Maki & Brian DeLaet EduCyber founders

March 2004 EduNotes

EduCyber is pleased to present the March edition of EduNotes. Read this issue to find out what bargains you can get with us this month. Also, in this month's issue you can learn about memory sticks, get some ideas on how to spice up your web site, learn about the latest virus problems, and get the inside info and a great new search tool. Enjoy and as always, send feedback to edunotes@educyber.com .

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Send a friend to www.educyber.com/edunotes so they too can get the tips and tools for getting by in the technology age.

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Virus Alert

Coming to a mailbox near you. Viruses and worms are swimming around in cyberspace looking for easy prey. Don't be their next victim.

First, make sure your system is protected. Check your antivirus program (you MUST have an antivirus program installed) to see if the virus definitions are up to date. Usually this is accomplished by going to the help menu and clicking on a link labeled “About” or finding out the most recent date of something called “Virus Definitions”. If they are not up-to-date (within the last week), you are at risk, connect to the Internet and update them immediately.

Second, do not open any attachments you are not expecting. Even if an attachment arrives from someone you know, do not open it unless it is something you are expecting. Attachments are the way most viruses and worms are propagated.

Of particular concern right now are password protected zip files. If it is password protected, your antivirus program will not be able to scan it. So those nefarious worm and virus creators are placing their evil files in password-protected zip files and sending them out with messages that include the password and something to make you think you need to open it like:

“Dear user, the management of <yourdomain>.com mailing system wants to let you know that,

Our antivirus software has detected a large ammount of viruses outgoing from your email account, you may use our free anti-virus tool to clean up your computer software.

For details see the attached file.

For security reasons attached file is password protected. The password is "63318".

Kind regards,

The <yourdomain>.com team

If you are concerned that you may have a virus or want further information, please call us at 720 275-4646 or email us info@educyber.com .

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Memory Sticks

Dear friend, it is time, at last to say goodbye to your floppy disk. I know you have been very close over the years (and it has been quite a few) but the time has come to let go.

Memory sticks have arrived and you can safely leave your floppies behind. What is a memory stick? It is like a portable hard drive. The one we use is about the size of a car key and can hold up to 256 MB of data or the content of about 178 floppies. On a little stick the size of car key.

Ahhh but is it compatible with my system, you ask? Yes. Or else it is time for a new computer. These memory sticks just need a USB port, something just about every computer manufactured since 1999 has. OK, you ask, so if it works with technology dating back to 1999, it must be kind of slow, right? Wrong. These memory sticks are backwardly compatible with USB 1.1 but work great with USB 2.0 so you can zip your data rather quickly.

The main drawback that we've found, at least with our FujiFilm memory stick (sometimes know as a memory key) is that it is NOT compatible with Windows 98. Yes, it has a special drivers disk for Windows 98. No, even after you've installed the software, you still can't use it on Windows 98 (and the Fujifilm web site doesn't have ANY help with this problem). Is this really a problem though? If you're still using Windows 98, you really need to consider upgrading anyway as that operating system is now SIX years old which is ancient in cyber-years.

From Windows ME to 2000 to XP (and beyond), memory sticks promise a fast and easy way to carry files from 2 MB to 1 GB between computers.

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Web Wizards

Yes, we are the web wizards. We can breath new life into your dilapidated old web site. And it doesn't need to cost an arm and a leg (or an arm or a leg, for that matter). If your web site doesn't “do” anything, you need to call us.

What can web sites do? At a minimum, visitors to your web site should be able to submit feedback (either about your site or about your service/product). We're not talking about an email link, we're talking about a form where someone can fill in their information and have it sent straight to you.

Moving on from there are all kinds of options. You can use a database to display up-to-the-minute information about your goods or services. Run out of product a? How about trying product d which is very similar? Or, you can use cookies (not the edible kind) to track users as they traverse through your site, not for evil purposes such as spam but so that you can see what pages and products are popular and which are not. Or we can set you up with a page and an easy process to update the page where you can post your weekly or monthly specials. The next step is having a database driven web site where the content changes regularly. If you have a knowledge base of support or even a FAQ (frequently asked questions) page, these can be put into a database, making it easier for your visitors to find the information they want.

Even if your site doesn't need to “do” anything, we can spiff it up with some fresh graphics or even a flash object. Interested? Call us at (720) 275-4646.

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One Stop Search

You've probably heard, even from time to time in this newsletter, about all the special features that Google has such as a calculator, a dictionary, and the ability to search for images. If only you could just remember the special thing you have to type in to make it work. Now you no longer have to cram such facts into your brain.

Soople, the brainchild of Floris Rost van Tonningen, has taken care of the work for you. Soople is a very simple page that displays many of the different ways of using Google. Though not endorsed by or affiliated with Google, Soople accesses the Google database using all of the syntax for the special searches.

Right from the front page of www.soople.com you can: 1) Do a normal Google search. 2) Search specific categories (i.e, car magazines) for the term you want. 3) Search for a key word or phrase within a single site (i.e. search for “newsletter” at www.educyber.com ). 4) Search for a specific file type such as Word Documents. 5) Search for images, customizable by file size and file type. 6)Search for definitions (in other words, an online dictionary) 7) Search current news 8) Search in specific languages or for information from certain countries. 9) Search for a number (i.e. type in your FEDEX or UPS number and it'll track it for you, can be used with just about any part number from vehicle VINs to patent numbers). 10) Search for sites related to the domain you type in which can be useful if you are doing research and need multiple resources. 11) Search for movie reviews. 12) Search for stock information by typing in the ticker. 13) And search for other web sites that are linked to the one you type in.

And all of that is just in the first page. The calculator page provides ten different calculators. The translate page lets you translate text or web pages from or to at least seven different languages. The Soople phone page pulls many of the powerful yellow page features together with a reverse number look-up meaning you could probably get by without every using a paper phone book again (unless you were looking for someone to repair your Internet connection, I guess). The last page is an advanced search page that pulls many of the features described above into one page so you can combine many different features into one search.

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March Madness at EduCyber

15% OFF Hosting for the 1st year*

* New customers only. Not available with any other offer.

Computer & Network Support

Buy 10 hr Block of time, get 1 hour free!

Buy 25 hr Block of time, get 2 hours free!

(Offers end 3/31/2004)

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© 2004 EduCyber, Inc. This newsletter is brought to you by EduCyber, Inc. EduNotes can be viewed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week online at http://www.educyber.com/edunotes/ . Visit us on the web at http://www.educyber.com or call us at (720) 275-4646. Permission is hereby granted to redistribute all or part of this newsletter as long as this entire copyright message is included.
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