Part 2 on Outlook

Written by Larry Schneider
Thursday, 18 March 2010 00:00

Dear Larry,

I am a heavy user of Outlook but after years of use, my Inbox is out of control, and the program as a whole is getting very slow. Is there anything I can do to tame it? F.O.

Dear F.O.,

In my last column, I discussed the use of Outlook folders to unburden the Inbox. This week, I’ll talk about using mail rules to redirect messages to folders. Those of you who read my last column have by now created folders to bring some organization to your Outlook mess… er, messages. You then dragged messages from your Outlook Inbox into the folders, thereby better organizing your messages as a whole.

A new outlook on Outlook

Written by Larry Schneider
Thursday, 04 March 2010 01:00

Dear Larry,

I am a heavy user of Outlook but after years of use, my Inbox is out of control, and the program as a whole is getting very slow. Is there anything I can do to tame it? — F.O.

Dear F.O.,

Outlook (not to be confused with Outlook Express) is Microsoft’s flagship product for organizing mail, contacts, appointments, tasks and other items. It offers many ways to manage and organize a never-ending supply of new information, but oddly enough, many people either aren’t familiar with these tools or simply don’t take advantage of them.

Behind Big Brother’s Back

Written by Larry Schneider
Thursday, 18 February 2010 01:00

Dear Larry,

Thank you for your recent column on Internet privacy. I thought I remembered that Google was offering a service to allow you to track the information they have on file for you. Do you know anything about that? — F. P.

Dear F. P.,

The service you’re referring to is called Google Dashboard and was introduced last fall. It presents an overview of all the information you have stored within the web giant’s servers — data such as Gmail, Picasa, iGoogle, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Voice, Google Talk, and so forth.

Private information, publicly available

Written by Larry Schneider
Thursday, 04 February 2010 01:00

Dear Larry,

I happened to Google my name recently and found links to Web sites that contained startling amounts of what I thought was private information. How is this possible? — D.L.

Dear D.L.,

It’s scary how much computers know about us. And thanks to the Internet, it’s even more frightening how much of that information is easily accessible, some of it free and a lot of it just a small fee away. It’s not terribly difficult for someone to start with your name and current address or even a telephone number and have that lead them to your date of birth, criminal records, family information, other telephone numbers, property values, previous addresses, liens and bankruptcies, aliases, etc.

Beware of malware’s infectious behavior

Written by Larry Schneider
Thursday, 21 January 2010 01:00

Dear Larry,

Thank you so much for rescuing my computer and cleaning off all that nasty malware. Can you tell me exactly what malware is and how it got onto my computer in the first place? — B.W.

Dear B.W.,

Malware — which is short for “malicious software” — consists of various types of bad computer software: Trojan horses, spyware, adware, viruses, etc. Malware is becoming the new crimeware du jour as the criminal segment of our society looks for ways to make money instead of just making trouble.

Safety first

Written by Larry Schneider
Thursday, 07 January 2010 01:00

Dear Larry,

In the past I have admittedly not been very discriminating when it came to the Web sites I visited. As a result, I would frequently be prompted with little windows warning of one infection or another and in my stupidity I’d load my computer with the worst viruses imaginable. I really want to turn over a new leaf this year. What should be my battle plan for keeping my ship shipshape? - C.D.

Paging Dr. McWordy

Written by Larry Schneider
Wednesday, 23 December 2009 01:00

Dear Larry,

I’m trying to control automatic page numbering in a Word document of mine. In some parts, I need to start numbering pages at 1 again but Word insists on numbering sequentially from the beginning. Is there a way I can manage this without creating separate documents? — M. R.

Cleaning out your mailbox

Written by Larry Schneider
Thursday, 10 December 2009 01:00

Dear Larry,

I use Windows Mail under Vista to receive my Optimum Online e-mail. Now it’s constantly freezing up half-way through downloading my new mail. Any idea what’s wrong? — P.N.

Something old, something new

Written by Larry Schneider
Wednesday, 25 November 2009 01:00

Dear Larry,

I read with interest your column several weeks back about Windows 7. I know you recommended not upgrading an older Windows XP system to Windows 7, but my computer has been giving me some problems, and I don’t really want to invest in a new machine right now. I’ll probably have you handle the upgrade for me, but I’d like you to elaborate on what’s involved. Thanks. — P.R.

Perchance to dream

Written by Larry Schneider
Thursday, 12 November 2009 01:00

Dear Larry,

I saw an ad for a technology product called Zeo that claims to help you sleep better. Do you know anything about it? — F.S.

Dear F.S.,

Thomas Edison felt sleep was a waste of time and relied on four hours a night. Albert Einstein insisted he needed nine hours of sleep for his mind to function at peak capacity. You and I would probably be pretty happy if we could consistently manage seven hours every night.