Jury Duty Phone Scam

One of my clients alerted me to this Jury Dury Scam.  Here's how it works.  Folks get a call from a person who claims to be an officer of the court and informs you failed to show up for jury duty.  After telling him you never received a notice, he says he will need some personal information for verification (birthday, social security number, etc.).  He now can steal your identity.

We all tend to be trusting, especially with folks claiming to be from law enforcement agencies.  But if Hollywood has shown us nothing else, it's shown us that we can't trust everybody who claims to be from law enforcement really is.

ANYTIME somebody asks you for personal information on the phone, DO NOT GIVE IT TO THEM.  Hang up the phone and call the agency in question yourself and ask if they were trying to contact you.  If you're able to extract information from the caller (like their name, phone number, where they're located, etc.) it may be useful in the caller turns out to be a scammer.

For more information about this scam, visit the FBI's web page using the link below:
http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june06/jury_scams060206.htm

"Share This" Plugin for Firefox

A couple of weeks ago, I shared information about how you can easily share web content on Facebook.   While that little tool is great for Facebook users, it didn't help those using Twitter and other social networking sites.

Now somebody has developed a plugin for Firefox users that allow them to easily share web content on Facebook, Twitter, My Space, etc.  To get the plugin, just go to the link below and click the "Add to Firefox" button.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5000

You'll have to restart Firefox to install the plugin. After you do, you'll notice a new green button in the top right corner of your Firefox window. If you click it, a list will drop down with different social networking sharing options.  Just click the one you want.

How to Make Address Labels using Microsoft Works Word Processor

Most new computers today come with Microsoft Works already installed.  Although made by Microsoft, Works is a scaled down version Microsoft Office.  Works looks and feels different than Office, but it can do many of the same things.  The confusing thing is Works Word Processor is NOT the same as Microsoft Word, although it is comparable.

Most people don't notice the differences in the Word processor until they run into a situation where they need the full version of Microsoft Word for a project.  One of these situations is trying to use the label Templates provided on Avery's web site. If you're not familiar with Avery's site, they provide free templates for you to download and use with their products. But these templates only work with Microsoft Word ... NOT Works Word Processor.

Good news is that Works has its own label features which allow you to create your labels and then print them onto Avery label sheets.

The first step is to create a new database to store your addresses in.  You can create different mailing lists (or databases). For example, you can create a list for Christmas cards, and another for book club.  Create as many different lists as you'd like.   To create a new list, follow the steps below:

1. Open Works Task Launcher
2. Click Database to create a new one
3. Enter information
4. Save list

Once the list is created, you can use it to make address labels.  Most people use Avery Template #8160 for their address labels. This gives you 30 labels per sheet.  To make labels, follow the steps below.

1. Open Works Task Launcher
2. Click Return Address Labels button
3. Click the Mailing Labels button (last one) and then OK
4. Select 8160 -Addresses in the box and then click NEW DOCUMENT
5. Click “Merge information from another file type”.
6. Then select database (or list) you’d like to use 
7. Insert appropriate fields being sure to hit ENTER as needed
8. Close the “insert Fields” window.
9. Select FILE and then PRINT PREVIEW to check labels before printing (use scroll bar to see top pages.
10. Click Print when ready
    

Sharing Articles, Videos and More on Facebook

Facebook is more than just a social site for keeping in touch with friends.  It's also a great tool for sharing articles, videos and music with others.  One of the problems with today's media is that they often suppress stories that really should be shared.  Thanks to facebook, you can now share in the dissemination of information so as to make more people aware of various issues.

You've probably noticed that many news sites, YouTube, and other sites now have a "share on facebook" link on their content.  This is one way to share information easily.  But while these becoming more popular, there are still many sites that haven't incorporated them yet.

Facebook offers a great little "share bookmarklet" button which can be added to your browser's toolbar.  With this button, you can now share anything you come across on the internet with others.  This is a great tool for sharing articles, music and videos on facebook.

If you use Firefox to browse the internet, adding the share bookmarklet button is really easy. All you do, is drag the button from the web page below to your bookmark toolbar in Firefox and let go.

http://www.facebook.com/share_options.php

If you're using Internet Explorer or another browser, you might have to experiment a bit.  To date, I haven't been successful adding the bookmarklet to my bookmark toolbar in Internet Explorer.  And since I primarily use Firefox, I haven't spent a lot of time trying to figure it out. So if anybody else has been successful adding the tool to Internet Explorer (or any other browser), I hope they'll post the steps here.

Once the "share bookmarklet" button is on your bookmarks toolbar, all you need to do to share something is click the button.  If you're not logged into Facebook at the time, you'll be asked to login, and then the info will be shared.  If you like, you can even add a personal message to the post.

The cool thing is that even though you have to login to facebook to post, you really don't have to be on the site at the time.  In other words, you can be logged into a site (like Facebook) without actually being on the site. 

Enjoy!