It’s fall, the season of Halloween, and Slate recently ran a truly terrifying story. It focused on the rise of “ransomware,” a new form of malware that is truly creepy, and, sad to say, very efficient. According to Slate, this is how this specific hack works: You either click on an infected web page or a link in an email message and your computer screen turns gray. A browser window then appears complete with the FBI logo in its top left corner. Under that is a live webcam feed with a picture of a face, yours.

If that wasn’t unnerving enough, the next part is even scarier. You will then receive a message on your screen informing you that you have violated federal copyright laws. You are given two choices, pay a fine, or deal with three years in prison. You are then given a deadline with which to pay the fine, usually this is 48 to 72 hours. The message further threatens you by saying you’ll get locked out of your computer permanently if you don’t pay.

A real threat

Of course, the criminal charges bit of this scam is fake, but the threat of coping with a totally locked computer is real, at least based on a senior security advisor quoted by Slate. That begs the question, should you simply pay the fine—usually in the $100 range—and hope that the hackers driving this scam unlock your computer? Probably not, according to the Slate story. After all, once these criminals have your money, what motivation do they have to actually unlock your computer? And how do you know that they won’t target your computer again in the future even after you pay up?

True protection

So how do you protect yourself and your computer against this new type of malware? The same way you have been, keep your antivirus software up-to-date, and don’t click on any suspicious links.

However, if you do become a victim of ransomware you will probably need to speak to a security expert to unlock your computer. An alternative is to contact the real FBI here www.ic3.gov and file a complaint.

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Using a word processor ought to be easy, right? All you do is type, right? Microsoft Word is the most widely used word processor and it’s not very simple. While some people enjoy the variety of features of Word, others could do without all the bells and whistles.

Too many features with Word?

The downside of all this excess stuff? Microsoft Word is clunky. It can be slow. And it can be frustrating. The program will automatically indent numbered columns, for instance, even if users don’t want this done. It often underlines “grammar mistakes” that aren’t really mistakes. Then there are the times when Word forcibly capitalizes words that users don’t want capitalized. There may be ways to turn these features off, but most users will never find them in the many buttons and links stretched across the top of Microsoft Word.

Fortunately, there are several alternatives to Word, all of which make the act of writing letters, stories, or blog posts, and messages on the pc a far easier task. Best news of all? Many of the best Word alternatives won’t cost users a penny.

Free Word alternatives

WordPad could be one of the best alternatives to Word. More then likely it is already on your PC. This program has evolved from a simple text editor to an advanced word-processing program. Most likely it has enough features to satisfy most users’ needs. You can access this program through the Windows’ start button. Navigate to “All Programs,” then you can find WordPad in the “Accessories” file.

Word’s online competitors

An online program that may be a lot better then WordPad is OpenOffice.org Writer. It provides most of the features of Word and is extremely intuitive. Should you be looking to explore some alternatives to Word, OpenOffice.org Writer is worth a shot.

Still using Windows 7? Don’t feel bad. This operating system is really a pretty powerful one, much simpler to use than earlier Microsoft Windows products. And with only a few tips, you can make Windows 7 an even more powerful operating system.

Access videos from the Start menu: With the Windows 7 Start menu, you can quickly access your Pictures and Music folders, however, you can’t do the same with your Videos folder. You can, however, change this. First right-click on the Start button and select “Properties.” On the screen that pops up, go to the Start Menu tab and click “Customize.” A dialogue box will show up. Scroll to its bottom, search for the Videos section, and select “Display as a link.” Click “OK” once and then again. Now, you can connect to your videos right from the Start menu.

Modify your Shut Down button: You already know that your computer’s Shut Down button turns off your computer. However, what if you rarely shut down your computer? A little known fact: you are able to customize your Shut Down button so that when you press it, it performs another action, everything from restarting your computer to putting it in sleep mode. To accomplish this, right-click the Start button and select “Properties.” On the Start Menu tab, select the “Power button action” drop-down menu. After that you can select what action you’d like the power button to take as a default.

Add some privacy to your online searching: If you use Internet Explorer, your computer automatically displays your recent searches. If you want a little more privacy, it is possible to turn this off in Windows 7. In order to turn off this feature, you need to type GPEDIT.MSC in the Start menu’s search box. Click “Enter” and this will activate the Group Policy Editor. Select the “User configuration” option and choose “Administrative Templates,” “Windows Components,” and “Windows Explorer.” Once you have navigated here, double-click “Turn off display of recent search entries in the Windows Explorer search box.” Click “Enabled” and then click “OK.”

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