Q: After many years of using my ancient computer, I have a new fast computer running Windows XP. What does the key next to the Ctrl key with a picture of a small rectangle with an arrow on it do?
A: This is the keyboard equivalent of a mouse right-click for most cases
and opens a menu window. It works with many programs and most Microsoft
products. However, my guess is that most users who have learnt to
right-click are unlikely
to start using this key.
Q: I am using Windows 2000, and have installed the free Grisoft antivirus recommended by you. Can you also advise on a firewall?
A: My recommendation is Zone Alarm. This does a very good job and most users will probably not need to upgrade to the Pro version. You can go to: zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/trial-zaFamily/trial-zaFamily.jsp?lid=zassskulist-trial
Q: How can you include special characters in a password, and does it defeat hackers' recovery programs?
A: You can enter these special characters by holding the Alt
key and pressing numbers on the numeric keyboard, such as Alt + 231. Some
brute-force cracking
programs only use the keyboard characters and in such a case even a short
password will defeat the hacker. However, the majority of cracking programs
have the option to search all 256 characters. Don't assume that only
limited cracking tools will be used. I suggest using a longer password.
For example,
cracking a basic WinZip password that is six characters long and containing
only lower case letters, at 100,000 tries per second will take only minutes
to crack. However, if you increase the password to nine characters without
special characters, then this becomes nearly two years.
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