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Houston
We Have A Problem 095, 13/03/10
Filter
Tips
Recently
you recommended that a reader install a Spam filter on their computer but these
things seem to be as much a curse as an aid. Often e-mails that I send to friends
and family are not reaching them because of the Spam Filters they use. Is there
anything I can do to stop my perfectly normal e-mails being filtered out in
this way?
Phil
Gibson, by email
Most Spam
Filters do a reasonably good job, however they are not perfect and some of them
can be quite aggressive. Providing there’s nothing obviously suspicious in your
emails and you avoid using keywords like Viagra, Rolex watches, diplomas,
enlargement and so on, they should get through. Problems can arise when the
filter has been configured to automatically delete messages flagged up as spam.
Typically this option is disabled and over time the filter learns what’s good
and bad as the user spots errors and manually identifies Spam emails that have slipped through the net and
removes wanted messages or addresses from the Blacklist, or adds them to a
Whitelist or Friends list. Unfortunately there’s no easy answer. Every filter
is different and all you can do is warn the affected recipients that you are
having trouble, though clearly in order to do so you will have to resort to
more old fashioned means, like snail mail or telephone…
Protecting
Windows 7 for Free
I have
just upgraded to Windows 7; do you still recommend our old friends AVG and Zone
Alarm (free versions) to look after our PC safety or is there something new
that we ought to consider?
David
Taylor, by email
Both AVG
and Zone Alarm continue to do a fine job under Windows 7 but there are other
free anti-virus and firewall programs worth considering. The latest release of
Avast! (v5) is faster and lighter on its feet than its predecessor and has a
new feature called a ‘Behavioural Shield’ that monitors programs and emails for
suspicious activity, not covered by the regularly updated signature files. You might
also like to consider Microsoft Security Essentials, which has recently
finished a lengthy Beta trial. It’s early days but so far it is doing a very
good job indeed, providing a high level of protection, without hogging
resources or interfering with other programs. There are links to all of the
programs mentioned at: http://tinyurl.com/27txx2.
The firewall included with Windows 7 works well but if you want to ring in the
changes, try Comodo, Keiro or Outpost, which again are all free and there are
links to the downloads at: http://tinyurl.com/2fqoyk
Screen
Test
I have
many spools of 8mm cine film that I would like to copy onto my hard drive prior
to editing on my PC and then burning onto DVD. My attempts to capture projected
cine film from a screen with a modern digital camcorder have been unsuccessful
due to the difference in frame speeds. I would appreciate your advice on a DIY
solution to my problem because the cost of commercial processing is too high
when considering the amount of footage involved.
Rick
Ahern, by email
The only
effective way to overcome the difference in frame rate between cine and video
capture is to use a projector with variable speed control. You may also find
that using a cine/slide transfer screen or box (basically a ground glass screen
and a mirror), will give better results than shooting the screen but in the end the only way to do it properly is
to use professional telecine equipment. If you shop around -- try the
classified ads in the backs of photo and camera magazines -- there are some
quite reasonable deals on offer.
Simple
Site Search
Is it
possible to do a search like ‘Find on this page', which looks not only at the
current web page but also at all pages it links to? For example can I search
for the word 'sundial' on all the churches linked from
www.norfolkchurches.co.uk?
John Foad,
by email
It
certainly is and to search an entire site all you have to do is prefix the
website name with the keyword plus a simple command. So, for example, to search
for ‘sundial’ on the Norfolk churches site you enter the following in the
Google Search box ‘sundial site:norfolkchurches.co.uk’ and press Return. If you
don’t mind switching to Firefox, it’s even easier using an add-on called
URLbarExt (free from: http://tinyurl.com/6ye7zg),
which has a Site Search option, and many other useful features.
Sign of
the Times
I sometimes send Word documents by e-mail and occasionally
need to include a signature. I have a scanned signature in .tif format, which I
use for this purpose. For the recipient to be able to see the signature I need
to embed it in the Word file. This presents a risk of identity theft or worse
if the recipient does not keep the file safe and a hacker extracts the embedded
signature file. Is there a way of protecting the signature file or should I
scan a new signature with a slight fault in it?
Richard Ball, by email
That particular horse bolted a long time ago and your signature is already out there
in the public domain, on letters, cheques, credit card slips and the countless
official and unofficial documents that we all sign, all of the time. By all
means create a fake signature for emails and word documents but I suspect that
its value to a fraudster or hacker who happened upon it would be very limited.
There are many much more valuable items of personal identity, such as PINs and
passwords, that you should be concerned about protecting.
---end---
© R.
Maybury 2010 0102
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