A Few Simple Steps Can Guard Against Viruses
Question: I am worried about being hit by one of the new computer virus attacks that I hear so much about. What should I know and what can I do to protect my PC?
--J. Perlman, Granada Hills
Answer: Most if not all of these new virus programs use Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express to do most of the damage. The damage is done when you open an “ attachment” to an e-mail message. Attachments with names ending with “.VBS” are dangerous and you should delete that e-mail right away. Also delete e-mail messages with attachment program names ending with “.EXE”, “.COM” and “JS”. These name extensions represent programs that run when you open the attachment.
A good rule of thumb is to delete any e-mail with attachments from people or places you don’t know, or from people you know when you aren’t expecting any such attachment. A virus can send itself to hundreds of people named in your Outlook or Outlook Express address book, and they will think you sent it. Use an anti-virus software program like those available from McAfee (https://www.McAfee.com) or from Symantec (https://www.symantec.com), and make sure you keep the anti-virus program’s “known virus” database up to date. That’s easy to do on the Internet.
Take Pentium III Woes to Intel Web Site
Q: I recently purchased a new Pentium III computer and every so often it just locks up and sometimes displays a blue screen. Why would a brand new computer do something like this?
--O. Moless, Susanville.
A: Intel has set up a Web site that provides details on the cause of symptoms similar to those you are experiencing on your new system. Intel developed what they call an MTH (memory translator hub) to allow their systems to use standard, inexpensive RAM chips instead of the more expensive and troublesome RAMBUS memory. The MTH was used to link the slower RAM to the Intel 820 chipset motherboards. There may have been more than a million defective units shipped.
Not all of the Intel Pentium III-powered computers have the problem. To find out if your system has the problem, point your browser to https://www.intel.com/support/mth. There you will find information about the MTH problem, and you can click Am I Affected? You’ll also find information on how to get that problem fixed.
Outlook Option Can Number Year’s Weeks
Q: I use Microsoft Outlook to manage my daily calendar. In my business it helps to be able to see the week number of each week. Can Outlook do that?
--David S., Brentwood
A: Microsoft Outlook can indeed show you the week numbers in the Calendar view. Here’s how to set it up. From within Outlook’s Calendar view click on Tools and then click on Options. Click on Calendar Options and then click on Show Week Numbers in The Date Navigator. Click OK twice. Now when you open the Calendar section of Outlook, the week numbers will show alongside the weeks in the current and next month display in the upper right section of your screen.
Find Document ‘Queue’ to Cancel Printing
Q: How can I stop my printer from printing if I’ve made a mistake and sent a bunch of documents to my printer that I really don’t want to print?
--Margaret G., Los Angeles
A: Windows prints your documents to a file on your hard drive called a “queue.” The hard drive then feeds information to your printer so that you can use your computer while Windows is busy printing away. The file is called a “spool” file. To stop print jobs from being printed, you need to get to that queue. Here’s how.
Click on Start and then on Settings. Select Printers and then double-click your printer’s icon to display its queue, or list of pending print jobs. Right-click the job you’d like to cancel and select Cancel Printing Immediately. That document will disappear from the list of files waiting to be printed. If a long document is already in the process of printing, canceling that job will stop it before it finishes printing.
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Jeff Levy hosts the “On Computers” radio talk show from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays on KFI-AM (640). He can be reached at jefflevykfi@hotmail.com.
