Question of the Week:
How can I password protect a document in Microsoft Word?
Illogically enough, you have to go to Tools Options, and then select either Save (2000) or Security (XP). XP has a greater range of possbilities for security settings. According to the Microsoft help program, if you want "To create a long password — up to 255 characters — click Advanced, and select an RC4 encryption type."

Keep an eye on those photos
New Virus Infects Picture Files, Wired News

"WASHINGTON -- A new virus threatens to strike one of the Internet's most common and useful activities: sharing family photos.

The malicious program is the first ever to infect picture files, though it is not currently attacking computers. Called "Perrun," it worries researchers because it is the first to be able to cross from infecting a program to infecting data files, long considered safe from such threats".

While the consequences of a virus that would attack data files is disturbing, the virus still requires that you run an attached program when you receive an e-mail. Nobody does that anymore, I hope.

Virus Alert
Due to an increased number of submissions, Symantec Security Response is upgrading VBS.VBSWG.AQ@mm from a Category 2 to a Category 3.
VBS.VBSWG.AQ@mm is a worm that disguises itself as a file named "ShakiraPics.jpg.vbs" and will email itself to users of Microsoft Outlook or IRC. This threat also overwrites .vbs and .vbe files with its own code. VBS.VBSWG.AQ@mm is written in VBScript.

The worm may also be referred to by any of the following names: VBS/VBSWG.aq@MM, VBS_VBSWG.AQ, VBS/VBSWG-AQ, VBSWG.AQ

The email has the following characteristics:

Subject: Shakira's Pictures
Message:
Hi :
i have sent the photos via attachment have funn...
Attachment: ShakiraPics.jpg.vbs

Future of Wireless
ZDNet: Story: Bluetooth vs. WiFi: Why it's NOT a death match

Confused by the various wireless options out there? This CNET article does a good job of clarifying what these two different technologies do, and why they are both likely to survive into the furture

Watch out for virus hoaxes like JDBGMGR.EXE
ZDNet: Tech Update: Security / Head off hoaxes "You've almost certainly received an e-mail warning you about a new virus. You know the type--one of those mass e-mails containing warnings of all sorts of dire things that can happen if the described virus or worm gets loose on your system. The e-mail goes on to list the name of the offending file, and tells you that all you need to do is delete the file, and the threat will be gone.
So you check your system, and sure enough, there in the Windows directory is the very file the e-mail warned you about. You wonder briefly why your antivirus software didn't pick up this one, but then you remember that the letter said that this one was so clever that antivirus software couldn't detect it. Guess you'd better delete it, right?

Wrong. If you actually do delete the file, you could very easily spend the next couple of hours reinstalling Windows. And that, of course, is why the antivirus software didn't issue an alert. The e-mail was a hoax, and if you follow its instructions, you could delete an important Windows file--one that's supposed to be there...

Right now, the hot hoax is one that warns of a file on your computer called JDBGMGR.EXE, which an e-mail claims will invade your computer, lie dormant for two weeks, and then release a worm. In reality, this is a file that allows Windows to use Java. If you erase it, you won't be able to use Java."

This is not a good thing...

Outlook Trick
View Your Inbox and Calendar Simultaneously
From Susan McMullen, Valley, Nebraska

In my job, I use both my Outlook Inbox and Calendar constantly. Instead of clicking back and forth between them, I open them side by side on my screen.

Quit all other programs.
Click Inbox on the Folder List to open it. (If the Folder List is not displayed, click Folder List on the View menu.)
Right-click Calendar on the Folder List, and then click Open in New Window on the shortcut menu.
Right-click an empty area of the Windows taskbar, and then click Tile Windows Vertically on the shortcut menu. Or resize the Calendar and Inbox so they can fit side by side on your screen.
Now you can view both easily. When you are done for the day, quit Outlook by clicking Exit on the File menu. This way, your settings are saved, and the next time you open Outlook, the windows will open side by side.

Browser News II
Google Labs - New Ideas in Internet Searching
By supine, 2002-05-25 07:59:56, Section: MLP, Topic: Internet Kuro5hin.org.

"Google is recognised as the leading internet
search engine, both for the breadth of pages it has indexed and the
features it provides. To refine new ideas they are working on, Google
allows the public to try them out through the research labs server
labs.google.com. There are currently four new
ideas available to try out:
Google Glossary;
Google Sets
Voice Search
Keyboard Shortcuts "

The most innovative of the lot is Google Sets, which will provide a series of matching search targets to any list that you put in. This is extraordinarily useful when you have a couple of examples of some internet service and you are trying to figure out if someone else is providing something similar.

Q & A of the Week:
Q: How can I tell what version of Office I have?
A: For almost all Windows programs, Clicking on Help ! About will provide you with version #s. Often, these are even comprehensible. Note that for Office 2000, there are tremendous differences in security between the original version, SR-1, SR-2, etc, but that is another question. For those who can not wait, check out "Service Pack Information and Articles".

And the winner is
Klez: Hi Mom, We're No. 1 (Technology 2:00 a.m. PDT)
It's neither clever nor original, yet the latest variation of the Klez e-mail virus has now been declared the biggest and baddest worm in history. By Michelle Delio. (from the friendly folks at Wired)

Make sure your Norton anti-virus defs are updated to at least April 22nd. Norton users should go here for advice and a downloadable removal tool. In my experience, these tools work about 50% of the time, but they are far easier than the alternative actions, which often involve registry editing, not a task for the unitiated. For a more straight-forward explanation of all the trouble it has caused, and a description of the devious tactics it uses, see the NYU its site.

"Hotmail policy raises privacy concerns", CNN.com, May 22, 2002
(IDG) -- Hotmail users can now get a better look at their personal account settings--but some of the service's estimated 110 million active users may not like what they find.

"Beer Fetching Special Robots"
Always best to start on a serious note.