portion of the window.

Click here to read more about iTunes (includes the downloads for upgrades)!

http://www.apple.com/itunes/

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Microsoft Office - Finding The Next Occurrence In Word Documents

Finding The Next Occurrence In Word Documents Not long ago, we did a tip on how to repeat a Find in Word. We suggested clicking double down arrow at the bottom of the scroll bar. Since then, several readers have pointed out that you can use keystrokes to repeat a find. All you have to do is press Shift + F4 or Alt + Ctrl + Y.

To check this out, open a document in Word and press Ctrl + F to open the Find and Replace dialog box. Type in "the" and click Find Next. When Word finds the first occurrence of "the," click Cancel to close the dialog box. Now press Shift + F4 and Word will move to the next "the." After you do this a few times, press Alt + Ctrl + Y and you'll discover that it works just the same as Shift + F4.



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Sort The Mail (General)

If you use Outlook Express or Entourage, take the time to better organize your mail by creating additional folders in the left pane to keep and file mail. Just control click in the left to create the folder, give it a name, and drag email over that pertains to the subject you typed. And, for even better organization, use the rules tip to automatically file emails into specific folders.

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Microsoft Office - Custom PowerPoint Slide Shows

Custom PowerPoint Slide Shows Suppose you have to go on the road with a slide show. The show is basically for all the sites you will visit, but site 1 needs to see one group of slides and site 2, a slightly different group. You don't have to create two or more slide shows. Just use PowerPoint's custom slide show feature.

Run PowerPoint and open a blank slide. Create three or four new slides and Insert/Picture/ClipArt to place a ClipArt picture on each of the new slides to help you see what is happening. In slide view, choose Slide Show/Custom Shows. When the Custom Shows dialog box opens, click New. Type in a name for your new custom show (anything you want).

You'll see the slides in your new show listed under "Slides in presentation." Let's suppose that you created a show with four slides. Click Slide 1 and then hold down Ctrl while you click Slide 3. After you select the slides you want in your custom show, click Add. Now click OK to close the dialog box and apply your selections. Back in Custom Shows, click Close to close the dialog box.

To start your custom presentation. Choose Slide Show, Custom Shows. When the Custom Shows dialog box opens, select the custom show you just created and click Show. PowerPoint will run the slide show using only the slides that you added to the custom show. When you choose Slide Show, View Show, PowerPoint will display all the slides in your original show. And, of course, you can create more than one custom slide show.

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International Flavor (X Tip)

OS X has a very nice way to alter computer settings based on the language you choose. The International button in the System Preferences allows you to choose a language, date, time, and number formats, and will switch the keyboard menu. Since OS X supports Unicode, this will become more important as users need to communicate with others across the globe. Even though you may not need it now, try it out anyway.



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Microsoft Office - Creating An Excel WordArt Button

Creating An Excel WordArt Button Although you can use WordArt in Excel by choosing Insert/Picture/WordArt, Excel has no WordArt button as does Word. But, you can add a WordArt button to the Excel toolbar. To do this, choose View/Toolbars/Customize. When the Customize dialog box opens, click the Commands tab. In the "Categories" list, select AutoShapes and then drag the WordArt icon from the dialog box's right pane to the location you want on your toolbar.

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Final Outlook (Classic)

Microsoft has finally released the Macintosh Outlook client for Exchange servers. With the help of your system administrator, users of Exchange servers can now locate and download this client (see link below). If you are at risk of losing your Mac at work because everyone else uses Outlook, well, now you can keep your Mac because you can use Outlook, too.

Click here and download Outlook!

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/

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Startup Items (X Tip)

In X, if you want something to start up after OS X starts up, open your System Preferences and choose the Login button. Drag any items you wish to this window to have them start up whenever you log on to your Mac.

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Microsoft Office - Spell Check Your Word Headings

Spell Check Your Word Headings When you spell check a Word document, you may find that the headings don't get checked. To correct this, run Word and choose Tools/Options. When the Options dialog box opens, click the Spelling & Grammar tab. If you use all uppercase letters in your headings, make sure you deselect the check box labeled "Ignore words in UPPERCASE" and click OK to close the dialog box.

If this doesn't solve your problem, click on one of your headings and then choose Format/Style. When the Style dialog box opens, click Modify. In the Modify Style dialog box, select the check boxes labeled "Add to template" and "Automatically update" and then click Format and choose Language from the list.

With your language selected, look to see if "Do not check spelling or grammar" is selected. If it is, deselect it and click OK. Back in Modify Style, click OK to close the dialog box. In Style again, click Apply to apply your new setting and close the dialog box.

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It's All About The Content (Classic)

Content Barrier is an application that allows you to access Web servers based on site, keywords, and phrases -- and allows you to keep others (your kids) from accessing information you don't feel is appropriate for them to view. You can choose different access levels for different users and send email to a specific address to notify you of access or attempted access to inappropriate Web sites. Loaded with other features, Content Barrier is part of the trio of Intego products that include Virus Barrier and Net Barrier.

If you wish to control your children's access to sites on the Internet, click here and learn more about Content Barrier.

http://www.intego.com/home.asp

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Microsoft Office - Moving Between Excel Worksheets

Moving Between Excel Worksheets: If you're working with more than one worksheet in an Excel workbook, you can move between worksheets very quickly with a few keystrokes. Let's suppose you're working on Sheet 1 and you'd like to move to Sheet 2. Just press Ctrl + PageDown to move to Sheet 2 (the next sheet). To move to the previous sheet (Sheet 1 in this case), press Ctrl + PageUp.

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Microsoft Office - A Word Macro Shortcut

A Word Macro Shortcut To record a Word macro, choose Tools/Macro/Record New Macro. Then click OK in the Record Macro dialog box to start recording.

However, you can also open the Record Macro dialog box with a simple double-click. Look at the status bar at the very bottom of the Word window. There you'll find a button labeled REC. Although this button appears grayed out, you can double-click it to open Record Macro.

When you start recording, you'll notice that the REC button is no longer grayed out. This indicates that recording is active.

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AppleTalk Chat (X Tip)

AppleTalk is a protocol. A protocol can be thought of as a language that computers and computer-related hardware use to communicate, send, and receive information. TCP/IP is a protocol, too. In fact, it is the protocol of choice for almost all of the Internet today.

When Mac users open their Chooser and see other machines and printers, they are using AppleTalk to view the names. If they know the IP address of the Mac, under certain circumstances, they may be able to type in the IP address of that Mac and transfer files or print.

AppleTalk is not turned on by default in OS X. There are several reasons for this, but the bottom line is, if you wish for others to see your OS X machine on their older Choosers, you must place a check mark in the "Make AppleTalk active" box in the TCP/IP window - AppleTalk tab.

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SirCam virus can indirectly affect Mac users

The Mac is basically safe from the virus. It does not infect the Mac platform nor can it spread from a Mac by generating email from a user's address book (as it does on Windows machines; see SARC info). However, you can still inadvertently forward the infected email to a PC user, and thereby infect the recipient.

The main problem for Mac owners, as we have now discovered, occurs if your email address is in the address book of others who are infected. If this happens, you may receive a virus-infected email. Not a big problem by itself. But, if your name is in enough address books, you can get several dozen of these emails each day. This is what has happened to us. At one point earlier this week, we were getting about ten of these emails every hour! In several cases, we were getting multiple emails from the same person. They all contained the text: "Hi! How are you. I send you this file in order to have your advice. See you later. Thanks." Plus they had an attachment.

Several other readers have reported this same SirCam flooding.

So far, we know of no way to turn off this faucet at our end (other than using rules/actions that filter it as spam; which at least cuts down on the annoyance factor). We only hope the virus runs its course soon.

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Disk First Aid, X Style (X Tip)

In OS 9.1 and older, you had two important utilities from Apple Disk First Aid and Drive Setup. In OS X, Apple has combined these two utilities and calls this new piece of software, appropriately enough, Disk Utility. You should definitely look it over if you are an OS X user.

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Microsoft Office - Previewing Web Pages In Word

Previewing Web Pages In Word When you create Web pages in Word (and many people do), you don't have to leave Word and run a browser to see how your Web page looks. All you have to do is choose File/Web Page Preview. This will cause your default browser (whether it's Internet Explorer, Netscape, or something else) to open with your current page loaded.

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Mac OS Tip-Back To The Future

Now Mac users have a choice: to stay with 9.1 or upgrade to Mac OS X. Since these operating systems are very different, each tip will now begin with "Classic," "X Tip," or "General" (for both operating systems). Our coding system means Classic users will be saved from wondering what in the world the dock is -- and X users won't have to deal with the Extension mess that Classic users sometimes have to deal with.

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Microsoft Office POWERPOINT

Often when you size artwork in PowerPoint, you need to size it so that several elements retain the same size relationship to each other. The best way to accomplish this is to size all those elements at the same time. Let's suppose you have three pictures that need sizing and must retain their size relationship. Click on the first picture, then hold down the Shift key and click the other two pictures. Now use the mouse to drag the pictures to their new size.

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Ergonomics

Sore neck and shoulders sometimes result directly from improper positioning of your computer monitor. And, with monitors there is very little disagreement about the correct position--it should be resting so that the screen is at the same height as your head, about 20 to 30 inches in front of you. Fortunately, you don't need any expensive gadgets to boost the height of your monitor--a few telephone books will do if your monitor didn't come with a stand.

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Acrobat 5: install issues; problem reports

Yesterday Adobe released Acrobat 5. A number of users have reported installation problems. Here is a quick summary of the issues:

Server authentication required Several users report being asked for a name and password when attempting to download the program. That issue has occurred before, and it usually means that the server has reached its maximum number of anonymous download connections. The only fix is to wait until the server load abates somewhat. Another user reported that switching Web browsers (in his case, avoiding IE 4.x) worked around the password dialog.

"VISEData" error This issue has also occurred before, most notably with recent QuickTime updates. Quite a few users report receiving the error, and we are not sure of the specific cause. Apple's tech note on the subject (60388, which addresses QuickTime, not Acrobat) lists several possible causes including extension conflicts, missing system components, slow and/or dropped internet connections, and attempts to install from behind a firewall. The traditional fix for this problem has been to download and use a standalone installer, which is not an option at present. In some cases the error will clear if you try the installer again. It is designed to resume the download where it left off, although that probably won't work for everyone. Several users reported that retrying each time the error appeared, perhaps as many as a dozen times, eventually worked. We have not confirmed this, but it may help to restart with just the Mac OS system extensions active before installing.

Authenticating firewalls One user reports that the installer does not work across firewalls that require authentication. This may not affect everyone behind a firewall.

Installing under Mac OS X A user had no trouble installing Acrobat 5 with Mac OS X running. The installer launched Classic and ran without a hitch. It is not necessary to boot into Mac OS 9.1 first.

Several users have also reported performance related problems:

Exporting PDF files A reader reports that after installing Acrobat 5.0 and when exporting files as PDF in PageMaker 6.52, the Acrobat Distiller 5.0 leaves boxes at the end of most of the text, which does not occur when manually using Acrobat Distiller 4.0 on the same files. This also happens when exporting files as PDF in InDesign. The fix is to print to PDF and save as a Postscript file then manually use Acrobat Distiller 4.0.

Tear off palette induced crashes? A reader notes that Acrobat 5 can unexpectedly quit when one tries to tear the toolbars to palette view. Sometimes triggered after one palette, but always after at least after three such 'tear downs' (Mac OS X 10.0.1 4L13 / G4 450, 384 MB RAM.)

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Filter That Junk

If you've imported a fair chunk of e-mail into Outlook Express from another program and would like to separate the wheat from the chaff (meaning you'd like to see how much of that imported mail is useless junk), try this trick:

Once the mail is imported and in a separate folder, Control-click on that folder and select Apply Junk Mail Filter from the contextual menu. When you do, Outlook Express will rifle through that mail and mark any messages it thinks are spam-like.

To collect all marked mail, just select Rules from the Tools menu, click the New button to create a new rule, give it a descriptive name like "Suspected Junk," select Is Junk Mail from the If pop-up menu, and select Move Message from the Then pop-up menu. In the Folder pop-up menu that appears to the right of the Move Message menu, select New Folder. In the resulting dialog box, give the folder a descriptive name (how about "Suspected Junk" again?) and click OK.

Now open the folder of imported mail, click once in the message pane, and press Command-A to select all of the messages. Finally -- I swear, we're almost done -- Control-click in this pane and select the Suspected Junk rule from the Apply Rules submenu. Outlook Express will now move all those tagged messages to a different folder where you can peruse them at your leisure.

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Microsoft Office WORD: With a Bullet

In the last tip, we told you how to change your bullet symbol (Bullets and Numbering, Modify, Bullet). This time let's look at even more bullet-symbol options. Go through all the steps we discussed in the last tip, but when you get to the Character Map, go to the Symbols From list box and click the down arrow at the right side of the box to expand the list. Select Wingdings. Now you can choose a new bullet from the rich symbol source that the Wingdings font offers. Once again, click OK after you make your choice, then you can change its color and size. Click OK twice to get back to your document.

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Microsoft Internet Explorer 5: Faster loading

Instead of waiting for graphics to download before you see all the text in a page, you can set IE5 to put place holders where the graphics will appear. You start browsing more quickly. Choose Tools, Internet Options and click the Advanced tab. Type 'M' to jump to the Multimedia section. Under Multimedia, select Show Image Download Place holders. Click OK to save your changes.

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MAC OS SHERLOCK

After using Sherlock to locate an item, you can copy its name or its path (the series of folders in which it resides). The name or path gets stashed in the Clipboard, and you can then paste it into another document, or email, or wherever.

To copy an item's name, select the item in the Sherlock window and press Command-C (or choose Edit, Copy).

To copy an item's path, select the item in the Sherlock window, press Tab to highlight the path portion of the window, and then press Command-C (or choose Edit, Copy).

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Photoshop DOCKING PALETTES IN THE OPTIONS BAR

Previously, we introduced you to a new interface object in Adobe Photoshop 6.0--the Options bar. The new Options bar allows you to quickly configure any tool you choose from the toolbox. In addition, you can actually dock the traditional palettes into the Options bar. Docking a palette into the Options bar transforms the palette into a dropdown menu. This lets you conserve desktop space by hiding palettes in the Options bar until you need them.

To dock a palette into the Options bar, click the header tab of a palette and drag the palette to the empty gray box on the right side of the Options bar. As you drop the palette, Adobe Photoshop will place the palette header tab in the gray area and hide the rest of the palette from view. To see the palette, click the tab header.

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Shortcut Trivia

Some time ago we ran a tip describing the use of keyboard shortcuts for Cutting, Copying, and Pasting text within Netscape. We said that Ctrl-C stood for Copy and Ctrl-X stood for Cut. We also said that while Ctrl-V is the command for Paste, we didn't know the significance of the V. In the interest of providing a simple mnemonic device for our readers to remember, today we present diligent reader Shimon L.'s preferred explanation:

"Ctrl-V is an arrow pointing DOWN, as in 'paste HERE.' I assume Microsoft [note: these shortcut keys originate with Microsoft's earliest DOS and Windows programs and have merely been integrated into any program designed for the Windows OS, Netscape included] really just picked consecutive keys, but that's the mnemonic that I use to remember it. In fact, I rarely use Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V.

Thanks for the explanation Shimon, and for the heads up on the alternate shortcut keys. I must admit those are a bit more convenient for righties.

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Legal Apples

According to a survey by the American Bar Association, Apple computers are increasingly the choice of law firms. Between 1998 and today, Apple saw a jump of more than 250 percent in the number of law firms using its computers 23 percent in 2001 versus only 9 percent in 1998. The survey found results that are in line with other research that has shown many law students (30-40 percent) use Apple computers.

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JUDGE RIPS AWAY THE DARK CLOAK OF ANONYMITY And now for Today's Tip...

The next time you think about sharing a bite of delicious trade gossip using an anonymous "nick" or "handle" on an Internet message board, you might want to take into consideration a recent ruling in a Florida court.

In a lawsuit over an alleged Internet libel, Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Eleanor Schockett ruled that Yahoo and America Online must unveil the real names and addresses of individuals charged with making anonymous defamatory comments about a Florida company. The individuals' lawyer cited free speech rights under the First Amendment, but Judge Schockett laughed this approach out of court.

The suit stemmed from an uproar on a Yahoo message board devoted to discussions of companies and their stocks. Fort Lauderdale businessman J. Erik Hvide, former CEO of Hvide Marine Inc., claimed that eight anonymous individuals, using Net handles like "justthefactsjack" and "inquizitr1," posted "false and defamatory statements" on a Yahoo board dedicated to discussion of his company, falsely accusing Hvide of being under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for engaging in illegal accounting practices and fraud. Hvide said the publicity forced him to resign his chairmanship.

Schockett ruled that posting on the Internet does not provide anonymous critics any special privileges that should delay their unmasking in a lawsuit. If this ruling holds up on appeal and sets precedent, it could go a long way to cool down the flames that bring many Internet message boards to a roaring heat.

But I think the best solution is simpler: Without exception and regardless of topic, the Internet's best message boards require participants to use their own real names. Yahoo, AOL, and other forum administrators who permit participants to indulge in anonymity are simply reaping what they sow.

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Microsoft Internet Explorer 5

Want extra room for browsing? To see more Web of your favorite Web pages and less of the IE5 toolbar, you can hide the text labels from the buttons on the Standard Buttons toolbar. Click on the menu bar. Select View, Toolbars, Customize. Under Text Options, select No Text Labels. Good luck!

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MAC OS - OS 9.1: BEWARE OF EMPTY TRASH SHORTCUT

Mac OS 9.1 gives us shortcuts for moving an item to the Trash (Command-Delete) and emptying the Trash (Command-Shift-Delete). When something is in the Trash, Command-Shift-Delete works just as it should. However, if the Trash is already empty, and any item on your desktop is selected when you press Command-Shift-Delete, that item will be moved to the Trash.

Consider this scenario: The very important file on which you were last working is still selected when you press Command-Shift-Delete. You glance to the corner of your Desktop and see the bulging Trash icon, which means the Trash is not empty. You figure you must have pressed a wrong key, so you do it again, and the Trash empties. You move on, and when you next go to work on the very important file, it is GONE.

What happened? Well, if the Trash was empty the first time you pressed the keyboard shortcut, your very important file was moved there. When you pressed the shortcut the second time, that very important file was deleted from the Trash.

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Netscape THE KEYS TO WEB PAGE SECURITY

So what do we mean by security status, anyway? Well, every Web site is either secure, insecure, or mixed (that is, it contains both secure and insecure pages). See that little skeleton key down in Navigator's bottom-left corner? That key tells you the security status of a given Web page. A broken key on a gray background, the one you'll see most, means the document is insecure. That isn't usually a big deal, unless they want something valuable from you, such as a credit card number. In that case, you'll want to look for an unbroken key on a royal blue background, which denotes a secure environment. Even the teeth on the key provide security information: one tooth indicates medium-grade encryption; two teeth mean the site is protected by high-grade encryption. Go ahead and click on the key itself to learn more about a page's relative security.

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Photoshop EXPLORING YOUR OPTIONS

The Options bar is a new feature in Adobe Photoshop 6.0, but it is the gateway to every tool available in the toolbox. As you may know, the Options bar runs under the menu bar. Choosing different tools from the toolbox reconfigures the Options bar to display every configurable feature of the chosen tool.

For example, choosing the Type tool transforms the Options bar to display the Font, Size, Tracking, Line Height, Alignment...the list goes on. Suffice it to say, you no longer have to make room on your screen for one more palette as long as you work through the Options bar.

If you're new to browsing, you may be puzzled at times by a page that looks out-of-date or doesn't reflect input you've made. This often happens when returning to a page you've visited recently, since these pages are kept in a "cache" on your computer, and not always downloaded anew. The cache is what makes it possible to click the back button and have the last page pop up instantly and is usually a great thing. But if you think things should have changed, click the Refresh button on the toolbar to reload the page from scratch.

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Photoshop MOVING THE OPTIONS BAR

In our last tip, we introduced you to the Options bar. Using this bar, you have instant access to every configurable feature of any tool you choose from the toolbox. However, some Adobe Photoshop users have commented that the Options bar is in a distracting position under the menu bar. Fortunately, you can change the Options bar position.

To do so, click the head of the Options bar (the area with two vertical bars at the far left of the bar) and drag the bar to the bottom of the Adobe Photoshop window. Adobe Photoshop will dock the Options bar at the bottom of the window. If you prefer not to dock the Options bar to the top or bottom of the Adobe Photoshop window, you can drag it to an empty area of the screen and make it a free-floating palette.

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Netscape IT'S A SECURE SITE, NOT A DMZ

Of course, you probably already know when you're heading into secured territory, because Navigator starts firing off urgent notifications. Don't be intimidated by these warnings, though. When a site is secured, it just means they've used some type of encryption to create an environment within which you can send private information with considerably less risk of it being intercepted by bad guys. You'll often find secured areas on shopping sites, for example, where they want you to buy stuff with your credit card and let them mail it to you at home.

Rest assured that you can explore the depths of a secure site without the risk of anyone starting an FBI file on you or taking your money without permission. Remember, it's difficult for strangers to get your credit card number or other personal information about you unless you give it out. If you're excessively concerned about being victimized, just don't turn over credit card information to anyone online.

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