|
The MadMod Computing Newsletter Vol. 2002c |
|
|
The MadMod Computing Newsletter Vol. 2002c |
|
Welcome to this issue of The MadMod Computing Newsletter. We hope that you enjoy the features of each issue and learn some computing skills along the way. First, a reminder to make backups of your important files, and to use Scandisk and Disk Defragmenter -- at least monthly. Keep your anti-virus definitions up-to-date. If you've got a cable modem or DSL, be sure to install and configure a firewall program. |
|
Featured in This Issue |
|
1. Simple Digital Image Rendering 2. Dealing With E-Mail Attachments 3. Mail2Web (website) |
|
1. Simple Digital Image Rendering A program such as Adobe PhotoDeluxe that comes with many scanners is usually sufficient for simple digital image rendering. Once I obtain an image in my computer, I usually first save it in a high resolution .jpg format to minimize the compression on the photo. I next crop the image to keep only what I want of the original and save it as 2nd .jpg image so that my original can be reused if I need it.
My preference is to use an "Instant Fix" tool to see what can be done automatically. I then "Undo" one step and work separately on Brightness, Contrast, Gamma and Sharpness aspects of the image. Once I'm happy with my tinkering changes, I save the result as a 3rd .jpg. Next I work on color balance with very minor tweaking. Last I resize the image to be no more than 400 pixels wide and then save the final image as a 4th .jpg. The image is probably now at about 60 KB at this point and is ready for an e-mail attachment, genealogy program or a webpage.
|
|
2. Dealing With E-Mail Attachments The first, most-secure way to deal with e-mail attachments is to NEVER open them EVER! Now, given that you might not always do that, first find a way to scan the attachment with an anti-virus tool--understanding that no anti-virus program can guarantee it will catch attachment troubles 100% of the time. If your computer's anti-virus tool is up-to-date and if it is set to scan all e-mail, you're probably reasonably safe opening the e-mail after scanning it.
An alternate method is, using the right-mouse button, to very carefully forward the attachment to your free e-mail account at Hotmail or Yahoo. Hotmail uses McAfee's Virus Scan while Yahoo uses the Symantec's Norton Anti-Virus tool. Once there, very carefully choose to scan the attachment for viruses before reading the attachment. I have more notes about e-mail attachments in the e-mail section of http://madmod.com/clinic.html. Now, please re-read the first sentence of this section. |
|
3. Mail2Web (website) Your e-mail home-away-from-home at http://www.mail2web.com/ can be useful for handling your e-mail needs from a distance. Another feature of this service is to help unlock a mailbox that is jammed for one reason or another. A broken download of a large attachment while receiving e-mail from the server can leave the server in a problem state with respect to the mailbox. Phoning the Internet Service Provider to unlock the mailbox from their end is a method that will resolve the issue, but it duplicates what I could have done for myself. Usually reading the e-mail at Mail2Web and then deleting the e-mail clears the mailbox jam. |