Welcome to TecTips, an occasional series of tips, tricks and techniques you can use to keep technology working for you! These entries are organized with the most recent at the top, so it is easy to tell what's new. Good ideas are always popping up in unexpected places; so from time to time I will summarize an idea published elsewhere, and provide a link to take you there. The views expressed are my own and comments are always welcome. You can contact me as rrathe 'at' ufl 'dot' edu. Enjoy! RR
Electronic commerce is a real time saver. You can go shopping and pay your bills online from the comfort and safety of your living room. But the criminal element is still there, and they are busy finding ways to exploit the unwary. One example is the recent rise of "Phishing". This scam relies on fooling you into believing you are interacting with a legitimate business, when you're not. If you make the mistake of revealing confidential information, watch out, you're hooked!! A phishing scam typically begins with an official-looking email from a business or bank. It may claim that "Customer Service" needs to "Update Your Account" or some similar ploy. You are asked to reply or fill out a form with personal information such as social security number, PIN number, and the like. It may be nearly impossible to tell that the email or Web site are fraudulant.
TecTip: When you receive email that appears official, but asks for confidential information, DELETE IT! Legitimate businesses and organizations should never ask for confidential information in this way. If you need to interact with an entity online, go to their main home page and login. Suggested by Allen Rout. 12/3/04 RR
If you were carrying $2000 in cash on a trip to an unfamiliar city, you would take steps to protect it from loss or theft. The same should be true for your $2000 laptop computer. Several hundred thousand laptops are lost or stolen each year in the US. Although the threat is large, a little common sense will provide a high degree of protection.
TecTip: Protect your laptop when traveling: 1) Keep it with you whenever possible (don't leave it unattended if you can help it). 2) If you cannot keep it with you, then lock it up (many hotels now provide in-room safes, or carry your own cable lock). 3) If you can't lock it up, hide it. Carry it in a generic bag that does not announce "computer inside." If you are driving, put it in the trunk before you reach your destination. Excerpted from NewsScan. 10/8/04 RR
UF Computing and Network Services has recently added a 'spam score' to all email flowing to @ufl.edu addresses. You may scan for this information with a rule in your mail client and dispose of suspect messages as you see fit. (This service should complement any junk mail filter(s) you already have in place.) For more information go to http://www.cns.ufl.edu/spam/.
TecTip: Modern email programs have several features designed to help you stop unsolicited, junk email - commonly referred to as "spam". Here are examples for Windows and Mac OSX. 10/1/04 RR
Ever open an email message only to find a long list of addresses where the message should be? You must scroll to the very bottom to find the part you actually want to read. On top of merely being inconvenient, circulating long lists of addresses exposes you to unnecessary risk of spam or worse. There must be a better way! There is and it is called Blind Carbon Copy, or BCC for short.
TecTip: When you send email to a long list of recipients, put their addresses in the BCC field, not To or CC. It is okay to send a message with nothing in the To field, as long as there is at least one valid address in BCC. Occasionally you will run into a system that insists you provide a To address. No problem, just use your own address when needed. 9/7/04 RR
Have you ever been in this situation? A colleague sends you an email with a subject line "Please review this grant proposal." However, in the body of the message they also make a second request "Send me your budget update." You pass several messages back and forth on this latter topic, but the subject line remains "Re: Please review this grant proposal." The months go by and someone again asks you for budget details. You know the information is buried somewhere in your email, but searching for "budget" in the subject line draws a blank. Congratulations, you've been the victim of "subject creep".
TecTip: When the content of your reply creeps away from the original subject, consider editing the subject line to match. You may even wish to split your reply in two, one for each major theme. 9/4/04 RR