For Microsoft Office 2007 and 2010:

1. Click Insert

2. Click Symbol from the Ribbon bar

3. Select the character. If needed click More Symbols Select the Symbol

Alternate method is view the Character Map from the System Tools Menu.

1. Click Start >> All Programs >> Accessories >> System Tools >> Character Map

2. Select your font and the Symbol/Character you need

3. Click Copy to copy to your clipboard and paste it into your document.

Some Background

According to articles, Google Street View vehicle and team has been collecting from unprotected data accidently. Its main aim was to collect Wi-Fi SSID’s and MAC addresses to enhance location based services like Google Maps and Google Buzz. But some how due to wrong programming it has collected data from unprotected/secured Wi-Fi devices. That means they have partially collected whatever sites you have surfed. Interesting and scary eh!

Securing your Wi-Fi

When your computer connects to the wireless device, it sends data through and from the device. If this transfer is not encrypted or password protected, hackers can easily intercept your data packets. Another reason to password protect is stop wardriving. Which is protecting random strangers from connecting to your internet. They could use your internet to cause havoc online like hacking and site vandalism or for some other malicious purposes.

Encrypting these data transfers makes it difficult for the hackers to gather your data unless powerful computers are used.

Types of Security

The are a few encryption technologies, mainly WEP, WPA and WPA2. Recently, WEP has been defeated in like two minutes and security experts do not recommend this anymore. Next best is WPA and WPA2.

In some cases WPA2 will not work as the laptops or portable devices might not support that encryption. In my case, I am using WPA as the WPA2 is not supported in 2 of my family members laptop.

How to?

There is a very high chance that when you purchase your wifi router it will not be preconfigured with any security. Using it right away is stupid and you should avoid it. Get it configured first before getting any wireless devices connected.

Below example shows me using the 2wire 2701 wifi router issues by my ISP Singtel. Though I hate this router I have to use this to make my IP phone and VOIP TV work. It does not work on any other routers. Sucks I know!

Note: You might have different brands or model of wireless router at home. The configuration page layout might look different but the concept of protecting your internet is the same

 

Login to your routers configuration page. You should be able to get the correct address from the manual/guide. First of all change the login password from the default to something else.

This is the main configuration page I see. You should see something similar. In your browser key in 192.168.1.254.

Click on Home Network followed by Wireless Settings. You will see these options. Your LinkSys and Dlink routers should have something similar too.

Network name:  This could be your name or some weirdname to your liking.

SSID Broadcast: Enable it if you want everyone to see it. Might be easy when your friends or relatives drop by to use. As an additional security you can disable it. But when you connect from a laptop you will need to manually key in SSID which can be cumbersome.

Enable Wireless Security. Obviously you have to this to secure the network. In my case I selected WPA-PSK and chose a 10 digit password.

MAC Filtering: Every network device has a hardware number tagged to it by the manufacturer. You can this filtering to allow access only to your own computers while it blocks any others from connecting. I find it troublesome and have not enabled it.

Conclusion

The above is just to show you how to quickly protect your wireless network. Each one of you should get it done now, if you don’t have security in place. THIS IS IMPORTANT. It is like leaving your front door unlocked and allowing thieves to steal stuff!

If you dont know how. Call your techie friend or family member to help you out..

Mac OS X have their share of keyboard shortcuts. Most shortcuts will be familiar to you if you are coming from a Windows background.

Here are the list of keyboard shortcuts. Again, you may print the table for your quick reference.

(Command) + C	Copy selected text or item
(Command) + V	Paste text or item
(Command) + X	Cut
(Command) + A	Select All
(Command) + Z	Undo
Shift + (Command) + Z	Redo
(Command) + DELETE	Delete item
(Command) + tab	switch through open applications
(Command) + Q	Quit front most open application
fn + delete	Forward Delete
option + (Command) + Eject	Put computer to sleep

More handy shortcuts can be found at Apple Support Website

Here are the 10 most frequently used short cuts that you will need to know. You may choose to print this out and paste it by the side of the monitor for quick reference.

Copy, paste, undo and redo will probably be the most used shortcut. You will start remembering these in a couple of tries.

Ever wanted to lock your computer before going off for short break. Use "Windows Logo + L". You don’t have to log off you machine just to step for a coffee or meeting.

Go on and use the shortcuts. You will find that it is universal. You can use it on any Windows programs. Definitely makes you more productive especially if you typing documents or essays.

Every time you download or install a new game, application, or software update, you make changes to your computer. Sometimes that change may make your system unstable. Have you ever wanted to go back to the way it was? With System Restore, you can.

Pasted from http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/systemrestore.mspx>

The above quote clearly states the reason for needing a restore. Ever wished your system to be back the way it was? Think of System Restore.

Excellent articles to perform these restore points and are available online. Here are direct links to these articles. If you need help you can drop us a comment and will reply to you asap.

Windows XP

Creating a Restore Point

http://www.online-tech-tips.com/windows-xp/create-a-restore-point-manually-in-xp/

Restore System

http://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/restore-to-factory-settings-windows-xp-vista/

Windows Vista / 7

For Windows there are excellent articles on the net.

Creating a Restore Point

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/697-system-restore-point-create.html

Restoring System

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/700-system-restore.html

NOTE:

System Restore does NOT do backup for your personal files. You will need to do your own backup. If the system is completely corrupted, there is no way a System Restore will help.

If you cant boot to Windows normally, you can loading to Windows Safe mode.

Restart your computer, Press F8 till you see a black & White screen with couple of options. Select Safe Mode and let the system boot. Perform the System Restore method mentioned in the articles and it should get your system back to normal.

These are caused by different font/charecter encoding standards used by different computers. In most cases it should be similar but if you are using different language packs and so on the encoding might have changed.

Ask-leo.com has this covered in a easy to understand manner and a solution also provided. Go on and read it.

What is Phising?

In the field of computer security, phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.

From Wikipedia

The message below is from Ed Gilbreath, Director of IT,  SAS.

I have noticed an increase in the number of Phishing messages that have passed through our Spam/Malware filter located in Hong Kong. The filtering system has worked very well in the past. The presence of these messages in our system indicates that Malware creators have become very sophisticated.

Please be vigilant and resist the temptation to “Click here to resolve this problem”. Listen to your inner voice and delete the message. Several messages I have reviewed have included code that installs a keystroke logger on your computer. The logger is triggered when it recognizes bank or credit card information. It will send account information including login, password, and account details to a host computer. That information is used to access funds in those accounts.

When in doubt DELETE.

What can I do to avoid such issues

Though we have phishing filter in place, criminals are getting sophisticated each time and defeating the system. You might find one or two such emails slip through the filter and land on your inbox.

1. If you notice an email to be too good to be true, DELETE them.
2. Access financial sites by accessing directly from the browser. ie do not click a link within an email
3. Be vigilant. Do not take it for granted and click on links in emails. This is especially so if emails are received from unknown sender.

It has come to our attention that some of you are having problems with viewing or playing videos after inserting it into power point.

We have found that it is due to video clips are being placed in a folder that is too deeply nested.

Eg. c:\user\folder\folder\folder\folder\video.avi

As per Microsoft Knowledge base it is best not to deeply nest the files for power point use

You cannot find and play your movie file.   If the path name of the linked movie file exceeds 128 characters, Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 cannot find and play it. Move or copy the movie file into the same folder as the presentation, and then delete the movie and add it back to update the link (path information).

Read on here: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/HA100777161033.aspx

Failure

Every electronic device is prone to failure, however reliable they are. This is especially so for your hard disk, where you store your precious data. As there are  spinning and movable parts, they are subject to wear and tear and would eventually fail.

Imagine losing your documents, photos and videos of your family and growing kids. All these memories lost! How will you feel?

Backup Backup Backup

The simple solution to all these problem is to perform a backup. It is up to you to choose which medium you want to use, be it DVD disk, thumb drive or external portable drive. But ensure it is an external medium. I would suggest getting an external USB hard disk the like the Western Digital Elements or the Seagate FreeAgent. Prices of hard drives has dropped significantly and you might want to get the biggest size affordable. Otherwise a 500GB disk would do for most cases.

There are two methods of backing up:

Manual – Copy of all your data to the external drive. This method is just not practical and definitely not efficient.

Scheduled/Automated – automate the backup. There are many free applications available that does regular backup completely automated. If you dump docs and pictures regularly to your PC perform a weekly backup if not just perform bi-weekly. Just ensure your PC is turned on.

SAS issued desktops and laptops comes with Nero 7 Premium is pre-installed. I recommend using the Nero BackItUp to perform your backup.

Home users might want to use the Windows in-built backup application or use Cobian Backup or Comodo Backup. Mac users can use the in-built Time Machine application to perform your backup.

I will come up with a short video to show you how to use Nero BackItUp.

Remember folks, backup backup and backup!

Images from xaraxone.com and thefilecrypt.com

What were you doing?

Let us know what were you doing prior to encountering the error.

Were you performing some actions that caused this error?
When was the last time you were able to get certain actions done?
Were there any recent software installations?

Screen shots

If you encounter error, please provide screen shots of the error. This would enable us to assist you better. Just press ‘Print Screen’ or ‘PrtSc’ on your keyboard and paste it into your email message and send it to us.

Do this first!

Often times certain trouble shooting stuff can be done by yourself to resolve an issue.

1. Reload the application – restarting the application/software often times resolves some issues

2. Restart PC – If nothing seems to help, restart your PC. This would often clear any memory or hardware issues that might occur.

3. Change Batteries – Wireless devices run out of batteries at times. You might want to change batteries first before approaching.

Help option

Every application/software comes with some kind of documentation. By clicking on help, you will most likely get the answers you want. Ofcourse, we are always here to assist you if need be.