I have written about this before but since I have received several emails from readers, I feel like it is time to talk about it again.

The email that many of us have received starts out with a happy greeting which says, “Dear PayPal Member”.  Well that tells us where this supposedly comes from so we feel safe already.  Call me a pessimist but red flags should go off for all of you.

The first thing that was obvious to me is that I have one email address I use for purchasing items online.  It doesn’t matter what online store I buy from or use, including PayPal, I only use one contact address.  This email did not come to that address so I immediately knew it was not really from PayPal.

The email convincingly went on to advise me that they were checking their system and noticed an “issue regarding” my account.  Then they went on to let me know how they wanted to protect me and they couldn’t get to portions of my account to check it so I need to personally verify my account information.  That would be at least the second red flag.  Never will you have an online proprietor need to verify your account information.  Only the scam artists will attempt to get you to reveal all.  Once they have your log in info from their duplicate web site they can use your account just as if they are you.

They told me that the problem could have been caused by a recent change to my personal data.  They also nicely said that it could have been their fault since they were not able to accurately verify my payment plan due to their system error.

They kindheartedly gave me a link in the email to click on so I could then give the correct verifications.  Although it looked similar to a real PayPal site it wasn’t.

Please be cautious and never give out any usernames, passwords or any other information that can be used on your accounts.  This goes for phone calls too – never tell them anything.

If you feel that it may be a real company then type in the address to their website yourself (never click the emailed link) or call the company directly to find out if they really need you to contact them.  I’m about 99.9% positive that they will warn you away from the email or phone call.

By-the-way, they close the email very nicely too with, “We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand that this is a security measure intended to help protect you and your account. We apologize for any inconvenience.“

Last week Microsoft released their latest and greatest version of Internet Explorer; version 8.  As always some people hated it, some people liked it and another group…well they yawned and went on to other stuff.

Being a Microsoft supporter, I dislike having to say it but I yawned after I installed it on my desktop and netbook units.  After installing it, I have to tell you I didn’t see that much had changed.

I am going to mention a few things that will be of some difference for the average user.

First, they (the MS designers) have added a better search feature.  If you are looking for a particular word or phrase in a web page, hold down the CTRL (Control) key and tap the F (Find) key.  Immediately a box will open at the top of the page and you just start typing what you are looking for.  The CTRL + F keystroke combination has been in MSIE (Microsoft Internet Explorer) for all of the past versions that I can remember but now it does more.  It will tell you how many times the search phrase appears, will highlight the first occurrence and let you click “Next” to get to the next item.  It also highlights all of the appearances in the document in case you just want to read through and see them. 

Next, it has a new feature entitled, “Web Slices”.  This one allows you to find items that change on a page, say something you would like to purchase on eBay.  “Mark” that page so that when it changes in price the Web Slice tab will become bold and start flashing.  A neat feature, although so far I have only been able to make it work on very few sites.  Here’s hoping they get that one fixed…soon.

Another interesting feature is called, “Compatibility View”.  With this one you may get to a web page that will not load properly or just not look like it should.  Compatibility will allow you to click the CV button and you will then see it the way it appeared in older browsers.  It will put the images or menu selections in the correct place the way the page was written.

There are many behind the scenes features that only a web developer would notice. 

Give it a try and see how it works.  All of the features that I have tried out so far have been present in Firefox add-ins for quite a while.  Will I switch to MSIE 8 as my fulltime browser?  It is highly unlikely since I currently prefer Firefox to MSIE 8.

I receive emails regarding Solitaire quite often.  I believe I even answered it over five years ago.  Since I keep getting the question I figured I would take a look at it again.  It is pretty simple but apparently a lot of you out there wonder about it so here we go, a last time until something significant about Solitaire changes.

People want to know why is the game solitaire on all Microsoft Versions up to and including Vista.  It is also on the next version named, “Windows 7” which we will most likely start talking about in August when it is supposed to be released.

First, a short history of Solitaire for Windows.  The familiar game which all of us have played on our computers is not only a game but a training tool.  It all started in 1990 with Windows 3.0.

It is basically a computerized version of the card game that you may have learned to play as a kid.  It has all of the standard rules of the card game with several options for different ways to play and score.  It even has the ability to change the backs of the deck of cards.

Also you should watch the “draw deck” as you play the game.  The older versions of the game have a sneaky little “extra” that the programmers at Microsoft made for you.  The backs of the cards are animated; just enough to make you think you may be loosing your mind.  For instance, if you watch the palm tree deck you will occasionally see the sun stick his tongue out at you…maybe.  I have not noticed this in Vista but to be honest I really have not played it that much.  Let me know if you have seen anything strange.

Now, on to the training part and why solitaire has been in each version of Windows for the last 19 years.  When Windows first came onto the market not many people had any experience with a mouse.  Guess what?  To play solitaire properly you have to use, and learn, most all of the functions of a mouse.  You have to point to the cards you wish to use.  You have to click to draw new cards.  Clicking and dragging is needed to move card to a new location.  And in case you didn’t realize it, you can double click on any card that you want to go to the Ace piles.

This was the main reason that solitaire was created for use in Windows.  This is also the reason you will most likely continue to see it in Windows for the foreseeable future.

Would you like to know how to cheat at Solitaire?  Try holding down the CTRL, ALT and SHIFT keys then clicking on the deck.  This will draw a single card while you are playing the three card draw version, just like you played as a kid at the end of the game.  This has worked in all versions of Solitaire up to Vista.  Hmm, I wonder about Windows 7?

Several weeks ago I recommended software named, “Advanced System Care Free” from Iobit.com and got many emails.  Most of them were thanking me for the suggestion which sped their computers up appreciably.  Others wrote to say that although it sped up their computers, it kept asking them to upgrade to the paid version.  Most of those, in the last category, I found had downloaded the wrong version and needed to uninstall it and reinstall the free version.

The next group of emails starting coming in a week or two later with a different issue.  These were saying that it ran as it had before but after ASC ran it said something like, “You can repair these problems by upgrading to Advance SystemCare Professional”. They were then informed that those hundreds of problems could be fixed once you upgraded to the paid version.  (See the messaage I got below.)  Ouch, I hadn’t seen it yet, but I thought, “Oh gee, nagware!”

Now if you are running ASC don’t panic.  It is still a good program but it will nag you to purchase the full version after a certain amount of time or uses.  If you just click “Later” it will continue and take care of all but the additional xxx issues.

I don’t believe this is a great way to make people love your software and want to purchase it.  I personally would not now purchase the full version.  If they wanted to make a couple of the items not work in the system from the beginning and then stipulate you have to purchase the full version that would be ok with me.  But I am not fond of being told it is a free and then sort of “Indian giving”.

Again, it is not a danger but an unfriendly way to get purchasers to buy the pro version.  I have run the software many times since and gotten the “upgrade” message at random times.  So you may see it once or twice a week or every random number of runs but you apparently will see it.

This also makes me a little gun-shy of suggesting more software for you.  I am running tests on some now for future columns.  I always test software for a while before I tell you about it.  I then search the internet for others’ experiences before I recommend it and check with a few software pros.  However, with this one I didn’t hear about anything out of the ordinary.

So as always be cautious what you install on your computer.  It isn’t always perfect.

I wrote a year or two ago about my feelings regarding social networking on the internet.  Basically I feel very unmoved by all of it.  Venues you seem to hear about most are MySpace.com and Facebook.com.  There is also one that is different from the rest named Twitter.com which I happen to appreciate more than the others.  The difference comes from Twitter only allowing you to post 140 characters. That’s it – short and sweet.  If you care you can follow my mind-numbing posts there at ‘twitter.com/rondoyle‘.

I guess some of you may like a definition of social networking.  It is simply people posting what they are doing, saying, eating, pondering, working on and watching on TV (American Idol seems to be a big topic of discussion lately).  Then other people can read and comment on what they have shared.  Back in the pre-computer days I think this was called writing in your diary or journal. Of course in those days you would not allow anyone to read such intimate, boring nonsense.  But the times, they are a changing.

So back to the main thrust of this column, I have also started playing with Facebook.  I had an account a couple of years ago and just never used it.  Being a geek I sign up for many things to test when they first come out but don’t go back to many of them.  I restarted my Facebook life a month or so ago and still feel pretty much the same way about it with one or two exceptions.

First, using Facebook has allowed me to find old friends (and many have found me) from college and even some of my old high school buddies – from back in the 70′s.  They are now living all over the world. A buddy from high school now lives in Australia and another in Tampa, Florida.  An old girl friend found me who has been in California for over 20 years.  Don’t tell my wife about that one!  Well, OK you can. She has a Facebook account, too and has already seen her.

I am starting to use my account mainly for storing photos so that friends and family can see what we have been up to over the years.  This is a good feature but I just don’t find the informational part of it that interesting.

It is appealing that you can let only your “friends” see your Facebook pages so this keeps strangers out of your life.  Feel free to look me up and give it a try if you like; however, you have to sign up for a free Facebook.com account before you can find me by name.

Let me know if you use it now or start up soon.