Wednesday, December 3, 2003

Outlook Express and attachments

When you want to allow any kind of attachment to get through, you may have to chenge a setting manually. Click TOOLS, OPTIONS, then the SECURITY tab. Uncheck the box that says "Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus". Now all attachments will be available. Use this etting only if you understand the risks of opening certain kinds of attachments in your email.

Personal Firewalls

Zone Alarm from Zone Labs is one of the most popular personal firewalls we've seen -- and you can get it for free. If you're already using Symantec's Norton Antivirus and it's bundled with Internet security, we think that's as much as you can do to protect yourself. Be sure to read all the literature so you have a good basic understanding of how to set it up for your situation.

Thursday, November 13, 2003

Used car shopping

Most people buy a used car at some point in their lives,
but how many do a little investigation before buying?  You should know what
you're buying before laying down the cash -- or worse yet, financing.  Many
dealers will now show you a CarFax data sheet.  They punch in the Vehicle
Identification Number (or VIN) and the computer spits out all it knows about
that particular car.  A VIN is unique to each car and can tell a lot about
the car, including make, model, body style, manufacturing plant, etc.  Try
this out.  Go to your car and carefully write down your VIN, then enter it
in one of the boxes below.  You may be surprised at what you can learn.


AnalogX Vin Decoder






VIN:  






CarFax Vin Decoder







VIN:  






AutoCheck Vin Decoder






VIN:  






Model years 1981 and later have 17-digit vehicle
identification numbers (VIN).  Anyone can decode them with a few basics.



































































Digit

Meaning


1
Country

1-4=USA, 2=Canada, 3=Mexico, J=Japan,
K=Korea, S=Great Britain, W=Germany, Z=Italy

2
Manufacturer

A=Audi or Jaguar, B=BMW, 4=Buick, 6=Cadillac,
1=Chevrolet, C=Chrysler, B=Dodge, F=Ford, 7=GM Canada, G=General Motors, H=Honda,
L=Lincoln, D=Mercedes Benz, M=Mercury, N=Nissan, 3=Oldsmobile, 2 or 5=Pontiac,
P=Plymouth, 8=Saturn, T=Toyota, V=VW or Volvo

3
Vehicle type or division

4
Body style, engine type, model,
series, etc.

5

6

7

8

9
Check digit

This number is used to ensure the
accuracy of the whole VIN

10
Model year

V=1997, W=1998, X=1999, Y=2000, 1=2001,
2=2002, 3=2003, 4=2004

11
Manufacturer's Assembly Plant

12
Serial number

A sequentially assigned number as each
car rolls of the assembly line.

13

14

15

16

17

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