You still can find group postings

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Nov 17, 2003 by James Derk Scripps Howard News Service

Some more questions before I resort to more holiday reviews:

Question: What is the best way to read the discussion area of the Internet?

Answer: I am guessing you mean Usenet, the area where Internet discussion areas called "newsgroups" are stored. This was once a valuable resource, but spam has flooded it as well and it has fallen in popularity. The easiest way to read posts is to go to groups.google.com and put in your keywords. If you are going to monitor specific groups, get Agent or Free Agent at

www.forteinc.com.

Question: I have Windows XP and I have a bunch of photo files in a directory on the C drive. Is there something I can buy to see small images of these so I can go through them without clicking on each one?

Answer: You already have it. Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the folder you wish to view. Then Select View. You can select to view the files in a "filmstrip" format or the smaller preview images, called thumbnails. You can change back to "details" view at any time.

Question: You mentioned not knowing of any way to wirelessly share a modem. An Apple Airport will do this. You only need a Mac to do the initial setup; then you can use it with a Windows PC and wireless card.

Answer: Thanks for the tip. I should have expected Apple would lead the way.

Question: My husband and I bought a Mac in 1999 just so we could keep in touch with our sons by e-mail. Once in awhile something comes on our screen that says we should check for viruses, etc. My sons tell me that having an iMac keeps me from having to worry about such things happening. We don't know too much about viruses, etc., but we certainly wouldn't want to have one attack us, then transfer it to any of our family and friends. Are they right?

Answer: Having a Mac makes you less vulnerable to a virus, that is for sure. There are fewer viruses out there for the Mac; that's either because the virus writers concentrate on Windows because it has such a large market share or because the Mac OS is simply more robust, take your choice. Either way, you need an anti-virus product and you need to update it weekly for your own protection.

Question: I want Yahoo for my home page. Every time I turn my PC on and launch my Internet service, a page comes up called Globefinder.com. How do I get rid of this page for good and keep Yahoo for my home page? I have gone to Internet options and deleted files but cannot get rid of it permanently. Help me if you can.

Answer: I know the hijacking of your home page is frustrating. You have to wonder why companies think if they spam us or try to take over our PCs we will patronize them? Anyway, you have some spyware on your PC. Go to Lavasoft (www.lavasoftusa.com) and download Ad-Aware (the free version.) Run it and reboot. It will remove the spyware that has invaded your PC. If you are using any version of Ad-Aware before 6.0, I would upgrade it first. LavaSoft is doing all of us a great service with this software. If you can afford it, buy the professional version and support their efforts.

WEEKLY WEB WONDER: I get lots of mail recommending sites but one of the consistently good ones is the list of live cams at Earthcam.com. My current favorite is Sterlet (www.sterlet.com) a completely enabled house with five cams. Visitors can even turn on and off the lights in the house.

James Derk is new media editor for The Evansville Courier & Press. His e-mail address is jderk@evansville.net.