Are the WWW and Internet the same thing?

If you’ve ever questioned the difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web, this guide will explain.

A few key terms in context of this guide:

• Computer: An electronic device with a central processing unit. A computer may have one or more network interface cards
• Network interface card (NIC): A computer component with a unique address referred to as a MAC or media access control address. Used to communicate with other network interfaces
• Network: For this guide, a network refers to two or more computers in communication. A network is formed through wires (Cat x Ethernet; Coaxial; Fiber Optic etc.) and wireless protocols (802.11 x; WiMax; Bluetooth etc.)
• Protocol: A digital communications standard with its own rules, authentication methods, etc.
• Internet Protocol (IP):  Currently two versions are in use; IPv4 (most common); IPv6 (becoming popular but largely unsupported at vital points in networks.) IP governs the transport of data—mostly viewed as web pages in browsers
• Hypertext: Data, organised as information, viewable through a Web browser. Right click this page and click “View Source” to see some hypertext markup language (HTML.)

The Internet

Just like roads and railroads provide paths for vehicles, the Internet provides paths for data across millions of sub-networks world-wide. The Internet does not contain any data like the World Wide Web does; the Internet is the channel for delivery.

The World Wide Web

Coined in 1989, the World Wide Web is the collection of all publicly available data, or hypertext viewable via the Internet Protocol. Web pages usually travel to your computer through IP port 80—reserved for Web data.

That’s all for today.

About Rich

Rich is the owner and creator of Windows Guides; he spends his time breaking things on his PC so he can write how-to guides to fix the problems he creates.

If you’re subscribed to one or more email newsletters and you change your email address, it can be a pain send an email to the owner of each newsletter asking them to make the switch.

This guide will show you how to update your email address for most newsletters.

Step 1. Unsubscribe Your Old Email Address

Note: All reputable newsletters offer an unsubscribe button. The fewer clicks you have to make to unsubscribe, the better. 

To remove your old address from the site’s subscription list:

1. Log in to your old email account
2. Open a recent newsletter
3. Scroll to the bottom of the email and click Unsubscribe Now (or similar wording)

Step 2. Subscribe Your New Address

Now go to the site’s main page and look for an “email subscription” button or a mail icon. Click the icon to subscribe with your new address.

Here’s how to subscribe on mintywhite.com:

1. Go to mintywhite.com and click the mail icon:

2. Type in your address, type the verification code, and click Complete Subscription Request:

3. Now go to your email and follow the instructions sent to you by the newsletter owners.

You can always send the site newsletter owner(s) an email anyway; we really like to hear from you and like taking suggestions.

About Rich

Rich is the owner and creator of Windows Guides; he spends his time breaking things on his PC so he can write how-to guides to fix the problems he creates.

The Mission

At work we have tightened security on mobile Exchange Synchronization. A security policy has been set which requires that we ask each of the 2.500 users to read the new guidelines. Failure to accept the new policy guidelines will result in the user loosing access to the server. To be able to monitor the progress of this work (making sure we know that every user has read and accepted) I was asked to create a chart to graphically display the weekly progress,  number of emails sent, number of accepts etc.  The challenge is that we only record names, and dates for each occurrence (notice sent, reply received, account open or closed).

The task

Create a table that will sort  dates into weeks, update numbers once a week (Fridays) and summarize everything in a line graph.

Preparations

I’ll skip a few steps and re-enter the timeline a couple of weeks into the mission when we have some actual data to process. My main table looks like this:

As you can see it’s a rather long list of dates. Only Cells with content will be counted in the final result.

Creating the Graph Table

I am in need of two sheets: “progress” and “graph”.  My main table is created in the sheet named “Progress”.  To be able to make use of my main data I created a new table (in the sheet “graph”) containing the following Columns: “Week”, “Updated”, “Replies”, “Expected”, “Emails”, “Stopped” and “New This Week”. Since I am going to summarize each week  the “Updated” column is the key to making this thing work as planned.

With the table in place I had to create a formula that will sort the dates into its corresponding week and only count cells containing dates. The formula is quite complex (and there might be other ways of making it work). But here is the one I ended up using:

=SUMPRODUCT(('progress'!$D$2:$D$155<='graph'!B4)*('progress'!$D$2:$D$155<>"")) 

Let’s check out what it does.

• SumProduct = Returns the sum of products of corresponding ranges or arrays. This function allows me to create a snapshot of the status on any given date.
•  'progress'!$D$2:$D$155 = This is the range where we have all the registered dates.
•  'graph'!B4 = This is the comparison date (Fridays)
•  'progress'!$D$2:$D$155<='graph'!B4 = Search for dates up until the date in Cell B4
•  *('progress'!$D$2:$D$155<>"")) = Count only Cells with content (dates)

I used this formula in the columns “Replies”, “Emails” and “Stopped”, only changing the range references (columns) and Comparison Date for each row.

Other Formulas used

In the “New this week” column I use this formula:

=IF(C4<>"";C4-C3;"")

It doesn’t do much except calculating the  ”growth” compared to last week.

The Chart

With the finished calculating table prepared, it’s time to create our chart. Again I’m fast forwarding to the end of my project making the chart a better view.

Insert the Chart

Click the Insert-Ribbon, and choose the line tool. Insert a 2D line chart. If you have the table ready (with or without data), you may select the entire thing before you draw the chart. This will allow Excel to create the graph for you.

Editing the Chart

Should you want to re-size the chart, change or add a column or alter the appearance you can do so at any time. Highlight your Chart and look at the top of your screen -  you’ll notice three green highlighted ribbons, called “Chart Tools”: “Design”, Layout” and “Format”. Here you will find everything you’ll ever need,

The Chart Edit Tool

(named: Select Data) was revamped in Excel 2007. The tool allows you to easy change, add or remove columns (in the left pane) and X-axis data in the right pane. Each Column and row is displayed as separate entries in the list, making it easy to edit them to your needs.

To change layout elements you can select the entire chart or specific elements (like the color or line width) by right clicking.

Re-size and move the Chart

Place your mouse pointer over a chart corner or edge, this will activate the re-size and move tool. Simply drag and drop the chart to re-size or move it.

Add, Remove or change in-data

Editing the chart setup is easy as pie too. Highlight the chart, and click “Select Data”-button found in the Design Ribbon. In the graph that Excel created for you it added the Comparison dates to the X-axis. I don’t want it there, so I’m removing it.

In the Select Data Source window,  you see the X-axis (called: Horizontal) in the right side of the window.

• Click the EDIT-button.
• Change the axis label range from A3:B14 to A3:A14
• Click OK
• Click OK

And that is mostly it.

If you play around with this tool a few minutes you will discover that it’s not as hard as you’d think. Making charts is as easy as ever, perhaps even easier.

About Thomas

Computer geek from the age of 7, which amounts to 30 years of computer experience. From the early days (when every computer company had their own OS) of DOS, Windows 1.0 through Seven...

What are Building Blocks ?

Building Blocks are re-usable document elements  that you normally would have to copy from another document or re-create on a regular basis and put it in a drag-and-drop library. It can be used to save design elements like logos, headers, signatures, text you type often etc. etc.

Using Building Blocks

Windows comes with a large Building Blocks library that you may start using right out of the box. Looking through this library will give you an idea of what you may use the library for. In this quick guide I’ll show you how you can create your own Building Block and how you can re-use it in a later document. First, let’s access the library:

1. Open Word
2. Click the Insert Tab
3. On the far right end you’ll see the Quick Parts Icon,
   
   Click the little arrow.
4. Choose “Building Block Organizer”:
   

Now you will see all the available Blocks stored in the building Blocks Library (as seen in the image above). To use one of the existing elements, choose one from the list, and click: Insert

Create your own Building Block

This tool will only be really useful once you start creating your own. Doing so is almost too easy:

Let’s for this example create a “Quote Box” containing one of my favorite Quotes. Satisfied with the design as I am (for pretend sake) I decide to store this layout for later use.

1. Highlight the element you want to save.
   
   Click the arrow under the Quick Parts Icon
2. Choose: “Save Selection to Quick Parts Gallery”
   
3. In the dialogue, Name your item, choose a category and which template to save it in. Except for the name and category I created, use standard settings.
   
4. Click OK

Make use of it

Later on when you want to retrieve your “Building Block Item” click the Quick Parts Menu (again). All your recent Building Blocks will appear directly in the pull-down menu. If not, open the Building Blocks Organizer, locate it and press Insert.

About Thomas

Computer geek from the age of 7, which amounts to 30 years of computer experience. From the early days (when every computer company had their own OS) of DOS, Windows 1.0 through Seven...

Even after emptying the Recycle Bin, files can be retrieved from your hard disk until they are physically overwritten. If you want your files deleted, permanently, use TuneUp Shredder to completely remove traces of your files. Doing this is both useful and strongly recommended if:

• You sell your PC
• You sell your hard drive
• You are returning a drive for warranty repair, replacement, or refund
• You loan your PC to a friend and you’re not sure what you’ve deleted recently
• Your PC is borrowed (school loaner, corporate laptop etc.)

To shred a file:

1. Install TuneUp Utilities 2012 (trial) (aff)

Either

2a. Right click a file you want to delete and click TuneUp Shredder

3a. Click Yes

Or 

2b. Open TuneUp Utilities, click Gain disk space, and click Securely delete data

3b.  Choose whether you want to shred files, folders, or your recycle bin and click Next. Then add the files or folders you want to delete, and click Next

4b. Choose your deletion method, click Next, and click Yes to confirm deletion

Now give yourself a pat on the back (watch your tin foil hat… you don’t want to damage it :)

*If you chose a custom installation of TuneUp Utilities 2012, you will need to leave TuneUp Shredder checked:

About Rich

Rich is the owner and creator of Windows Guides; he spends his time breaking things on his PC so he can write how-to guides to fix the problems he creates.

Mozilla recently pre-released Firefox 7, also known as Aurora, which promises massive performance enhancements for Javascript and significantly lower memory usage. Over the past few years, Mozilla had gained a reputation as a somewhat slow browser, but that’s about to change with Aurora. This version sits right between the stable beta release of Firefox 6.0 and the highly experimental nightly builds currently running at version 8.0.

One of the first major improvements of note is a massive reduction in overall memory consumption. According to the company’s developer blog, memory fragmentation of Javascript objects has been a serious problem. For example, after closing a Javascript applet the memory it previously occupied would not be entirely regained and eventually the browser’s memory usage would grow exponentially, leading to massive slowdowns. This issue has been fixed in Aurora. Additionally, the “garbage collector” runs more frequently to clear up memory occupied by Firefox. Users can also now see how much memory is occupied by individual components of the browser with the new and improved “about : memory” page.

This enhanced memory is good news for serious multi-tab users, who often experience a delay in page loads. Firefox 5 users especially may have found multi-tab loading particularly cumbersome. TuneUp recently conducted a performance intense memory
usage benchmark to test how the new browser measured up. With 27 tabs, Firefox 5 claims an astonishing 659 MB of RAM for itself after all tabs have finished loading. Compared to Firefox 7.0a2, loading 27 websites dropped from current memory usage of 670 MB to 496 MB. Firefox.exe peaked at only 658 MB.

To put these results into perspective, Internet Explorer 9 needed a total of 814 MB with a peak at almost 1.3 GB to display the 27 websites which is an incredibly large amount. Google Chrome’s latest beta release consumed 693 MB and peaked at 1.1 GB. It was surprising to see Firefox 7 as the most resource-friendly browser.

This new version of Firefox is optimized for web developers as well. Since optimizing the browser is only one part of the equation, Mozilla also integrated performance monitoring tools to help developers gauge how fast their websites’ navigation works. Firefox logs websites’ responsiveness so that developers can optimize their own websites accordingly.

Overall, Mozilla has done some incredible work improving their performance. Other browsers need to follow suit as users’ move to low-powered devices such as netbooks and tablets, which increases the demand for lean browsers. It will be interesting to see the additional improvements Mozilla has made to the final version and what’s in store
for Firefox 8.

For more Windows tips and tricks visit the TuneUp Blog about Windows.

About Rich

Rich is the owner and creator of Windows Guides; he spends his time breaking things on his PC so he can write how-to guides to fix the problems he creates.

To focus online ads, many advertising companies track your activity as you browse from website to website (where their ads are displayed) and will build a profile of you to present more useful ads according to your interests and assumed demographics. These companies don’t collect personal information like your name and address; thus, you may find this information gathering helpful as you find yourself being offered more customized advertisements.

Or, you may see it as a violation of your privacy.

Simply disabling cookies will not alter the fact that your public IP address is available to these companies and, if you’re the only person/family using that address, you’ll still be profiled. If you’d like to opt out of these types of ads, you can do so very easily.

Note: What we’re going to do is create a cookie on your browser that requests most of the reputable companies respect your privacy. Opting out of customized ads is done on a browser-by-browser basis. If you clear your cookies, you’ll need to do this again. If you would like to permanently opt out, install the Chrome extension linked below.

Thanks to the Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising, this will take just a couple of minutes for each browser you use.

The Self-Regulatory Program is based on the seven Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising released in July 2009. These Principles correspond with tenets proposed by the Federal Trade Commission in February 2009, and also address public education and industry accountability issues raised by the Commission.The Principles are designed to address consumer concerns about the use of personal information and interest based advertising while preserving the innovative and robust advertising that supports the vast array of free online content and the ability to deliver relevant advertising to consumers. [Source]

Note: Before you opt out, you might want to check out categories you’ve been profiled into. Here’s Google’s page, which shows the categories you’re in for Google advertising: Google Ads Preferences. Surprised by what information Google has gathered?

Opt out of Interest-based Advertisements Online (One Time)

To opt out of personalized ads:

1. Go to aboutads.info
2. Scroll down and click Choose all companies:

Keep My Opt-Outs is an extension for users who aren’t comfortable with personalization of the ads they see on the web. It’s a one-step, persistent opt-out of personalized advertising and related data tracking performed by companies adopting the industry privacy standards for online advertising.

About Rich

Rich is the owner and creator of Windows Guides; he spends his time breaking things on his PC so he can write how-to guides to fix the problems he creates.

This feature can be particularly useful if you’re opening a file from removable media (CD, DVD, external HDD etc.) and MSE’s real-time virus checker has not had a chance to do a preliminary scan at the file yet. If you’ve turned off real-time virus scanning, this will also help you avoid virus infection.

Caution: Even if a virus checker doesn’t detect a virus, never open a file from an untrusted source.

Realizing I didn’t have an infected file to use for this guide, I went to the source of many viruses: a torrent tracker and grabbed a copy of “Adobe Photoshop Lightroom v3.2″ (don’t worry, I promptly deleted it.)

Scan an File/Folder for Viruses

1. If you don’t already have it installed, download and install Microsoft Security Essentials (learn more about MSE.)

2. Open up Windows Explorer (Winkey+E) and browse to the directory that contains the file/folder you want to scan

3. Right click the file or folder and click Scan with Microsoft Security Essentials…

4. Hopefully your journey ends here and you’re informed the file is clean. If however, the file is infected, continue to the next section.

Remove a Virus with Microsoft Security Essentials

If MSE has detected an infected file, you should delete it immediately.

1. Upon notice of an infected file, click Clean Computer

2. MSE will clean the file from your PC:

3. After the file is clean, you may Close MSE

4. You’re almost done… once you’ve detected a virus on your PC:

• Notify others who may also have the file (did this file come via email?)
• If you run backups, make sure the file is removed from your backups
• If the file came from optical media i.e. CD/DVD, destroy the disc, if possible, to avoid future infection
• Inform the distributor of the file that it’s compromised and should not be shared

If the Virus Can’t be Deleted…

If you’ve followed the steps above but still can’t delete the file, please start a topic in Windows Forums and we’ll help you solve the issue. Beware that some viruses can help identity thieves get your personal information. If you know that a virus is running free on your computer, it might be wise to invest in a LifeLock account as a preventative measure against identity theft. But keep checking back with the Windows Forums, because there aren’t many problems that remain unsolved for long!

About Rich

Rich is the owner and creator of Windows Guides; he spends his time breaking things on his PC so he can write how-to guides to fix the problems he creates.

1. Open registry editor (regedit.exe)
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE | Software | Microsoft | Windows NT | CurrentVersion | Winlogon
3. Under Winlogon, look for a key named: SpecialAccounts If it’s not there create a New key (in the left pane) with that name.
4. If The SpecialAccounts Key is present, inside there will be another key named: UserList (if not create it). If the UserList Key is present you may find several usernames listed, if the username you want to hide is there, skip to step 6.
5. In the Right Pane, create a new DWORD value, and use the account name that you want to hide.
6. Double click the new DWORD entry and set the value to 0 (zero) To unhide an account later on, set the value to 1 (one)

The next time you log on, the account will be hidden. To access the hidden accounts, press CTRL+ALT+DELETE at the welcome screen to open the “Log on to Windows” dialog box.

About Thomas

Computer geek from the age of 7, which amounts to 30 years of computer experience. From the early days (when every computer company had their own OS) of DOS, Windows 1.0 through Seven...

[Disclaimer] Neither Mintywhite Staff nor I shall be held responsible (or liable) for any consequences you might suffer for using these pranks.  You do this at your own risk, so keep it clean if you would like to keep your friends (and job) …

On to the pranks

The first pranks I thought I’d come up with are new versions of old pranks. Pranks that are updated to fit the world of today, so to speak. Now the first rule, when it comes to pranks is to know your victim good. Find a prank that will baffle them, even us computer savvy people will fall for some of these. Let’s start with the simple ones (those who don’t require any or much planning), and move on to the more advanced ones as we go.

UnClickable Desktop (version 2)

This is an oldie but goodie. As soon as a computer gets left alone, take a snapshot  of the desktop (Click the PrintScreen Button (PrtScr)), open Windows Paint or whatever and paste the image there, saving it as a JPEG image. Then, set that image as the default wallpaper.

Prank 1: Make sure you hide all icons, so that the only icons visible are the ones in the photo. To amp this one up a bit, open a “not so safe for work” website or image, in the middle of the desktop, BEFORE taking the snapshot. Then, you can really enjoy watching as your victim desperately tries to close that window. But again, consider the environments before choosing the proper image. If your victim use desktop gadgets, you might want to hide those before taking the snapshot, then activate them again after you swap the wallpaper. This way everything will look normal.

Prank 2:
Download this Blue Screen of Death image, set is as the wallpaper, and hide both the desktop icons and gadgets. OR, you can download the BSOD Screensaver from Microsoft!

TIP: To hide the desktop images, right-click an empty part of your desktop and choose VIEW from the Context menu. Uncheck the options “Show Desktop Icons” and “Desktop gadgets” if appropriate.

UnUsable Mouse

Prank 1:
Back in the day, the mouse was subject to many pranks. One prank I enjoyed in particular was to remove the little ball inside the mouse, which of course would render the mouse useless. Now days the mouse is equipped with optical or laser sensors, so there’s really nothing you can remove. However, if you place a piece of tape over the sensor you will pretty much get the same effect. Try it.

Prank 2:
Another easy-to-pull-off prank is to open the mouse control panel and switch the buttons from right-handed usage to left-handed. Sit back and enjoy as your baffled co-worker cannot get that left click working. Also, set the pointer speed to slow for some added annoyance.

Keyboard pranks

Prank 1:
Changing the keyboard setup in the control panel is great way to cause havoc. Switch the keyboard language and layout from English to let’s say Russian. Hours of fun that.

Prank 2:
If you have a “one-finger typing” victim, brake loose a couple of the keys on the keyboard and switch them around. Swap A and S, and E and R. Enjoy as they really cannot type anything. Don’t switch too many letters as it will probably be you that have to switch them back later on. And here’s how you do it.

Speaker prank

If your workplace is a landscape or you share office with several co-workers, you can also have some fun with speakers. Simply switch the speaker cables between your two computers, leaving the cables in such a way that it’s not obvious what you’ve done. Now you can make the other computer, play music at random, Loud beeps etc. hours of fun – or minutes, depending on how long you can keep a straight face.

Advanced Pranks

Now over to the more advanced pranks, that require some effort and planning, and of course enough alone time (at the victim’s computer), to avoid getting caught.

Downloads

There are hundreds of small programs to help you prank someone. Here are a few of my favourites:

• Replace Keys clicker, that replace any keyboard keystrokes with different keyboard keystrokes.
• MouseClicks, let you disable/enable the mouse buttons at regular or random intervals
• Remove Programs, Add/Remove is a prank program that makes it appear that all of your software on your computer is being removed using the Windows Add/Remove Program feature.
• ClickStart, every 45 seconds it will click on the start button causing the start menu to open, talk about irritating behavior.
• DownHoax, is a fake downloader that will make it look like the computer is downloading Not-Safe-For-Work things. It cannot be stopped, as it will only re-start until done.
• EmailFun. When executed, Email Fun displays a fake email screen complete with the To:, From:, Subject: and message contents. Then it immediately pretends to automatically type an email to everyone that is in your address book. Once the message is completed it simulates sending the email, with itself as an attachment.

Phone

If you live in the US or Canada, you can use a free phone call wakeup service to play. Pop your victim’s phone number, a time, and a custom message into WakerUpEr and they will get one of the strangest phone calls of their life.

The Mouse Stinkbomb Prank

Now this has to be the most advanced prank I’ve ever come across. It definitively takes some time to prepare, and you do have to do some shopping. First off get hold of the standard office mouse (commonly used at your work). Then you’ll need a smoke bomb, timer circuit, super glue, and micro switches. Sounds fun? Check it out here!

Covered in Jelly Prank

This is a prank for those who love jelly (OR, have  much spare time on their hands). I cannot describe it, you have to see it. The “Covered in jelly Prank”.

Almost done

I could sit here forever writing about all the fun pranks I’ve come across. But now it’s time for you to contribute. Before I finish off though, if you should happen to have full access to a friend’s computer, then this would be the greatest prank (Warning, definitively NOT safe for work):  SoundPrank 1. There is a safe for Work version also: Soundprank 2.

Sources (or research links)

• http://lifehacker.com/373817/top-10-harmless-geek-pranks
• http://www.technixupdate.com/40-computer-pranks-to-play-on-your-friend-computer/
• http://keypusher.tripod.com/pranks.htm
• http://www.computerpranks.com

The best Prank Stories:

• http://www.toiletpaperentrepreneur.com/the-right-actions/31-great-office-pranks

About Thomas

Computer geek from the age of 7, which amounts to 30 years of computer experience. From the early days (when every computer company had their own OS) of DOS, Windows 1.0 through Seven...