Email & Online Safety Tips:

Most of us have been using email and shopping online for quite some time, so we know how to use it safely – right?? Wrong… we all get comfortable and too often when we aren’t paying attention, we leave ourselves open to scams without even realizing it… so just a few basic reminders to stay safe online…

BE SURE IT SAYS HTTPS - Before you ever type in any personal information whatsoever on a website (shopping, medical facilities, registering on a company site for info, travel websites, etc) – always be the one who went to that website by typing the website into you browser address bar..  Don’t go there by using a link in an email you received..  Once there, you always want to see https in the Internet browser address bar before you ever type any personal information.  For example when I got to walgreens.com to see what’s on sale – the address in the browser bar will read:

http://www.walgreens.com/default.jsp

But when I left click on the “shopping cart” the data in the internet browser toolbar changes and now reads:

https://www.walgreens.com/store/checkout/cart.jsp

REPUTABLE COMPANIES NEVER ASK FOR INFO VIA EMAIL - Your bank, favorite online store, mortgage or credit card companies will NEVER – NEVER – NEVER - send you an email requesting sensitive information such as your username, password, account number, etc. If you ever receive an email asking for you for this information – print it off and delete it.. Once you print it off, notify the company directly of what has happened.  When you type information into any website, you want to be sure you generated the access to that specific website… never click on a link from an email to visit the site.

BE WARY OF EMAILS FROM GENERIC NAMES – Spammers, Scammers and others who are phishing often send emails using a single name “Jean” or other common names, such as “Uncle Dave” or a common company name – Wells Fargo, Bank of America, or political affiliation these days…  But that doesn’t mean that it is who you think it is.. Most of our friend or families emails come in showing both their first and last name - Pay attention to the email and any attachments they may include – go with your gut, if it looks funny or unusual delete it…

IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT’S PROBABLY A HOAX!

When we receive emails offering easy money, free or cheap products and services, requests for money because our friend is stuck in another country or an offer for a foreign lotteries – remember they are almost always a hoax…  delete them and never, never forward them to anyone on your email contact list/address book

PROTECT YOUR FRIENDS & FAMILIES PRIVACY - Always be sure you type friend & families email addresses in the “BCC” line of all emails (not the To line), so they receive the email but don’t see each other’s addresses – this way if and when they forward the joke or information to others, email addresses won’t be shared unknowingly..  

If and when you receive an email with lots of other addresses, as soon as you choose to forward it on, be sure to eliminate any of the addresses that are listed before your forward it…  Together we can protect each others privacy and reduce the amount of junk mail we get..

What does Download & Upload mean?

When we “download” something – we are bringing “it” from the source we are connected to on the Internet to our computer. Such as, we might "download" music, videos or photos from a website we are visiting to our computer so that we can save it for future use. It is very common today to purchase software from an online store or source and then “download” the software to our computer. In all cases – when you download something – the original remains at the source you are copying it from. You are downloading a copy - never the original.

When we “upload” something we are sending a copy of “it” from our computer to the source we are connected to on the Internet…- such as when we want to order or share photos, we will “upload them” or send a copy of them to Walgreens, CVS or Picasa web albums so that we can then access them from anywhere in the world; when you add an "attachment" to an email, a copy of the original is being "uploaded" and attached it your email.. In all cases – when you upload something – the original remains on your computer – it is simply a copy of that original that is uploaded and sent to the source

Sharing Photos Safely on the Internet

Today more and more of us are sharing our photo’s with others online. This can be done today using our digital cameras and cell phones as soon as the events happen.. No doubt, these options are another wonderful way of using technology but it’s important to be sure you are sharing your photos safely..

Almost all cell phones today have cameras, and because most of us carry our cell phones with us all the time - and the quality of the cell phones cameras have and continue to improve almost daily - they are becoming a popular way to post photos as soon as we take the picture...We may post them to our online photo-sharing accounts (such as Picasa Web Albums, Walgreens, Snapfish, PhotoBucket etc accounts, our blogs, mobile blogs (called moblogs); personal Web sites; or share them via our e-mails and IM - no doubt sharing our photos and videos has never been easier.

But it’s important to carefully manage who sees your digital images, from photos to videos, is critical to avoiding the potential exposure of private or personal information to people outside your trusted friends and family. The same pictures and videos you want to share with friends and family may contain information that also has value to criminals.

Only use reputable sites (such as Picasa Web Albums, Walgreens, Shutterfly, Snapfish and others we’ve discussed in class) and only share photos that contain identifiable information with people you trust.

To make photos with identifiable information safer to share publicly:

• Use a photo editing tool such as Picasa that we work with in our classes, or Windows Photo Gallery to cover up or crop out information that could put you or the people in your photos in harms way, such as house or apt. numbers, street names, name of your school or business, etc – Photo Editing sites allow you to blur small sections of your photos, so you can then put them online safely.


• Remove metadata from the photo. Some sites allow viewers to see the settings used to take the photo, the time and date when the photo was taken, and even show the geographical coordinates of the place where the photo was taken if the camera or camera phone documents this information. The last thing you want "just anyone" being able to see is the actual address of your home, school or day care center when you took pictures of your kids or grandkids...


• Change/reduce the resolution of the photo – because lower resolution makes it less likely that others will copy the photo.

How to add “attachments” to your email message…

Once you are in your email account and into the section where you can write/compose a new email message:

Be sure to fill in the names whom it is going to in the BCC (to protect everyone’s privacy) - also be sure to fill in a subject and then write your message

Now – click the “attachment” option which usually has a paperclip icon beside it (it might also say Add attachment, insert attachment or insert file/photo”

With many programs you will now see a BROWSE button which allows you to open the Document, Picture, Video or Music files so that you can find what it is you want to attach

Once you have found the correct folder and then found the correct “file” highlight/left click on the file name – with most services if you left click the file twice it will insert/add it to your email message. Remember if you have several files in one folder, you can use the CTRL or SHFT keys to add multiple files.

If you want to send a different file from a different folder or section, just repeat the steps above.

Once you have attached all the files you want, you will send the email message the same as you always do. If you want to be sure what your recipients will see, simply send a copy to yourself as well…

Notes:

Most services allow you to add attachments up to 25GB, although this varies depending on the email provider :

IN AOL – the ATTACH FILE button is in the bottom left corner of the email message

IN YAHOO: When you choose the file you want to attach it appears in the file field, when you are finished, select the 'Attach Files' button and you will receive a message that you have successfully attached your files.

IN HOTMAIL: In newer versions it will ask you if you want to save the attachments as online documents/photos – you can say yes or no (when you say yes they will be saved in your online/cloud documents/photo folders)

IN GMAIL: Click the "Send" command once you have added as many attachments as you desire and they will be added to your message

Email Attachments

Most email providers allow you to “ATTACH” photos and other files stored on your computer, memory sticks or other drives. Most providers utilize an ATTACH button feature, some give you multi-options, such as being able to attach files or photos.
When you activate the ATTACH button, many providers use the BROWSE feature, which opens your computer filing system so you can find & select what you want to attach. Making sure your work, photos, music and videos are properly filed in the right "drawer" will help make it easier for you to find what you want to attach.
When you activate the ATTACH feature, the computer makes a copy of whatever you are attaching, so that the original remains in the folder where you have it stored and it will UPLOAD a copy of whatever you are attaching to send along with the email.

Many providers today actually put photo’s into the body of the email message, eliminating the need to DOWNLOAD them by the viewer
When you attach something to an email or receive an email with an attachment, the computer indicates what it is – after the name… such as

• Septemberreport.doc - .doc indicates it is a document (.txt, .pdf, .xls-spreadsheet)
• Sunflower.jpg - .jpg indicates it is a photo (.bmp, .tif, .gif, png -other photo formats)
• Russianiceshow.ppt - .ppt or .pptx is a power point slide show (.pps .ppsx: full power point)
• Sallysrecital.wmv – .wmv indicates it is a video/movie
• Overtherainbow.wma - .wma or .mp3 indicates audio-music files

When you receive an attachment, you can then go to File - Save As to save it on your computers file system for future use

POWER POINT SLIDE SHOW TIPS

Many of us receive power point slide shows attached to our emails today.
If you don’t have full Power Point Application Software then you need Power Point Viewer to view these slide shows – a free software on most new computers. If your computer doesn’t have the Power Point Viewer, you can download it FREE from Microsoft – here is the link

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=048DC840-14E1-467D-8DCA-19D2A8FD7485&displaylang=en

Power Point Viewer allows you to view the slide show, save it for future viewings and to be able to email it to someone – but you can’t edit or modify the slide show in anyway or create your own.
If you want to create a Power Point Presentation or change power point presentations you've received and saved, then you must have Power Point Application Software (which quite often is part of the Office bundle)

What do the extensions mean when you receive a power point attachment or see them in a file (such as fantasticslide.show.ppt or fantaticslideshow.pps??)

• PPT is the default file extension for saving presentations in PowerPoint 2003 and earlier versions.
• PPTX is the default file extension for saving presentations in PowerPoint 2007 and later versions.
• PPS is the the show mode extension in PowerPoint 2003 and earlier -- these files run in "play-presentation" mode when double-clicked.
• PPSX does the same thing in PowerPoint 2007 and later -- it runs in "play-presentation" mode when double-clicked.

If friends, family or co-workers send you a Power Point Slide Show and you can't open it - look at the extension - if it reads .pptx or .ppsx at the end - they created it in Power Point 2007 - ask them to re-save it on their computer as a 97-2003 power point, so that older versions of the software can read it and resend it to you...

Remember all computers at Southern Artery classroom have a wonderful file on them (PP Slide Shows or PP Presentations) with many great power point slide shows - so open them up and watch them.. or you can add them to an email when you are in the classroom - when your email is open - send yourself an email and simply add the power point slide show you like as a file attachment...