Note: You must be registered in order to post a reply. To register, click here. Registration is FREE!
T O P I C R E V I E W
1029usr078198
Posted - June 13 2008 : 09:23:32Listen now. or Download the archive. Question: I got an email with an attachment, what do I do with it? Answer: First, if the message you got is from someone you don't recognize, delete it without opening it. You can easily get infected with a virus if you're not careful how you handle attachments. When a message has an attachment, it will be denoted somehow in your inbox; almost universally with a paper clip. When you open the message, the attachment may open by itself, as will typically happen when you use web-based email and get a picture as an attachment. If it doesn't, then you have to open it. I'd suggest saving the attachment to your Desktop or My Documents first, then open it with an appropriate program. This part is also a potentially sticky wicket because you may not have a program that is appropriate to open the kind of attachment you received. You've heard the old saying, "more than one way to skin a cat" (apologies to cat lovers like my wife), well certain types of files can be opened by only one program, while other types can be opened by several. In the notes for today's show, I'll have a link to a listing of which programs go with which file types. Those notes are at www.daconsult.com/forums, but a way to know what kinds of files a program can open is to go to the File | Open dialog box and, under the filename you'll find something labeled "Files of type". Pull it down and you'll see what that program can open. You might have to exchange a couple of extra emails or ask a question or two first just to make sure you all agree on a common format.
Cool Site:www.e-sword.net If you are looking for good, free Bible study software, this site has it. E-Sword is only for Windows, but if you have a Windows-Mobile based smart phone or Pocket PC, you can get Pocket E-Sword for it, as well. The biggest difference between the two is that the PC version includes the King James Version and Strong's Concordance, while Pocket e-Sword only includes the program, no Bibles or Dictionaries. After you download and install the software you can begin to explore the Word. Several Bible translations are available for download, including the Geneva, Bishop's, Spanish and other language translations, Greek and Hebrew original language texts, some of which include Apocrypha, etc. Many commentaries are also available, Matthew Henry's (both Full and Concise) Albert Barnes, Clarke's, and several others; Bible Dictionaries and concordances like Torrey, Smith, Thayer, Nave's, and the Webster's 1828 dictionary. It has a Daily Bible Reading feature for setting up daily readings that allow you to cover any parts of the Bible in any timeframe you desire. Maps and other graphical resources are available as well as topic notes with books like The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Devotional works are also available. All the resources I've mentioned thus far are absolutely free. Other resources are also available at the site that do incur a cost. In each case that I've seen, that cost goes to the copyright holder, not the author, Rick Meyers. If that name sounds familiar, Christian artist Krystal Meyers' is his daughter.
Cool Gadget: Seasonic Power Angel – Did you know that a CRT monitor draws more electricity than an LCD screen? You may not know it, but many devices in your home draw a certain amount of electrical current even when they're off. Perhaps it's only a trickle that keeps the clock on the microwave running. Maybe it's your cellphone charger that remains plugged in all day. It may not be much, but it adds to your electric bill. Seasonic is one company that makes a meter that tests how much electricity these devices are using at a time. You can monitor the quality of your AC power, it's pocket-sized and works with any 120V appliance. It measures voltage, current, power in watts, power factor, volt-amps, and accumulated kilowatt-hours. It costs about $35, so it can pay for itself in a month or two with the savings you might realize.
It's All “Geek” To Me: DNS – This is an acronym that stands for Domain Name System. Big deal, right? If you need to call someone on the phone you have to know that person's phone number. Computers on the Internet also have numbers to identify them. If you only know the person's name, you get out your phone book and look it up. If the person isn't in your phone book, you might call Directory Assistance to get the number. Once you have the phone number, you can call that person. When you type in a web address like "www.daconsult.com", when you press Enter or click 'Go', something similar happens. First, your computer consults its phone book, called the HOSTS file. If the address is found there, this address will be used to contact the site. The HOSTS file seldom holds the address, so the computer consults a DNS server, the Internet equivalent of Directory Assistance. It usually holds the address, and passes it back to the computer, which then can contact the site.
Final thought, because preference is given to addresses found in the HOSTS file, malware can put addresses in there to cause your computer to go places it shouldn't. The only entry that should be in most people's HOSTS file, is one for localhost.
