We're all besieged with spam every day. We waste so much time and energy trolling through our messages and clicking through those stupid pop ups while surfing. Here's a few things you can do to cut the clutter in your web life. [U] Use BCC in your e mails[/U] I have lots of e mail buddies and we swap jokes like crazy, but to avoid being swamped with spam I use BCC. I put my name in the "To" line.(That's because many e mail postmasters won't accept a message from BCC...they're already trying to avoid spam!) Under BCC, I list all the folks I want to get the joke. Now, we've fooled many of the bots that are harvesting e mail addresses. I use one account for personal e mail, one account for professional and one account for web purchases and related correspondence. All the accounts have spam filters. The accounts for personal correspondence have filters set on high and are based on my address book. To help eliminate spam and viruses, any e mail I get that says, "Pass this to 10 people or pass this to everyone you know" ...that's a big delete. I remove all forwarded addresses (Just highlight the name and address and click delete) before sending along a forwarded joke. This is simple if you just remember to only forward the first copy (the original) instead of the last copy. (the one you're about to forward- don't do it!) Then you only have one page of addresses to delete. If you don't go back to the originating page, you'll be leaving all those addresses along the way. Eventually, your friends get the idea after you gently remind them. I usually do that by sending the e mail back to them "clean" and asking innocently, "Isn't this better?" You can read the full tutorial on BCC from Microsoft here: [url]http://office.microsoft.com/training/Training.aspx?AssetID=RP010515511033[/url] Another way to reduce spam is to be cautious in your web travels. Don't fill out any surveys, (We'd like your opinion), and don't fill out any product registrations. Usually all you need is a UPC code and a register tape to claim a warranty problem. If you must fill out any forms online, give only the information that is mandatory to process They don't need to know how much money you make or what books you like to honor your warranty. That information is used to market to you and gets you lots of spam! Finally, educate yourself so you aren't part of the problem. Visit: [url]http://urbanlegends.about.com/[/url] to learn about hoaxes. Don't pass that junk along. Visit: [url]http://snopes.com/[/url] Learn what a chain letter is and why you shouldn't pass on any of those things. Keep your protection systems up to date. I have a MacAfee that has multiple protection...anti spam, anti virus, web site advisor, and firewall. There are plenty of protections out there, many for free. (But remember, sometimes you get what you pay for.)Sign up for automatic updates and be sure you schedule them at your convenience. Don't leave your computer on 24/7. (I know, I do it all the time!) If you leave a window open when you go to bed, you're just inviting some hacker to have a little fun while you sleep. I use different browsers, but Firefox is my favorite. At the end of every session, I clear history and cookies, temp files, and form data. You can do this on your browser under "tools".

I have a Compaq Presario about 3 years old. It came with a 17 inch monitir which was pretty good size at the time. I now notice that more and more web pages, EMails etc kind of run off the right hand side of the screen. This means scrolling left and right which can be a pain. I know I could change the screen resolution to make the type size smaller but then it just gets hard for these old eyes to read. I have looked at the newer wide screen monitors but am confused about what would be a good size to get. Would the 19 inch be sufficient or would I still have the same problem. I only use the computer for home use. No super fast requirements or fancy add ons. I am looking for a good basic monitor to surf the web, read E-Mails and play a few low tech games on. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks...