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Thursday, September 07, 2000
If they can't get you, they'll go after you through your children. The latest virus deceives your children into enabling a virus on your system by posing as a harmless Pikachu. Dubbed the Pokey
Virus, this threat arrives in your inbox with the subject "Pikachu Pokemon." Within the body of the message, there will be a link to pikachu.com, a Web site operated by Nintendo of America. (Interestingly enough, I have confirmed that Nintendo owns the domain, but have not yet been able to connect to the Web site, presumably because the company has registered it to make sure that nobody else tries to use its trademark.) Although trying to connect to this Web site is harmless, the attachment on the message is not. It's a virus that modifies the autoexec.bat file so that on shutdown and restart, all files in the Windows and Windows/system directories will be deleted.
You might be savvy enough to see through this ruse. But is your child? Make sure that he or she doesn't click on the attachment, or you'll both be suffering the consequences. For more information on how to recognize the Pokey Virus, see www.insiderradio.com.
Q: I find it terribly difficult to make sure that my text is consistent throughout a document. Many times I have several different font sizes or typefaces, often created while cutting and pasting. Is there a way to make my fonts uniform without grueling proof reading?
A: Most business word processors have a tool that allows you to easily copy the formatting from one part of a document to another. In Microsoft Word, it's called the Format Painter. To accomplish your task, first determine which piece of text in your documents has the font face, style and size you want to use. Then position your cursor somewhere in the midst of that text. If your "standard" toolbar is showing, click on the button that looks like a paintbrush. Your cursor will change to a T-bar with the paintbrush next to it.
Have a question for David Radin? Contact him at his Web site
Whichever section of text you next highlight will become exactly the same format as the font in which your cursor was positioned before clicking the toolbar button. If you highlight a word, only the word will pick up the chosen attributes.
To paint the format over an entire line or paragraph, simply highlight that selection by clicking on the left margin next to the text you want to paint, holding the mouse-button and dragging. Once you have made your selection, the cursor will revert back to standard selection mode, and you'll be out of paint.
Occasionally, users get confused with format painter because it turns off automatically as soon as you complete your first selection. So if you turn it on, then click between two letters, you will see no change, and it will turn off because it thinks you have already made your selection.
Insider Tip
Are you tired of printing documents without getting the opportunity to change your print parameters first? On most applications, if you click on the printer icon, you'll start the print with existing parameters including using the default printer, printing a single copy, usually of the whole document. Instead, use CTRL+P.
In most applications, this will call up the printer dialog box instead of going straight to print, enabling you to change the parameters before the print job goes to your printer. So you can print multiple copies, change printers or print a selection instead of the full document.
David Radin is host of the nationally syndicated radio show "Internet Insider," a local version of which is aired on KDKA AM 1020 at noon Saturdays.
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