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The Perils of Remote Access
Q. The person who recently repaired my computer set it up so he will be able to
remotely fix problems in the future by taking control of my PC. My question is
this: Am I exposing my personal financial information to him, even if it’s on a
memory stick in the USB port of my computer?
A. When you provide remote access to your computer, you are giving carte
blanche access to your system. Any data on your hard drive is accessible, as is
data on a floppy disk, zip disk, connected external drive, or memory stick in
the USB slot. It's truly no different than if your repair person sat down at the
keyboard and used your computer.
As long as you have full faith and confidence in your computer-repair person,
you should be fine. But if you don't want him to have access to certain data,
you'll need to remove it from your computer. For example, if you have the data
on a memory stick, simply remove it from the USB port.
Having said that, most computer repair folks are honorable people who do not
make a habit of rummaging through data -- but they certainly could if they were
so inclined. As a matter of protocol, remote access should never be implemented
without your permission, as owner of the computer.
Q. Your weekly newsletters have helped this old mind become more computer
literate, so thank you for that. My question is this: I had a dial-up connection
at one time, but I am now using DSL service. My problem is that the dial-up box
continues to appear, sometimes knocking me off a Web site I’m visiting. Can you
help me? I’m using Internet Explorer.
A. Your computer is still trying to connect to the Internet by dialing. You can
resolve that by opening Internet Explorer and clicking Tools > Internet Options
> Connections tab. Click to select the setting that says "Never dial a
connection," then click OK to save your changes. That will prevent the pesky
prompt from popping up in the future.
Q. How can I stop addresses from being automatically added to my Outlook
Express address book? Thanks for your help, Mr. M.
A. There is a setting in Outlook Express that automatically adds people to your
address book when you reply to a message. To disable this feature, open Outlook
Express and click Tools > Options > Send tab. Click to remove the check mark
beside "Automatically put people I reply to in my Address Book," then click OK.
Q. I know this is way out of your field, but I’m working on a sewing project
and I need to know how to make a continuous bias strip for covering cords. Is
there somewhere online I can look?
A. I don’t even know what a continuous bias strip is, but thanks to Google (www.google.com),
even a stitch-challenged person like me can find the right answers. Using
Google, I searched for “How to create continuous bias strip.” Of the search
results that appeared,
http://tinyurl.com/2edtaz and
http://tinyurl.com/cvko4m
look particularly promising. You might also want to run similar searches on
YouTube (www.youtube.com)
and WonderHowTo (www.wonderhowto.com)
for video tutorials.
Google is a remarkable search tool that is under utilized by most users. If you
familiarize yourself with its advanced search features and techniques, you’ll be
able to find just about anything and very quickly. The GoogleGuide (http://tinyurl.com/apzkr)
is a search enthusiast’s dream-come-true, combining Google’s many features in
one suitable-for-laminating cheat sheet.
Mr. Modem’s DME (Don’t Miss ‘Em) Sites of the Month
The Diaries of John Quincy Adams
It sounds like a snoozer, but it’s really not. Here you can learn about the
fascinating life of America's sixth President. The site contains a complete
digital collection of Adams' personal diaries, which he began in 1779, when he
was 12. Diaries can be searched by volume, date, or selected pages of his 51
volumes, comprising 14,000 pages -- which begs the question: When did he have
time to do anything else?
www.masshist.org/jqadiaries
Hairstyle Gallery
Say goodbye to those dog-eared hairdo magazines at your local salon; it’s time
to hairness the power of the Internet to select a new hairstyle. Browse the
Hairstyle Gallery, which contains thousands of photos of well-coiffed
individuals. Search by color, texture, style, celebrity, length, face shape, or
in my case, “Where did it go?” (I don’t care what anybody says, I’m not losing
my hair; I’m getting prematurely pink.)
http://hairstyles.
World-O-Meter
Statistics about population growth, the environment, and other large-scale
topics can be difficult to grasp. The World-O-Meter tracks statistics, some
frightening and some amusing, such as the Earth’s current population, the rate
of forest loss, the number of bicycles produced annually, the amount of money
Americans spend on perfume, and many others.
www.worldometers.info
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