Training Computer:Understanding security and safe computing

If you connect to the Internet, allowing others to use your computer, or share files with others, you should take steps to protect your computer against the damage. Why? Because there are computer criminals (sometimes called hackers or crackers) who attack other people's computers. These people can attack, breaking into your computer via the Internet and stealing your personal information, or indirectly, by creating malicious software (or malware) to damage your computer.

Fortunately, you can protect yourself by taking some simple precautions. This article describes the threats and what you can do to defend against them.

Check your security status with Windows Security Center
Windows Security Center is your headquarters for computer security. It shows your current computer and the security recommends something you need to do to help make your computer more secure. To open:

Click here to open Security Center.

The safety checks your computer for these essential security elements:

Firewall. A firewall can help protect your computer by preventing hackers or malicious software to access it.

Automatic update. Windows can check regularly for updates for your computer and install them automatically.

Malware protection. Antivirus software can help protect your computer against viruses, worms and other threats to security. Antispyware software can help protect your computer against spyware and other unwanted software.

Other security settings. The safety profile for a good Internet security settings and User Account Control is enabled.
If any of the security elements have a red or yellow, your computer may be vulnerable to security threats. To solve the problem, click an item to expand it, then follow the instructions.

What are security alerts?
If Windows detects that your computer may need to strengthen security in a security area-firewall, automatic updates, malware protection, or other security settings, you will see a notification each When you connect until the problem is resolved. The notifications are displayed in the notification area of the taskbar.

Click on the notification to open Security Center, where you can learn how to solve the problem.

Note
To disable notifications of security or hide the safety icon in the notification area, open security, click Change the way Security Center alerts me, and then choose an option. Even if you disable notifications, security will continue to verify and display the state of security.

Use a firewall
A firewall hardware or software that checks the information from the Internet or a network and then it turns immediately or it can pass through your computer, depending on your firewall settings. In this way, a firewall helps prevent hackers and malware from accessing your computer.

Windows Firewall is integrated with Windows and is automatically activated.

If you run a program as an instant messaging program or network multiplayer game that should receive information from the Internet or a network, the firewall asks if you want to block or unblock (allow) the connection. If you choose to unblock the connection, Windows Firewall creates an exception so that the firewall will not bother you at this issue needs to receive information in the future.

Use protection against viruses
Viruses, worms and Trojan horses are programs created by hackers who use the Internet to infect vulnerable computers. Viruses and worms can replicate from computer to computer, while the Trojans enter a computer by hiding in a seemingly legitimate program as a screen saver. Destructive viruses, worms, Trojan horses and can delete information from your hard disk or completely disable your computer. Others do not cause direct damage, but worsen your computer's performance and stability.

Antivirus scan e-mail and other files on your computer from viruses, worms and Trojan horses. If there is, the virus is in quarantine (isolate), he or she removes all the damage before it your computer and files.

Windows does not have a built-in antivirus, but the manufacturer of your computer may have installed. Security check whether your computer has antivirus protection. If not, go to anti-Microsoft Partners Web page to find viruses.

Because new viruses are identified each day, it is important to choose an antivirus program with a capacity of patches. When the antivirus software is updated, it adds new viruses to its list of viruses to check, helping to protect your computer against new attacks. If the virus does not update, your computer is vulnerable to new threats. Updates usually require an annual subscription. Keep an existing subscription to receive regular updates.

Warning
If you do not use antivirus software, you expose your computer to damage from malicious software. You can also run the risk of spreading viruses to other computers.

Use spyware protection
Spyware is software that can display advertisements, collect information about you or change the settings on your computer, generally without appropriately obtaining your consent. For example, spyware can install unwanted toolbars, links or bookmarks in your Web browser, change your default home page, display or pop-up often. Some spyware do not have symptoms displays that you can detect, but secretly collect sensitive information, such as Web sites you visit or the text that you type. Most spyware is installed by free software you download, but in some cases, simply visiting a Web site results from infection with spyware.

To help protect your computer against spyware, use an antispyware program. This version of Windows has a built-in antispyware called Windows Defender, which is enabled by default. Windows Defender notifies you when spyware tries to install it on your computer. It can also scan your computer for spyware and then delete it.

Because new spyware appears every day, Windows Defender must be updated regularly to detect and protect against the latest spyware threats. Windows Defender is updated every time you update Windows. For the highest level of protection, set Windows to install updates automatically (see below).

Windows update automatically
Microsoft regularly offers important updates for Windows that can help protect your computer against new viruses and other threats to security. To ensure you receive these updates as quickly as possible, turn on automatic updating. In this way, you do not have to worry that critical fixes for Windows might be missing from your computer.

Updates are downloaded in the background when you are connected to the Internet. Updates are installed à 3h00 unless you specify another time. If you turn off your computer before then, you can install the updates before shutting down. Otherwise, Windows will install the next time you start your computer.

To activate the automatic update
Click to open Windows Update.

Click on Edit Settings.

Make sure you install updates automatically (recommended) is selected. Windows will install important updates for your computer as they become available. Important updates provide significant benefits such as improved security and reliability.

Under recommended updates, make sure Include recommended updates when downloading, installing, or notifying me about updates check box is selected, then click OK. Recommended Updates are non-critical problems and help improve your computing experience. If you are prompted to enter an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Use a standard user account
When you connect to your computer, Windows grants you a certain level of rights and privileges depending on the type of user account that you have. There are three types of user accounts: standard, administrator, and customers.

Even if an administrator account provides complete control over a computer, using an account can help make your computer more secure. That way, if other people (or hackers) access your computer while you are connected, they can not touch the computer's security settings or modify other user accounts.

To determine your type of account
Click to view user accounts.

The type of account is under your name.

If you are currently using an administrator account, see Changing a user account type to learn how to change a standard.

Tips for using e-mail and Web Security
Be cautious when opening e-mail attachments. e-mail attachments (files attached to e-mails) are the main source of infection by the virus. Never open an attachment from someone you do not know. If you know the sender but not expecting an attachment, verify that the sender actually sent the attachment before opening it. See When to trust an e-mail and avoid e-mail virus.

Protect your personal information carefully. If a Web site requires a credit card number, bank account information or other personal information, make sure you trust the Web site and verify that its transaction system is secure. See When to trust a Web site.

Use anti-phishing filter in Internet Explorer. Phishing is the practice of creating fraudulent e-mails and Web sites to trick computer users to reveal personal or financial information. The fraudulent e-mail or website appears to be a trusted source, such as a bank, credit card company, or reputations online. The Phishing Filter helps detect phishing websites to protect yourself against scams. See Phishing Filter: frequently asked questions.

Be careful when you click on links in e-mails. Hyperlinks (links that open websites when you click them) are often used as part of phishing and spyware scams, but they can also transmit viruses. Just click on links in emails that you trust.

The installation of add-ons Web site that you trust. Web browser add-ons, including ActiveX controls, web pages for things like displaying toolbars, stock tickers, video and animation. However, add-ons can also install spyware or other malicious software. If a site asks you to install an add-on, make sure you trust before doing so. If you install ActiveX controls? and Internet Explorer add-ons: frequently asked questions.

Training Computer:Managing your contacts

You can use Windows to keep track of people and organizations by creating contacts for them in Windows Contacts. Each contains contact information for a person or organization.

When you need to look for a friend's email address or phone number, you can open your Contacts folder and find there. If you want to take notes on a contact, you can store them in the Contacts folder. Whatever the type of contact information you want to remember about someone, you can put it in the Contacts folder own image.

The Contacts folder also functions like the address book for Windows Mail. When you create an e-mail message in Windows Mail, you select the recipient from your Contacts folder. Even if you do not use Windows Mail as your e-mail, you can still use Windows Contacts to store information on persons and agencies.

What is in a contact?
You can store as much information as you want on each contact, including one of the following:

E-mail. Store as many email addresses as you want for a contact, and create one as the preferred address. (The best e-mail address is what Windows Mail will use if you want to send someone e-mail quickly without selecting from a list of all their addresses.)

An image. Adding a photo of a contact can help you remember the person.

Phone numbers. You can store home, work, cell, fax and phone numbers of contact.

Addresses. You can store both home and work addresses of contact.

Information on families. You can enter information about a contact's spouse or partner, children, sex, date of birth and birthday.

Website addresses. You can store both home and work address of a website for a contact.

Notes. Type other information on a contact.

Find Contacts
Click here to open Windows Contacts.

Note
You can find the Contacts folder you by clicking the Start button, click Programs, then clicking Windows Contacts.


Adding a contact
Click here to open Windows Contacts.

Click New contact, and then type the information you want to contact one of the boxes on the tabs available. You do not need to complete all cases, simply enter as much information as you want on the contact.

Adding information to a contact
Click here to open Windows Contacts.

Double-click the contact you want to change.

Click on the tab where you want to add information, then type in one of the boxes available.

Adding a new image to a contact
Click here to open Windows Contacts.

Double-click the contact with the image you want to change. (Windows adds a default image for each contact that you can change at any picture or graphic you want.)

On the name and e-mail, click on the image of contact, and one of the following methods:

To add a new image, click Change picture, locate the image you want to use to contact, click it, then click Open.

To remove an existing image, click Delete image. The situation will return to the image of default contact used by Windows. (You can not delete this file by default.)

For more information, see Add or remove pictures in contacts.

Creating contact groups (mailing lists)
You can also create contact groups, which combine multiple contacts into a single group. Create a contact group you can send e-mail to many people. If you send an e-mail to a contact group, it will be sent to all that you have added to the group. Sending e-mail to a contact group may be much easier than adding names one at a time to an e-mail message, especially if you often send messages to a group of people.

Sending contacts to other people
In addition to using Windows Contacts at the e-mail and store information on persons and agencies, you can also send contacts to other people. This is useful if you want to send someone information about yourself or someone else. There is no need to type a series of phone numbers, addresses and other contact information in an e-mail send their contact with the information you want to share.

To send a contact to someone who is not using this version of Windows, you first need to May export contact to another format. For more information, see the import, export, or change the format of contacts.

Note
If you upgrade to this version of Windows from Windows XP, each of your contacts in the Windows Address Book will be automatically stored in Windows Contacts.

Training Computer:Getting started with e‑mail

E-mail (short for electronic mail) is a fast and convenient way to communicate with others. You can use e-mail to:

Send and receive text messages. You can send an e-mail to anyone with an e-mail. The message reaches the recipient of the e-mail within seconds or minutes, if he or she is your neighbor or life halfway around the world.

E-mail address is two way. You can receive messages from anyone who knows your e-mail and read and reply to these messages.

Send and receive files. Apart from text, you can send virtually any type of file to an e-mail, including documents, pictures, and music. A file sent in an e-mail is called an attachment.

Send messages to groups of people. You can send an e-mail to several people simultaneously. Recipients can respond to the whole group, allowing for group discussions.

To transmit messages. When you receive an e-mail, you can transmit it to others without retyping it.

One advantage of e-mail by phone or by regular mail is its convenience: You can send a message at any time of day or night. If the recipients are not at their computers and online (connected to the Internet) when you send the message, they will wait for the next time they check their e-mail. If they are online, you may get an answer in minutes.

E-mail is also free. Unlike sending an ordinary letter, no stamp or fee is required, regardless of where the recipient lives. The only fees that apply are those you pay for an Internet connection.

What should I do before using e-mail?
To use e-mail, you need three things:

An Internet connection. To connect your computer to the Internet, you must first register with an Internet service provider (ISP). An Internet service provider gives you access to the Internet, usually for a monthly fee. You also need a modem.
An e-mail or Web service. You can use Windows Mail, an e-mail program included with Windows. You can also use another e-mail software, once you install on your computer.

If you prefer, you can subscribe instead of a free web-based email service such as Gmail, MSN Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail. These services allow you to check your e-mail with a Web browser from any computer connected to the Internet.

An e-mail. You receive an e-mail from your ISP or Web-based e-mail when you register. An e-mail consists of a user name (a pseudonym of your choice, not necessarily your real name), the @ sign, and the name of your ISP or Web-based e-mail provider, for example, someone@example.com.

Configuring Windows Mail
Once you have an e-mail and an Internet connection, you're ready to send and receive e-mail. To use e-mail in Windows Mail, you must first create an e-mail. Before adding an account, you'll need to get some information from your ISP: your e-mail address, password, the names of your incoming and outgoing e-mail servers, and some other details.
To add an e-mail in Windows Mail
Click to open Windows Mail.

On the Tools menu, click Accounts.

Click Add, click e-mail account, click Next, then follow the instructions.

During installation, you will be asked to choose a display name. This is the name that recipients will see when you send an e-mail.

Reading e-mails
Windows Mail checks to see if you received the e-mail whenever you start the program and every 30 minutes. (To change this interval, see check for new e-mail.) E-mail you receive in your inbox. The inbox is one of many cases that have e-mail.

To see a list of e-mail you received, click Inbox in the list of folders. Your e-mail messages appear in the list of messages. The list shows who sent the mail, subject, and when it was received.

To read a message, click in the list of messages. The content of the message below the list of messages in the preview window. To read the message in a separate window, double-click it in the list of messages.

To respond to a message, click the Reply button. To learn how to write and send a reply, see "Creating and sending an e-mail" in this article.

See also See the e-mail messages in Windows Mail.

Creating and sending e-mails
To create a new mail message in Windows Mail, click Create Mail. A new message window opens.

Here's how to fill the message window in Windows Mail and most other e-mail programs:

In the To box, type the email address of at least one recipient. If you send the message to multiple recipients, type a semicolon (;) between the e-mail.

In the Cc box, you can type the email addresses of all secondary recipients who need to know about the message but did not need to act on it. They will receive the same message that the people in the area. If there is no secondary beneficiaries, leave this box empty.

In the Subject box, type a title for your message.

In the vast empty area, type your message.

To attach a file to a message, click the Attach a file to a message on the button in the toolbar (located just below the menu bar). Locate the file, select it and click Open. The file now appears in the box enclosed with the message header.

You're done! To send the message, click the Send button. It zip through the Internet to your recipients.

Note
To change the style, font, size or color of the text, select the text, then click on the buttons on the formatting toolbar (located just above the message box).

E-mail Etiquette
Like telephone conversations and face-to-face communication, communication by e-mail implied certain rules of behavior. These rules are called e-mail label or netiquette (a combination of "Internet" and "label"). For effective communication, follow these guidelines:

Be careful with humor and emotion. E-mail does not convey emotion well, so the recipient may not understand your intention tone. Sarcastic humor is particularly risky because the recipient might be interpreted literally and take offense. To convey emotion, consider the use of emoticons (see "Use emoticons" in this article).

Think before you send. Write and send an e-mail is quick and easy, sometimes too easy. Make sure you thought of your message first, and avoid writing when you are angry. Once you send the message, you can not recover.

Use a clear and concise subject line. Summarize the message in a few words. People who receive a large quantity of e-mail can use the object to prioritize the message.

Keep messages short. Even if an e-mail can be of any length, e-mail is designed for rapid communication. Many people do not have the time or the patience to read a few paragraphs.

Avoid using all capital letters. Many people perceive sentences written in all uppercase letters as "screaming" and find boring or offensive.

Be careful with sensitive or confidential information. Any recipient may send your message to other people either intentionally or accidentally.

In addition, in a formal or business communication, avoid spelling and grammar. Sloppy e-mail gives a little. Read your messages before sending, and if your e-mail program has a spelling checker, use it.
Use emoticons
Because it is often difficult to convey emotion, intent, or tone through text alone, early Internet users invented emoticons (a combination of "emotion" and "icons") sequences of keyboard characters that symbolize facial expressions. For example,:) looks like a smiling face when you look at it sideways. Here are some examples of emoticons.

Addressing junk e-mail
As you may receive unsolicited advertisements, brochures, catalogs and mail, you'll probably receive junk mail (often called "spam") in your inbox. Junk e-mail can include advertisements, fraudulent schemes, pornography, or offers legitimate. Because it is very inexpensive for marketers to send spam, it is not uncommon for people to receive a large amount of it.

Windows Mail includes a spam filters that analyze the content of messages sent to you and move suspicious messages to a junk mail folder, where you can view or delete at any time. And if a junk e-mail slips past the filter in your inbox, you can specify that all future messages from the sender is automatically moved to the Junk folder.
To help prevent junk e-mail:

Be careful when giving your e-mail. Avoid publishing your real e-mail discussion groups, on websites or in other areas of the Internet.

Before you give your e-mail to a Web site, visit privacy policy to make sure it does not disclose your e-mail to other companies.

Never respond to junk e-mail. The sender will know that your e-mail address is valid and may sell to other companies. You're likely to receive more junk mail.