Campin and Computin Sample

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Campin' and Computin'
Surviving the Open road
With you and your PC Intact!
Eric Anderson
Create Space, Inc.
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Campin' and Computin'

Second Edition
Copyright © 2009 Eric Anderson
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be

reproduced or other wise utilized in any form or
by any other means, mechanical, electronic,
including books on tape, books on CD,
photocopying or by any information storage and
retrieval system without the expressed written
permission in writing from the Author.
Requests should be sent to:
Eric Anderson
P.O. Box 552
Plymouth, Ca. 95669
All the respective brands and company names

used in this book are for reference purpose only
and their copyright belongs to their respective
owners.
The use of company names should not be

construed as an endorsement or detriment.
They are simply used as examples of equipment
or software that is available.
Dell® is a registered trademark of Dell

Computer Corporation.

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Microsoft®, Windows®, Windows XP® and
Vista® are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

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Contents
Contents......................................................................5
Topics to add to the second edition.............................7
Dedication....................................................................8
Chapter 2: The Dang Hardware.................................14
The Main components.............................................14
The key to a computer?..........................................19
The keyboard reminds me of my typewriter!!!.......22
The Monitor, can I use it to watch movies???.........32
Don't get an exterminator for this kind of mouse!. 39
The Audio portion of our program - The speakers. .45
Chapter 9: Virus protection, firewalls and other things
to keep your PC safe. ................................................47
Viruses and Protection against them......................47
PC File security.......................................................53
Firewall Protection..................................................53
Microsoft update.....................................................55
Chapter 10 - If all else fails….....................................61
The cost of a support request…..............................68
Appendix 'A' - Quick Solutions...................................68
Hardware ...............................................................69
Software - Operating system..................................71
Software - Microsoft Outlook...................................71
Appendix B - Some of my favorite web sites.............73
Appendix C - Windows XP equivalents.......................76
Index .........................................................................88
Prologue.....................................................................89
Get back to me on that!!!..........................................92

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Topics to add to the second edition
• Correct information on security for internet

based on what I learned at Hoot N' Annies.
Explain how to limite websites so that they can
not hit certain ones. This should be password
protected.
• Add an appendix for Windows Vista information.
• Look for all occurrences of 'Later' and 'previous'
to add actual chapter references so people can
speed to that section of the book.
• Flush out the wireless internet section. Talk
about sharing computer resources using wifi
access points. Also talk about how to 'Repair' a
connection in order to restore connection. Talk
about how to find the best access point.

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Dedication
This book is the first in what may become a series of

Information Technology (IT) topics as they relate to
RV'ers. Though I generally try to be a guy who thinks
out of the box, in this case I have to dedicate this
book to the love of my life, my wife Carol. Carol is the
one with which I enjoy every RV'ing experience with.
Luckily for Carol and I, Al Gore, Ooops, I mean the
endless list of Colleges and government agencies,
created the internet which allowed Carol and I to
meet, using computers, and subsequently enjoy the
open road together and ultimately for me to write this
book.
Carol has brought so much happiness to my life. She

is my true soul mate. We got hitched in September of
1999. Every day of every year, I love her more and
more than the one before. She is beautiful, funny,
smart and a hard working gal too. While I have been
writing this book, she has been studying for her new
career as a medical transcriptionist. She has also been
putting her new skills to work and serving as editor to
this book. So, if you see any boo-boo's there her fault,
not mine.  Just kidding!
But in all seriousness, I do love her more!

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Chapter 1: Introduction
Just as Recreational vehicles have evolved over the

years, so has the RV'ers needs for the accessories that
are on board as we travel our nations highways and
bi-ways. The shear fact is that we as a species are
always evolving, whether it be as a group or as an
individual. Many of us who enjoy RV's either as a
vehicle to the occasional trip to the great out doors, or
as our rolling homestead, find our needs on the road
constantly evolving.
For those like myself who have always found a calling

by the open road and want to do it 'full-time', then
need to figure out, just what we want to pack along in
our new home on wheels. For those who take their RV
out for the occasional jaunt, we need to figure out
what we can't do without for our two week vacation.
Even on our occasional weekenders, we really had a
desire to have at least a laptop on board so we could
keep up on e-mail, news events, weather forecasts
and the like.
Though the traditional RV has been around since the

first half of the 1900's, you would have been hard
pressed, to pack along your companies 'UNIVAC®' so
that you could keep in touch with the family or check
your stock portfolio while you are on the road. Today
however, is a different story. The ways of staying in
touch have evolved just as RV's have evolved. We now
have cell phones, PDA's and personal computers to

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keep all of us 'in the know' regardless of where we
may roam.
Personal computers have only evolved over the last

15 years or so to where they became what some
perceive as an essential part of each household. Many
who have computers have been given them by well
meaning family members. Or, they have been nagged
into buying one so the family can stay in touch. Many
computer owners are intimidated by these new
fangled machines. Through this book, I hope to take
some of the mystery and intimidation out of
computers. Really, computers are just big fancy
examples of Light switches, magnets and stereo
systems. So, you shouldn't fear them. Hopefully
through this book, you will now have the information
to make computers fear you, not the other way
around.
My first exposure to a computer was when my dad

took me to his office one Saturday at Occidental Life®
in downtown Los Angeles. We paid a visit to the
company computer center. One entire floor, as I
remember, was dedicated to this behemoth in the late
1960's. It was just then also that computer
miniaturization was taking place. This relatively new
agency called NASA was about to place men on the
moon for the first time ever, and the 'space race' was
pressing industry all over the world to create things
that had never been created and make smaller and
lighter, things that had been around for a while. My
real experience with computers however didn't start
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until I applied for a job transfer at Safeway® Stores. I
had been working as an assistant manager of a store
in El Toro, California, when my new direction in life
came across my path. A posting, looking for existing
employees who were interested in computers was
posted in the break room. I saw this at the time as a
way to get a job where I wouldn't have to work 3 to
midnight one day and then 10 AM to 7 PM the next.
From an RV'ing perspective, I cut my teeth on the

open road while doing volunteer work for a youth
group in California. For that group, the Concord Blue
Devils, I drove either one of their five 40 foot Buses or
one of their two big rigs which included a tractor and a
40 or 48 foot trailer behind it.
As many single red blooded American male finds in

life, it takes a woman to come along and really mix
things up. With the aid of a computer, I met the
woman who was soon to become the love of my life.
We met on the internet in one of those match-making
forums. Shortly after we got married, we got our first
RV, a Dutchman® tent trailer. Ten years later, we are
on our 4th RV, a Keystone® Cougar fifth wheel, and
we are now investigating the possibilities of moving to
a motor home.
Many of us use our computers on occasion to send

family an e-mail or see pictures of the grand-kids and
that is about the extent of it. And you know what, that
is Ok. With the way the personal computer has
become the new medium of choice, you still want to

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stay in touch with what is going on. For others, our
lives would end if our computer was taken away from
us.
This book is written to help you to better enjoy your

computer while you are on the road. I hope to help
you better understand the workings of your computer
so that you are less inclined to toss it out the window
as you are traveling to that next great RV destination.
In the onset of this book, you need to keep an

important thing in mind. No one person knows
everything about computers. Most of us who have
worked in the IT (Information Technologies) field know
enough to get buy. Like doctors, most of us 'Geeks'
specialize in one or more various aspects of IT or
Computers. I myself spent most of my career
developing software for two companies. I cut my teeth
on Big Iron (main frame computers) at Safeway®
stores. I also worked on mid-range (AS/400®'s) at the
'Big Red S'. I then transitioned as an AS/400®
programmer, after meeting the love of my life, for a
new employer, Volcano Telephone®, where I worked
for them as an AS/400® programmer then as a PC
programmer working on various PC and web based
applications during my tenure there.
At Volcano Communications® there were 130

employees and an IT staff of 3 when I hired on. The
small size of the team allowed me to really expand my
knowledge of PC's, networks and printers starting the
day I was hired on there. I've always been a guy who

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enjoyed working with his hands so it was nice to move
computers, printers and pull cable, install servers and
literally get my hands dirty in my job. I hope to share
what I have learned and some of the laughs that I've
had through this book.
The other thing to keep in mind is as much as we

might resist it, when it comes to computers, change is
constant. I'm not all that crazy either about the
constant change in the field of computers, but it is
something I have gotten use to. So, the sooner we
accept the fact that computers and change are part of
our new course in life, the faster we'll be able to get
through some of the minutia and start to enjoy them.
As I wrote this book, I came to the conclusion that this

book could also be a reference book as well. As such, I
have tried very hard to make copious entries into the
Index. I tried to do this from the beginning so the 'lack
of index entries' didn't become too much to recover
from.
But, I encourage you to not just read the index and

look for a 'snippet' of information. In doing so, you
may miss out on some of the other great stuff along
the way. I know that we are all busy, so regardless of
where you choose to get started, we’d better get to it
so we can enjoy our "Campin' and Computin'"

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Chapter 2: The Dang Hardware

Hardware, ah hardware. One of those aspects of
computers that make any programmer cringe. It's one
of those things that the programmer seems so unable
to control. Also, programmers accuse hardware of
making their programs do things that we don't want
them to. As a programmer I had to learn early on that
99 times out of one-hundred, when a computer user
experiences a problem, it is really a program bug that
has cropped up, not some malicious intent by a piece
of equipment sitting in a room somewhere.
For the consument RV'er however, the computer may

represent a form of communication, a place to store
recipes and family pictures, or a reminder that we
need to sit at it every day so that we can earn a living.
For those technically diverse families where the
computer doesn't belong to the one most concerned
with the systems of the RV, the computer may just
represent something tying up precious space and
adding weight. Hopefully in this chapter, we can start
to help familiarize you with your computer friend.
The Main components
Like an RV that might be new to you, even if it isn't

brand new, there are many pieces that must fit
together on your PC so that the user gets the most
enjoyment out of it. The hardware is useless without
some sort of instructions, in other words software, to
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make it do things. You know how helpless you first felt
when you had your first RV without a manual. Your
computer feels equally helpless without some
instructions. Likewise, software is useless without
something to run it on, much like 100 gallons of diesel
does you no good without a rig to run it on. This
chapter's purpose is to introduce you to the hardware
side of things.
All personal computers have the same basic

components. These components could also be thought
of like components in a stereo system. The system
might work with only some of the components, but it
can't be fully enjoyed without some of the key
accessories.
The Keyboard:
The keyboard is considered an 'Input' component
where the user, yourself for instance, presses the keys
to convey information from you to the computer. This
is referred to as 'Input' device into the computer.
The Monitor:
The Monitor is considered an 'Output' component
where you the user, reads the 'Output' from the
computer, which are usually results of some sort of
'Input' from yourself. Now, even something as simple
as you turning on the computer could be considered
input, as in 'I want my computer to turn on'. And the
computer will give you output such as 'Please sign in'.
There are now some monitors which are touch screens
that allow you to directly interact with images on the

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screen and there by send commands to the computer.
In those cases, the monitor would be considered an
'Input/Output' component, but for right now, we'll just
leave it as an 'Output' device.
The Mouse:
This is also considered an input device. You use the
mouse, or other pointing device to pick a picture or
select some text on the screen and tell the computer
you want to do something with the item you have
selected. There are usually two or more buttons that
are on the mouse as well as a 'Whiz Wheel' that can
be used to tell the computer you want to speed
through the content of a document.

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The speakers:
This is about the close as anything in a computer
setup that directly resembles your 'Stereo System'.
Through the speaker components, you can listen to
the audio output from your computer as it responds to
the various commands that you give it. You can also
listen to music through your computer using these.
The printer:
This is considered an output component where you
can receive your 'output' from the computer and it
could be saved for all the days to come if you so
desire. Though printers started out as pretty boring
text based output devices, over the last 15 years or
so, they have been enhanced in such a way that you
can now produce photo quality pictures that can be
framed and hung inside your RV.
The Scanner:
Not to be confused with the 'Bar code scanner' at your
local supermarket, an optical scanner can be used as
an 'Input' component, where you can scan a
document or a picture into the computer and store it
for future viewing on the monitor or printed out. There
is also some of what we refer to as 'Multi function'
units which are printers, scanners and sometimes
'Fax' machines all rolled into one.
The CPU or Computer:

Some techie types might refer to your computer tower
(or case) as a CPU (central processing unit). And,
though not correct, a name is just a name. More

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correctly though, the 'tower' is the computer that
connects the keyboard and the monitor together to
get some real work done. Of course, you can't forget
the all important A/C or alternating current which
gives the computer the juice to read your input and
give you a response. Inside the tower or laptop, is the
actual CPU and we'll get to that a little later.
Some of you reading this book today may have a pet,

be it a dog, cat, bird, reptile or some other form of life.
My favorite pet is a dog. That is why my wife and I
have the e-mail address we do. Frankly, our life
wouldn't be complete with out our precious four
legged friends. And like the pooches that my wife and
I love to have at our sides, there are some of the
components that your computer just can not do with
out. Your computer needs an input device and an
output device. Without at least one each of those, the
computer might as well serve as a wheel-chock for
you. You may find that there the other components we
have mentioned earlier that may make you feel like
you have lost a limb in the middle of your life, and you
aren't sure how to get things done without it.
As we delve deeper into later sections of this chapter

we will explain more about the various components
that make up a modern day computer. The computer
itself is what makes everything else work. Without it,
virtually none of the other components would be able
to perform any function. However, that being said, as
in any other part of life, there are always exceptions
to every rule. That exception is a multi- function

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printer/scanner. The reason it is an exception is
because they usually have an on-board computer that
allows them to perform limited tasks even if they are
not connected to your computer at some given point
in time. But, we'll get into that later on.
The key to a computer?
There are a couple of analogies to keep in mind when

dealing with computers. One is a light switch. Some
techies might argue that a magnet with it's north and
south poles are a more accurate example of all things
'computer', but I think it is a harder concept to
visualize. Either way, things in a computer are either
on, or they are off. Information or data is stored in a
series of 'light switches'. Each piece of information
that is stored on a computer is broken down into a
single bit, or switch if you will. The switch is either 'On'
or it is 'Off'. Frequently, the visual representation of
that is a '1' or a '0' (zero). These 'switches' are
referred to as 'bits'.
Have you noticed how on a lot of equipment you buy

today, the on-off switch, if it is a rocker or push button
type, has a 1 and a 0 as part of the switch. Well, the
'1' or 'I' indicates the 'On' position, and the 'O'
indicates the off position. The exact same thing
applies to computers and their internal workings.

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Fig 2-1: This is what the on-off switch on my

compressor looks like.
I have another analogy that might be one that you

have to make a personal decision about. That analogy
is the cuts on a key. You know how cuts on the keys
for your RV is (hopefully) different than the cuts on
keys for other RVers? You may not care that the cuts
are different or what a given cut in that key means. If
you fit into the category of 'I don't care about the cuts
of my key, it just better start the engine', then you
may want to skip this section and proceed to the
section entitled 'The keyboard reminds me of my

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typewriter!!!' which is on the next page. However, if
you are curious, then please, read on!
By themselves, bits don't mean much to an average

user. So, the great computer gurus came up with the
idea that though a 'bit' by itself doesn't mean much to
people, if we group them together, they could mean
more. So, it was decided that the 'standard' is to
group them in groups of 8. Eight bits grouped together
is called a byte. That term may be slightly familiar. If
you have heard the term '56KB', that stands for 56
Kilo-Bytes or 56,000 bytes.
The reason they choose to group bits in groups of

eight, is because of the number characters and
symbols that could be represented. Each byte is the
same as a character. Someone decided that bits
should be numbered from right to left. More or less,
think of it as a number. Most of the time, we look at
numbers from right to left as well. Some bit to byte
examples are shown in the following figure.
Bit Bit Bit Bit Bit Bit Bit Bit Byte/Character

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
12 64 32 16 8 4 2 1 Numeric value of
8 column
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 {No value - AKA:
NULL}
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3
0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 4

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0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 5
0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 9
Fig 2-2: An example of bit representation of data.
A byte of information is pretty much the building

block, or the key to the way data is stored,
transmitted and manipulated by the computer. The
information presented so far about bits and bytes
while true, is very rudimentary and the different
operating systems of various computers (primarily
Apple® or Microsoft®) use those bits and bytes in
different ways. None the less, I wanted to give you an
idea of what data that you type and read looks like to
a computer. The computer only sees things as either a
'1' or a '0'. In other words, it sees the bit as either on
or off.
All of the various components (peripherals in geek

speak) that are attached to your computer pretty
much function by sending and receiving data bits.
The keyboard reminds me of my

typewriter!!!
So the keyboard of your computer reminds you of your

typewriter. Well, that’s a good thing! That means that
the entire semester you spent in typing class in high
school didn't go to waste! That semester actually has
served me very well. The keyboards main function is
to serve as the primary input device to your computer.

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For the most part, it functions as the keyboards on the
old Selectric (and other) typewriters.
Because the Windows® based PC is used so

prevalently in large corporations, there are a number
of keys that are specific for large mainframe
computers. This is where a personal computer like
yours, is used to access larger computers, if they were
hooked up to them. Those keys that are used when
working with large Mainframe computers are 'SysRq',
'Scroll Lock', 'Pause' and 'Break'. But for the average
PC user, these keys have no value and can just be
ignored.
When it comes to the rest of the keys on the

keyboard, pressing any one of the keys, by
themselves will not cause any thing bad to happen on
your computer. Some things you do may cause your
computer to shut down, but that is generally by design
and a simple press of the 'Power' button which you
normally use to turn the computer 'On' should bring
things back to normal. None the less, if you do
accidentally hit the 'Sleep' or 'Hybernate' button, it
can be a bit 'disarming'. But, rest assured, 9 times out
of 10, everything will be Ok.
I would like to go over what some of the special keys

on the keyboard will do as far as interacting with your
personal computer.
- The Esc Key -

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This key usually will be interpreted by the software as
meaning you want to quit the function the computer is
currently performing. Also, if you find that you are
moving the mouse around on the screen, and you
don't seem to have full access to all of the real-estate
on the screen, pressing this key may get you out of
the limiting function you have inadvertently entered
into.
- The Hibernate Key -

This key will generally tell the operating system to put
the computer in a hibernate mode. Entering hibernate
mode usually causes the computer to go to sleep
quickly. The computer will make note of all of the
open applications and the data within them, write
them to the hard drive and then shut down the
computer. When you turn the computer back on by
pressing the power button, the computer will re open
the same applications so that you can pick up where
you left off. You will most frequently find the
'Hibernate' key on laptops, but it can also be found on
'higher end' key boards for desktop PC's.

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Fig 2-3: Shown in this screen shot are the 'Esc' and
'Hibernate' key.
*NOTE* When a key has multiple designations. Like

the 'F1' and 'Hibernate' key shown in the previous
screen shot, this means that it is a multi-function key.
The primary function in the case of the 'F1/Hibernate'
key shown in the previous screen shot is to issue an
'F1' key stroke to the computer. However, if you want
to issue the 'Hibernate' keystroke, you simply press
and hold down the matching key close to the space
bar, usually this is a 'Function' key marked with either
the word 'Function' or 'FN' that is the same color as
the command like 'Hibernate'.
- The CRT/LCD Key -

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This key will control where the video signal on your
computer is directed to. This key, which is primarily
seen on laptops, swaps the video signal from the main
display to an alternate video output jack on the
computer. Note, you may need to press the 'Function'
key to get the CRT/LCD key to work when you are
hooked up to an alternate monitor.
Fig 2-4: Shown above is the 'CRT/LDC' key as found on

most laptops.
- The Insert Key -

This key tells your computer that when you start
typing some where, that you want the text to always
be 'Inserted' where you are typing as opposed to
'Overtyping', what is already there. For instance, if I
have the sentence 'I love New York' and the 'Insert'

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function is on, I place the cursor right before the 'N' in
'New York' and I type the words' to visit ', my sentence
would now read 'I love to visit New York'. However if
the 'Insert' function is off, my sentence would read 'I
love to visit'. This is because as I typed the words 'to
visit', the computer overtyped some of the letters in
'New York'. Generally, people leave the insert function
turned on.
- The delete key -

As I'm sure you may have figured out by now, the
'Delete' key clears typed characters much in the same
way as the 'Backspace' key does. The 'Backspace' key
deletes characters to the left of the cursors current
position and the 'Delete' key deletes characters to the
right of the cursors position.
- The Home Key -

This key talks to the software that you are working
with at a given time. It is up to the software to decide
what will happen when you press the key. That being
said, there is a 'defacto' standard of the action to take
when you press the 'Home' key. Pressing the 'home'
key generally moves the cursor to the beginning of
the line you are currently typing. You may wonder why
it is called the 'Home' key. Well, in the early days of
computers, when their primary purpose was to work
with mainframe computers, pressing the 'Home' key
would cause the cursor to move to 'Top Left' position
of the screen, also referred to as the 'Home' position.
- The End Key -

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The end key is very similar to the 'Home' key in
function except that it moves the cursor to the end of
the line of text that you are currently on.
- The Page Up Key -

The 'Page Up' key also is one that works directly with
the software you are currently using at the time. Some
software won't respond to it, others will. In text editing
software packages though, pressing the 'Page Up' key
will cause the program to scroll up one full page.
Pressing this key will not change any of the text you
are working with, it simply moves the view of the
document up. For example, the text that you see at
the top of your screen, will move down to the bottom
of the screen and you will now be able to see all of the
text that was above what you could see before
pressing the 'Page Up' key.
- The Page Down Key -

The 'Page Down' key is very similar to the 'Page Up'
key except that it moves your view down one full
page.
- The Num Lock Key -

Most keyboards have what is referred to as a 'Ten Key'
pad. This key pad also doubles as your cursor controls.
Generally, the 'Ten Key' function is de-activated. If you
want to activate the 'Ten Key' pad, simply press the
'Num Lock' key to use the numbers on the key pad.
When the 'Num Lock' key is off, the 'Ten Key' pad will
function as cursor controls to move the cursor around

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on your document. When you have the 'Num Lock'
function turned on, an indicator light on your keyboard
will illuminate indicating you are in 'Num Lock'
function. That way, if things aren't operating the way
you expect, you have some indication about what is
going on.
- The Print Screen Key -

This is one of my favorite keys on the keyboard. I'm a
very visual person who likes lots of pictures. Heck, I'm
a guy, so what do you expect? At any rate, the Print
Screen key on PC's a little in-accurate. Again, hailing
back to the Mainframe days, if you pressed the 'Print
Screen' key, it would cause the current screens text to
be printed out to a printer. However on a PC, it causes
a snapshot to be taken of the screen you are currently
working on. You can't see the snapshot after you press
the key, but it is in memory. You can then take that
snapshot, place it in another document as a picture.
Similar to what is shown in figure 2-5!

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Fig 2-5: This is a snapshot using the Print Screen

Function.
I got the picture there by using the 'Paste' function.

We'll get into the use of the 'Paste' function when we
get to the section on the operating system.

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Fig 2-6: This is showing most of the keys just

mentioned previously.
- The Control Key -

This key is one that tells the software that you are
using that you want to use a short cut within the
software. For instance, if you press and hold the
'Control' key down and then press the 'C' key, the
software will more than likely interpret this as that you
want to copy the selected text to memory. You can
then move the cursor to the new location and press
and hold the 'Control' key and then the 'V' key to
insert the text at a new location of the cursor. But,

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those are 'Cut, copy and Paste' functions and I am
getting ahead of myself.
- The Alt Key -

This key is usually used in conjunction with the
'Control' Key. For really complicated short cuts, the
software may require that you press and hold the
'Control' key, then press and hold the 'Alt' key, and
then click on some letter to do something. The 'Alt'
key isn't used all that frequently.
- The F'ing keys -

Partdon me for the introduction to this little
paragraph, but I just could not resist!  The 'F' keys,
which are at the top of the keyboard, may or may not
have any function at a given time. It is up to the
software that you are using at the time to determine
what those keys do. The 'F1' key is again somewhat of
a 'defacto' standard. In most cases, it will bring up a
help panel from which you can look for help in working
with the program you are using at a given time.
The Monitor, can I use it to watch

movies???
It wasn't that many years ago, that RV's didn't have

any TV sets in them. But today, as RV's have evolved
by leaps and bounds to contain the creature comforts
that they do, it is not unusual to see two or more
television sets in a rig. If you have a back up camera
there is a monitor, yet another TV looking device. Not
to be left out, if you have a computer, there will more
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than likely be one more item on board that will look
like a TV set, your computer monitor.
The monitor is the one part of a computer that people

feel the most familiar with, especially when they have
never had a computer. The monitor, which is the
primary output device from the computer, has taken
many different forms over the years that it has
evolved. On the early computers, like the ones used at
my dads previous employer and even those that I
used when I first became a programmer were
monochrome, or more simply black and white. They
were used generally to present textual replies to the
information entered or requested by the user. Then,
they migrated to Color monitors which ranged in size
from 12 inch monitors all the way up to 21" displays in
many commercial applications. As a person who’s job
occasionally entailed moving monitors around, my
back was never to eager to help when word came that
one of those 21" behemoths had pooped out and
needed to be changed. Not only were they awkward,
but with all the glass that it took to make one of those
units, they were very heavy, too.
Today however, monitors are generally of the 'Flat

Panel' variety and are much lighter and more energy
efficient than their glass predecessors. The glass
predecessors, also referred to as CRT's (cathode ray
tube) were very similar to the color TV sets. CRT's
were very popular up until just a few years ago.
Today, just as 'Flat Panel' TV sets have become
popular, so have flat panel monitors. With a couple of

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exceptions, all computer flat panel monitors hook
directly to your PC and are not capable, in and of
themselves, to allow you to watch a movie or TV
program. Now, that being said, most computers today
have DVD drives in them that allow you to watch your
favorite movie using your computer. Also, you can buy
TV tuner accessories for your PC that will allow you to
watch your favorite TV program as long as you have a
cable or over the air signal.
The monitor, in itself, is pretty useless. You need some

sort of 'video driver' or 'video card' that will generate
the images that the monitor will display. Your
computer either the laptop or tower, will contain this
video card to drive the monitor. Most 'flat panel'
televisions today have the needed connections so that
you can connect your computer to the TV. This can be
used as a way to show movies or slide shows on your
flat panel TV for everyone to enjoy. The connection
between a laptop and the flat panel TV is frequently
using the round S-Video (Super Video) connector on
the back of your laptop. Tower computers, depending
on the video card, may or may not have a compatible
jack that will allow it to connect to a flat panel TV, but
most of the higher end 'cards' will have the needed
jack to set you up. The following Picture is of a S-Video
Jack.

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Fig 2-7: This is what an S-Video Jack looks like.
In most typical configurations, where you are

connecting your traditional CRT or flat panel monitor
to your computer, it will be using the RGB (red, green,
and blue) port on the back of your computer. The RGB
port looks like the following.
Fig 2-8: This is what a RGB connector looks like.
Computer monitors come in various shapes, sizes and

features. As I indicated earlier, monitors can be either
CRT style or flat panel. However, the majority of all
monitors sold today, are flat panel style. The main

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reason for this is they have a lower profile and take up
less space on a desktop. They have the added benefit
of being more energy efficient and cause less waste in
our landfills.
Fig 2-9: This is a picture of conventional CRT monitors.

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Fig 2-10: This is a picture of a standard flat panel

monitor.
In general , the smallest flat panel monitor that you

can find today is a 17 inch (diagonally measured)
monitor. This size we find more than adequate for use
in our RV. We have also used a 15 inch in the past. It
will do in a pinch, but with the 17 inch we get fonts
that are just enough larger to make reading that much
easier. The bigger the monitor, the more space you
are going to take up on your RV desktop. So though
you might be tempted to think 'bigger is better'
remember you are dealing with space issues in your
RV, so you might want to see if a 17 inch will be
comfortable enough for you.

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Flat panel monitors will either be in LCD or plasma
format of projection. The LCD (Liquid Crystal Display)
style monitors are more durable when it comes to the
jostling on board while you are traveling down the
road than the plasma screens. As a result, you may
very well want to consider going with an LCD monitor
for your computer use.
You should keep one thing in mind when it comes to

your Computer monitor as well as your TV's in your
RV. If you have an LCD monitor or TV set, 'Liquid' is
part of the equation. Since this is the case, it is best to
not allow the interior of your RV to drop below 32
degree's Fahrenheit. If your LCD screens stay at or
below that temperature for more than an hour or so,
the workings of the projection element, could be
permanently damaged. You will find that most
warrantees of LCD monitors and TV's are void if the
unit is subjected to 'Freezing' temperatures.
A good LCD monitor will have a resolution of 1440 X

900 DPI (dots per inch) and a Contrast ratio of 1000 to
1. In both these cases, the higher numbers the better,
but we have found both of these above mentioned
numbers to be more than adequate for our computing
needs. If you want to enjoy movies on your computer,
either consider the higher numbers, or hooking the
computer up to your TV in your rig.
Expect to pay $175 to $200 for a decent 17 inch

monitor. As always, the price of these sorts of things
may continue to drop, or features to be added, but at

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the writing of this book, those are the numbers that
are out there.
You may find some monitors that have speakers built

into the monitor. Though this may be very attractive
for the RVer because it reduces the space used and
weight added, 'BUYER BE AWARE'. The speakers on
many monitors are pretty light duty and may not be
adequate for your listening enjoyment. So, be sure to
test them out at the store if possible, or first thing
when you unpack the new monitor in your rig. Hold on
to the receipt and packing material so that you can
return the monitor if you find that the speakers are in-
adequate. For more information on the Audio portion
of our program, please see the chapter entitled 'The
Audio portion of our program - The speakers'.
Don't get an exterminator for this kind of

mouse!
It's not too often that you find a mouse in your RV.
Though it is possible that they could climb up the
power cable and into your rig, it is not something you
see very often. More than likely, if you have a mouse
in your Moho, it's one that hooks up to your computer.
One of the main reasons that computers became so
mainstream in the home is because of the
development of the GUI (graphical user interface)
operating systems. The mouse has become as
important as the keyboard when it comes to getting
your computer to respond to your desires. Unlike your
spouse, a mouse is completely under your control.

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Additionally, they don't normally leave the milk jug out
on the counter or buy jewelry that really isn't needed.
But, don't toss out your spouse in exchange for a
mouse as a 'Mouse' doesn't really have the capacity to
bring home the bacon like a spouse might. All
goofiness aside though, the mouse has become very
important when it comes to computers these days.
The mouse is used to move the cursor to a point on
the screen where you can then, by pressing its
buttons in different ways, get it to do things. The
pressing of a mouse's buttons are referred to as
'clicks'. A single click is referred to as a 'click' where
as if you press a given button in rapid succession
twice, it is referred to as a 'double click'.
The first mouse was developed by Xerox Corporation

back in 1981. Ah, Xerox, they have been a truly
pioneering corporation over the last 50 years. I
remember the story that my sister has told me about
how one day in the 1960's my dad came home and
told our mom that he had bought 100 shares of this
company called Xerox. My dad was well known for
frivolous expenditures, and to our mom, this was just
another one. She demanded that he cash in those
shares of stock immediately because the money was
needed elsewhere. So, he cashed it in a few short
days later. Wow, our minds are boggled as to what
those 100 shares might have equated to today.
The first widely recognized mouse is the single button

version that Apple introduced in 1986. IBM wasn't far
behind with their two button version.

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Mice, just like the pesky kind, come in all sorts of

shapes and sizes. Some of those variations are just for
looks and the benefit of the 'Marketing guys', but
other reasons for different shapes and sizes are
because peoples’ hands come in different, shapes,
sizes and dexterities. One of the common attributes to
all mice is they have two buttons, one for the index
finger and one for the middle finger.
One of the first things you may not know about a

mouse is that the operating system you use, can be
configured in such a way that the mouse can either be
for a right handed person or a 'South-paw' (lefties).
With Microsoft® Windows®, you can adjust the
settings of the right and left buttons on the mouse so
that regardless of whether you are right or left
handed, you can always use your index finger of your
dominate hand to trigger the primary functions on the
mouse.
Just from clarity stand point, let us say you are using
your right hand to drive the mouse. Unless you
haven't turned your computer on yet, you've figured
out by now that the mouse button under your index
finger is the one that pulls the trigger on most of the
graphical operations that you want to do with your
computer. The button that is under your middle finger
is in charge of bringing up a menu of alternate
functions that you can do with the item that you have
selected. To select an item on the menu that has been
selected by 'right clicking' (the button under your

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middle finger) on an object, simply move the mouse to
the item on the menu you want to select and then
click on that menu item.
You can also use your mouse for what is referred to as

‘Drag and Drop’. Drag and drop is a process where
you press and hold down the button under your index
finger on an item that you want to move from one
location to another. For instance, let's say you want to
move 'Kodak Easy Share' icon on your desktop from
the left hand side of your screen to the right hand side
of your screen.
Fig 2-11: The Kodak Easy share icon is in the second

column, fourth from the bottom.
If we position the mouse over the 'Kodak Easy Share'

icon and then press and hold the index finger button
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down and then 'drag' the icon to the right hand half of
the screen, that is where icon will land, as shown on
the next screen shot.
Fig. 2-12: Now, our icon is in its new position!
Now, lets say, you were able to drag the icon over, but
once you release the mouse button, the icon flew back
over to the left hand group of the screen. This is
because the Auto-Arrange is turned on. We will tackle
this issue later on in the book.
In order to change the left and right mouse buttons to

fit your dominant hand configuration, there are a few
easy steps to do this. As shown on the following
picture, click on the start button and then click on
'Control Panel'. If the 'Control Panel' screen doesn't
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look similar to the figure 2-13, click on 'Classic View'
on the left hand part of the image. Next, in the Control
Panel, double-click on the 'Mouse' icon. For how to
access the control panel in Windows XP, consult
appendix 'C'.
Fig 2-13: The control panel in 'Classic View'.
Once you have clicked on the 'Mouse' icon, you should

see a screen similar to the one shown in the image
below.

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Fig 2-14: The mouse control panel
From the previous image (figure 2-14), simply click on

the first check box at the top that says 'Switch Primary
and Secondary Buttons'. This will allow you to
customize your mouse so that you can use it with
which ever hand is the dominate one.
The Audio portion of our program - The

speakers
Just like an RV without Windows® to view your

surroundings, it is pretty hard to get the maximum
amount of enjoyment out of your computer system
without a set of reasonable loud speakers attached to
it. If you have a laptop, it more than likely has a set of
loud speakers built in to it so that you can get some
voice and musical audio out of your computer. If you
have a desktop computer, there is a basic speaker

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built into the box so that it can give you a 'very
annoying' beep, if you do something that doesn't
agree with it's very delicate digestive system.
In the case of that built in speaker of a desktop

computer, the computer will not use this speaker for
anything but a beep or honk. If you hook up your
laptop computer to an external monitor, keyboard and
mouse, you too may want to invest in a set of external
speakers to attach to your laptop.
A trip down to your local computer store, home

entertainment store or office supply store will more
than likely yield you a large selection of speakers to
choose from. The type and quality of speakers you
choose, is entirely up to you and how you will use
them. If you enjoy listening to the symphony, classical
or other instrumental music from your desktop
computer, you may want to spend the money for a
slightly better set of speakers. If however, Country or
Acid Rock are more your fair, then any set off of E-bay
will be fine since the music sounds like garbage any
way… JUST KIDDING! (I’ll be paying for that one since
my wife is an avid Rock listener). For myself, I enjoy
heavily instrumental music like 'Drum and Bugle
Corps'. It’s much like music played by high school or
college marching bands. (www.dci.org).

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Chapter 9: Virus protection,
firewalls and other things to keep
your PC safe.
Viruses and Protection against them
Though I am not a conspiracy theorist and as such I

don't buy into the idea that Virus protection
companies write viruses so that they can sell software
to remove these viruses; I do wonder who funds these
folks who have the where-with-all to write the
debilitating programs that once installed on a PC, can
bring things to a screeching halt.
As they say about pregnancy and STD's, the best way

to avoid them is abstinence. And if you're not willing
to abstain, use protection and common sense. The
same is true when it comes to computer viruses. Most
of us have heard of viruses that impact computers.
I've only had one computer that was in my household
that had a problem with viruses. Also, I've worked on
plenty that friends have had that developed a
problem. In some ways I'm a liberal, but when it
comes to finances and computers, I'm a conservative
person. In other words, I steer clear of web sites that
promise something for nothing and there are only a
limited few that I will download from. Does this
absolutely guarantee that I won't get a virus on my
PC? No, it does not. I also use an Anti-virus and Anti-
spy ware software on my machine to provide an
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additional level of protection against the infection of
my PC.
There are three companies out there are a large

majority of folks use to protect their PC's against
viruses. They are, in no particular order:
Norton - Anit-Virus®
Symantics - PC-Cillin®
Microsoft - One Care Live®
Any of these three packages will do a decent job of

protecting your PC. But the thing you need to keep in
mind is that virus developers or hackers are always
developing new viruses. So, the virus software
companies are always playing catch-up. It may take a
week or so, after a new virus is released, before the
virus software protection companies can identify and
come up with a way to identify and repair the threat
and then get it distributed.
I know of one story where the husband and wife of a

household went on a week long vacation. They left the
house in the care of their 12 year old daughter and
her grandmother. The grandmother wasn't particularly
computer savvy or interested in computers. While the
grandmother was working to ensure the 12 year old
wasn't chatting on some undesired chat room or
looking at undesirable content, she didn't catch the
fact that the young lady was visiting some web sites
where she could download 'Free software'. Well, she
downloaded 30 different games and music sharing

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packages during the time her parents were gone and
a great many of them had viruses in them. Because
there were so many, the virus software was over-run
and could not clean them all.
The bad news was, the PC had to have all the contents
deleted from the hard drive and the operating system,
Software and files re-loaded. The good news was that,
before the system was totally corrupt, the family
brought the PC to me. I was able to backup the
needed files to an external hard drive, saving precious
picture files and other documents.
Because of situations like this, I encourage you, if you

ever think you may let someone like another family
member use your PC, consider establishing a guest
account on your PC and lock down the accessibility of
that account so that software can not be downloaded
from the internet. I know this may sound like a harsh
solution, but it is better to do that then to have to
spend $100.00's of dollars to have someone like
myself repair your PC. Believe it or not, the story I
relayed to you above, repeats it self hundreds of times
every day across our nation. So, this is a case where it
is 'Better to be safe than sorry'.
Though part of me thinks the following is a bit

advanced for this 'Introductory' book, I think the
information is important enough that it should be
covered to give you a fighting chance before I get a
chance to come out with any follow up books.

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If you do find that your computer is infected by a virus
and the virus removal software doesn't seem to be
deleting the virus. Try the following, from the start
button, click on the 'Run…' option. When Windows
asks you what you want to start enter MSCONFIG as is
shown in the following screen shot.
Fig 9-1: This is the run dialog box with MSCONFIG.
Once you click 'Ok', you will see the MSCONFIG

application. The MSCONFIG application is used to
determine which programs start up when your
computer boots up. The idea is to limit the number of
programs that start up so as to limit the number of
viruses that might be activated. As shown on the
following figure, on the general tab, click on the
'Selective Startup' radio button. Then click on the
'Load Start up Items' check box so as to un-check it.
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Then click 'Apply' and then click 'Ok'. When prompted,
restart the computer.
Fig 9-2: System configuration General tab.
Once the computer is rebooted, it will inform you that

you are in a 'Selective Startup' mode. Click 'Ok' to
clear this message. Now, start your virus scanner
software and put it through a full scan of your system.
Doing this 'Selective Startup' may allow the virus
scanner to more fully cleans the viruses from your
hard drive.
It should be noted that the use of the 'MSCONFIG' tool

is not something you would normally do. It is
something that you do when you are in a situation

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where the virus removal tool doesn't seem to be
removing the virus from your computer.

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PC File security
If you have kids or grand kids that like to get on a

computer and surf the internet. I encourage you to
either tightly lock it down so that they can not install
'File Sharing' software on your PC, or have a PC that is
only for their use.
File sharing software is used primarily to share music

files between individuals Personal Computers. Lime
Wire® and Napster® are a couple of examples of file
sharing software packages. These software packages
allow others to 'Peer' into your computer and see what
music files you may want to share. It also allows you
to do the same on someone else's computer.
Though both Lime Wire and Napster have made an

effort to protect the PC's their software is installed on,
they do provide one more avenue for hackers to gain
access to your PC and download files that you may not
have intended for anyone to have access too. I've
heard many accounts where folks have had their tax
returns, Excel spreadsheets, Word documents and
other important files copied from their PC's, un-
willingly. So, as with virus's, if you don't have to install
it, don't do it.
Firewall Protection

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Another thing that is important to have installed on
your PC is a 'Firewall'. Firewalls can either be a
hardware device or a piece of software. For most
personal computers, the firewall is a piece of software
that is installed on the PC. Hardware firewalls are
normally installed on large corporate networks. If you
are running an operating system of Windows XP or
newer, you are in luck, a 'Firewall' comes included in
the operating system and is turned on by default.
The purpose of a firewall is to keep others from

looking at your computer and manipulating it from
some other place on the internet or network that you
are connected too. Firewalls may prevent some
software applications from working correctly. So, the
use of a firewall may complicate matters for you. None
the less, I think it is a good idea to have a Firewall
installed and running.
Much hoo haa has been made by the good folks at

'Apple computer' about a windows based PC always
'prompting' the user to respond to this question or
that question. They claim that their computer is much
easier to use because of this. And though I wont get
into the debate of if an 'Apple' PC or a WINDOWS
based PC is easier to use (It's kind of like the old 'Ford,
Chevy, Dodge' debate), I will say that the reason the
Windows fire wall prompts you so much is because
there is so much more in the way of viruses and
hackers that attack WINDOWS based PC's because of
their larger install base. Also, hackers aren't brilliant
people, any more brilliant than you or me. But training

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on what makes a Windows based PC work is much
easier to come by than that for a Apple based PC.
I will cover 'Firewall' management in my next book,

'Managing your computer on the road.
Microsoft update
No vendor releases software that is bug free. And

neither Microsoft or Apple are immune from bugs
being release with their software. A bug is basically a
section of code that when given a certain set of
circumstances, will cause the computer to give
incorrect responses, or worse yet, cause the computer
to crash and shut down.
When Microsoft finds out about these 'Bugs', they will

put out a 'Fix' also known as a 'Patch' which 'Patches'
the bug in the software. These 'Fixes' are sent out via
a process known as 'Microsoft Update'. You should
have your PC touch base with Microsoft's
headquarters on occasion and download the latest
fixes for the software that is installed on your PC. In
order to do this, start up Internet Explorer. Once your
web browser is up and running, click on the 'Tools'
menu on the far right hand side. This will cause the
'Tools' menu to be displayed, which is shown as
follows.

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Fig 9-3: This is the tools menu in Internet Explorer.
When you are presented with the screen shot shown

above, click on the 'Windows Update' entry. This will
cause the Windows Update web site to be accessed.
Now you remember how I mentioned earlier in the
book that for every rule there is an exception, will the
following is the same. The rule I indicated earlier was
that all web sites start with www. For the most part
this is true, but the Microsoft update web site is one of
those exceptions. If you are not using Internet
Explorer, you will have to manually enter the web site
address. The web site address for Microsoft's update
web site is Update.microsoft.com. Entering this web
site address into the URL field on your web browser
should also cause the update web site to be displayed.

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Fig 9-4: This is the initial screen for the Microsoft

update process.
In the first screen shown, click on the 'Express' button.

The Microsoft update web site will then take inventory
of all of the Microsoft software on your PC. It will then
determine what updates need to be applied to your PC
based on that inventory that is taken.

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Fig 9-5: This is what the screen looks like while

inventory is being taken.
Once the inventory is complete, you will be presented

with a list of what updates are available for your PC.
Fig 9-6: This is a list of the updates for my PC after the

scan is complete.

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As you can see there are three updates that are

available for my PC. All you have to do at this point is
click on the 'Install Updates' button. This will cause the
updates to be downloaded and then installed.
Depending on your internet connection speed, this
process could take a while.
Fig 9-7: This is the status screen for the download and
updates.
The previous screen shows the status of the

downloads and the subsequent installs of the updates.
First the program will download all of the updates and
then install them. In this screen shot, you can see that
it is downloading the first of 3 updates. This updating
process may take a while. Also, it may require a
reboot of your pc when the updates are complete.

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The reason updates are sometimes required is
because services may be running that are going to be
changed as part of this update. The cleanest way to
ensure that the updates are applied and everything in
the computer is synced up, is to reboot the computer.
Some of the software that I use as a programmer also
gets updates like this. However, because Microsoft
assumes that IT folks are more 'Computer savey', their
instructions will sometimes tell us the services to turn
off before the update is applied so as to avoid the
rebooting of a computer.
When the update is complete, your PC will have all of

the latest fixes for the Microsoft software that you
have purchased.

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Chapter 10 - If all else fails…
… ask for help. So many of us are afraid to ask for

help because we are afraid it will make us look
'Stupid'. The reality is, I know more about some things
than other people, but others know a lot about other
topics than I do. I may know more about computers
than you do, but maybe you would be the person I
want to turn to in the event that I want to learn how to
repair an engine, bait a fish hook, knit a sweater or
cook 'Egg plant Parmesan'.
Additionally, it is impossible to write about every

possible topic and write every possible answer to
every possible question, especially when it comes to
computers are concerned. As a result, I am here to
help you. A lot of times when someone has a problem
with a computer, it is easiest if I can see what they are
seeing. If you contact me with a problem, I may need
you to initiate a support request. Doing this allows me
to remote into your PC and help you out with what you
are working on. To initiate a support request, click on
the start button and then from the displayed menu,
click on the 'Help and Support' entry, this will cause
the screen shown in Figure 10-1 to be displayed.

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Fig 10-1: This is the 'Help and Support' screen.
From the above screen click on the 'Tools' entry which

is shown in the lower right hand corner of the form.
This will cause the following screen to be displayed…

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Fig 10-2 - This is the tools menu.
From the items shown in the screen shot in figure in

10-2, click on the item that says 'Remote Assistance'.

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Fig 10-3: This is where you initiate a support request.
From the screen shown above, click on the 'Invite

Someone to help you' link that is shown.
Fig 10-4: This is the e-mail portion of the Remote

assistance screen.
In the 'Remote assistance' screen that is displayed,

enter my e-mail address in the 'Type and e-mail
address' field as is shown above. After you have done
that, click on the 'Invite this Person'.

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Fig 10-5: This is where you enter the message you

want to include as part of your request.
As you can see in the above screen shot, you can

enter a brief message to me as part of your request
for help.
Fig 10-6: This is where you enter how long the

connection will be.

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In the above screen shot, you select how long you will
allow me to be connected to your PC. During this time
I have full control over your PC. After that, the
connection, allowing me or anyone else for that
matter to control your PC will be closed. Once you
have entered the amount of time the connection will
be open as well as the password, click on the 'Send
Invitation' button.
Fig 10-7: If you normally use a web e-mail client you'll

get this dialog box.
If you are using Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express

for your e-mail client, you may not get the dialog box
shown in figure 10-7, more than likely the invitation
will be sent. If you are using a web based e-mail client,
and you get the above dialog box, the click 'Ok'. You
will then be presented with a screen that looks
something like the following. The invitation document

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will be saved in 'My Documents' which is fine.
Fig 10-8: Use the default file name and click 'Save' for
the invitation.
Once you have saved the invitation, open your web

based e-mail client and start an e-mail to
'thervitguy@ymail.com' as is shown in figure 10-9.
Fig 10-9: When doing your e-mail include the

invitation.

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After you pen your e-mail, include the invitation as an
attachment to the e-mail. This will send me a link so
that I can respond to your invitation and connect to
your computer.
The cost of a support request…
Just so you know, the following is the pricing for my

support requests.
If you purchased this book, you are entitled to one

free e-mail question. I will do up to 15 minutes of
remote access to your computer, if needed to resolve
your question. Additionally, if you call me, I'll give you
15 minutes of my time to answer your question over
the phone.
After the initial 15 minutes, my rate is $40.00 a hour

until January 1, 2010. After that, consult my website
for pricing.
E-mail: thervitguy@ymail.com
Phone: 209-304-2966
Appendix 'A' - Quick Solutions

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Hardware
Problem: Software unresponsive - Has your

computer becomes non-responsive to anything you
want it to do, The cursor doesn't move when you
move the mouse.
Solution 1 - Press and hold 'Control+ALT+DEL'. If

nothing happens see solution 2. If you get an option
that allows you to restart your computer, select
restart. Once the computer finishes rebooting, things
should be 'Ok' now.
Solution 2 - Press and hold the power button down for

10 seconds. This will cause the computer to shut
down. Then power up the computer again. Things
should be OK now.
Problem: Printer Unresponsive - Your printer or

scanner becomes un-responsive. Check message
screen on device and there is no indication of a
problem.
Solution 1 - Check device icon on system tray. If there

is an error message take the action indicated when
you double click on the icon. If there is no message,
see solution 2.
Solution 2 - If this problem involves a printer, bring up

'Services' and restart the 'print spooler' service. If the
device involved is not a printer or this did not resolve
the problem, the see solution 3.
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Solution 3 - Press and hold the power button down on

the Printer or Scanner for 10 seconds until it shuts
down. Restart device.

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Software - Operating system
Problem: Not all of computer screen is

accessable - You find that you are moving the
mouse around on the screen, and you don't seem to
have full access to all of the real-estate on the screen.
Solution 1 - Try pressing the 'ESC' key, this may get

you out of the limiting function you have inadvertently
entered into.
Software - Microsoft Outlook

Problem: E-mail is not downloading - You are
visiting an RV park and find that your e-mail is not
sending or receiving correctly. It may appear that e-
mail is coming in correctly, but not sending correctly.
Solution 1 - This may be due to the type of Wireless

internet host you are dealing with. The solution that I
have found that fixes this problem most of the time is
to go to '(e-mail) Accounts' in the Tools menu in
Microsoft outlook. If presented with a list of e-mail
accounts, select the one you normally use. Then,
select the option for 'Changing' an account setting.
Next, click on the 'More settings' button, found
towards the lower right hand corner of the screen. In
the more settings dialog box, select the 'Outgoing
Server' tab. Uncheck the check box for the 'My
outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication'. Now,

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click the 'Ok' and next buttons until all dialog boxes
are closed. Try the e-mail send-receive again. Your
problem should be resolved.

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73
Appendix B - Some of my favorite

web sites
The following is a list of some of my favorite web sites

that I use for various information about RV'ing and
also some of the ones I use for computer related stuff.
I've also thrown in some of my favorites that I use for
Personal stuff as well.
Website Description
WWW.RV.NET This has a large number of
Forums (Places to post and
find information) on almost
anything RV related. There
are areas for Fiver owners,
Tent Trailer Owners, Class
'A' Moho owners, basically,
the whole shootin' match.
WWW.CAMPINGWORLD. This is the web site where
COM you can purchase anything
you can find at the
venerable Camping world
store to enhance your RV
experience.
WWW.RVPARKREVIEWS. This web site is where I look
COM for comprehensive, un-
biased reviews of RV parks
throughout the nation.
WWW.THERVITGUY.COM This is the web site hosted
by yours truly in regards to

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74
RV'ing and Computers
WWW.MICROSOFT.COM Believe it or not, I go to this
web site many times for
information about Microsoft
software.
WWW.DELL.COM The main web site for the
'DELL' Computer
corporation.
WWW.HP.COM The main web site for the
'HP' Computer corporation.
WWW.PETFINDER.COM One of my favorite personal
stuff web sites for looking
for our next best friend. A
large number of the
Humane Societies through
out the US, post the
pooches for adoption on this
web page.
WWW.GOODSAMCLUB.C This is a great place to hook
OM up with other RV'er's and
find out information about
up-coming samborees.
WWW.MSNBC.COM I like this web site a lot
because it contains a lot of
good news content. Though
I'm sure every news
organization has it's own
'Bias', this one has a Animal
section under the 'Health'
area, that my wife and I find
very helpful and interesting.
WWW.YAHOO.COM Search engine and home

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75
page that gives you
probably the best way to
customize your home page.
WWW.EXCITE.COM Search engine and home
page that gives you the
ability to customize your
home page to some degree
for content that you desire.

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Appendix C - Windows XP
equivalents
This appendix will help to give the windows XP

equivalent of something that was presented in the
book as windows Vista information.

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77
Glossary
-A-
ASCII - This stands for 'American Standard Code for

Information Interchange'. It is a cross reference
between various characters and the 'ASCII' code that
they are stored in a computer.
Auto-Arrange - This is a setting on the desktop that

will Automatcially arrange the icons on your desktop
screen.
-B-
BIOS - Built In Operating System - These are the

instructions that the computer uses for its initial
startup.
BIT - The smallest unit of measure for computer data.

It is either on or off and consequently represents a
'One' or a 'Zero'.
Boot Up - This is the process of the computer starting

up. The term comes from idea of pulling up by your
'Boot straps'.
BYTE - This is generally synonymous with a character

or letter. Generally, 8 bits makes up one byte.
-C-

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Context Sensitive menu - This is a menu that varies
based on the item that you clicked on. For example
the menu you are presented will look one way if you
click on a folder and a different way if you click on a
music file.
Copy - This function will copy the selected text, file or

section of an image from the current location. Use
'Paste' to insert the selected Text, file or section to a
new location.
Cursor - This indicates the current focus point for the

computer. The cursor could be in the form of a vertical
bar on a document or the form of an 'Arrow' on a
graphical document like a picture.
Cut - This function will cut the selected text, file or

section of an image from the current document. Use
'Paste' to move the selected Text, file or section to a
new location.
-D-
Date/Time - As a menu option inserts the current date

and time at the current location of the cursor.
DSL - Digitial Subscriber Line - Highspeed internet

connection.
DPI - Dots Per Inch. This is a unit of measure of how

many dots of color make up a scanned image.

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79
Duplex - This means basically to do things two-way. In
regards to printing, it means to print on both sides of
the paper. In the terms of communications, it means
two way communications.
-E-
Exit - Exit the application.
-F-
Find… - As a menu option indicates that we are going

to enter into a process of finding some word or phrase
in the current document.
Find Next - As a menu option indicates that we want

to find the next occurrence of a given word or phrase
that we just did a find for that is after the current
Cursor position.
-G-
Goto… - As a menu option allows you to immediately

go to a given line number in the document.
Geocaching - A hobby where you use a GPS receiver, a

set of coordinates and your deductive skill to find
treasures hidden all over the world.
www.geocaching.com
-H-

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Hibernate - Entering the hibernate mode means that
the computer will save the open desktop and the open
files to the hard drive and then power down the PC.
This means when the computer is turned back on, the
operating system opens up the computer in the same
state in which it entered hibernate. Similarly see
'Stand by'.
-I-
Internet Protocol - This is a method of communicating

across the internet. For instance, an IP Address is a
'Internet Protocol Address'. This is the unique address
assigned to a piece of computer equipment that has
access to the internet.
-J-
Justify - This has to do with alignment of characters on

a text document. If a document is Left justified, the
text all starts in the same place on the left side of the
document. Right Justified means that the text all lines
up on the right hand side of the document.
-K-
Kilo-bytes - In the metric system a Kilo means one-

thousand units, such as in 'Kilo-grams' means an item
weights 1000 Grams. A kilo-byte represents
approximately 1000 Bytes. In actuality, a Kilo-byte
represents 1024 Bytes.

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-L-
Landscape - This is a page orientation where if you

were to print a picture on it, the picture would be
wider than it is tall. Landscape print orientation is also
used for spreadsheets.
-M-
Megabyte - Mega is synonomous with a million. So,

this represents roughly 1 million bytes.
Modem - This is a piece of equipment that MODulates

and DEMotdulates audio tones so that your computer
can communicate across the voice portion of the
Telephone network.
-N-
New… - As a menu option allows you to create a new

blank document.
NTSC - National Television System Committee. This is

a format of DVD recordings that are used as a
standard in North America.
-O-
Open… - As a menu option allows you to select an

existing document to open somewhere on your PC.
-P-

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Page Setup… - As a menu option allows you to set up
the page orientation such as 'Landscape' or portrait.
Paste - This will insert a previously cut or copied Text,

file or portion of an image into the current location of
the cursor.
Portrait - This is a page orientation where the page is

printed so it is taller than it is wide, much like a
portrait (or painting) is viewed.
Print… - As a menu option allows you to determine

and control the printing of the current document you
are working on.
-Q-
Que - This is similar to a 'Stack' of documents. Such as

a Stack of documents are qued up for printing.
-R-
RAM - Random Access Memory.
Replace… - As a menu option is the process of looking

for a word or phrase and replacing it with a new word
or phrase.
ROM - Read Only Memory.
-S-

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Save - As a menu option allows you to save the
changes you have made to the existing file in an
existing location.
Save As… - As a menu option allows you to save the

document as a new file name or in a new location.

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-S (Con't) -
Select All - As a menu option this highlights the entire

document as if you were going to copy the entire
document to another document.
Short Cut - A series of Keystrokes that will execute

commonly used functions within the software.
Stand by mode - Stand by mode is where selected

peripherals of your computer are shut down. The only
portions of the computer that remain active are the
CPU and the power applied to the memory. This allows
the computer to switched on very quickly. The only
draw back is that while the computer is in stand by
mode, it is still drawing some power. Similarly, see
'Hibernate'.
String - A string is a set of characters that may make

up one or more words.
S-Video - Super Video connector that appears on

most laptops. There is a cable that will connect to this
plug for driving your home TV set off of your laptop so
that you can watch digital slide shows and such.
-T-
Tool Bar - This is where the most frequently used

'Tools' are placed in an application. The tool bar is, as
a standard, place at the top of the application screen.

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-U-
Undo - Undo a previous just made to the document.

UPS - Uninterruptible Power Supply - Batter back up
for your primary power for your computer equipment.

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-V-
Video Adapter - This converts the computer results

into a video image that can be displayed on the
screen of your computer.
-W-
Wifi - Wireless Fidelity - Wireless highspeed internet

access.
WWW - This stands for World Wide Web.
-X-
XML - This is short for 'eXtensible Markup Language'.

XML is a language that us used extensively in web
applications and in some newer microsoft applications
for not only application development but also in some
methods of data storage.
-Y-
Y2K - The is used to refer to the 'Year 2000'. Though

some feared that this was going to be the end of the
world, that did not turn out to be the case.
-Z-
ZX-81 - One of the first personal computers that was

mass marketed. It was sold in kit form and also pre-

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assembled. It was one of the first to have a membrane
keyboard.

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Index
Auto-Arrange.............43 Lime Wire...................53
Context Sensitive menu Microsoft Update.......55
...............................78 MSCONFIG.................50
Copy..........................78 Napster......................53
Cursor........................78 New............................81
Cut.............................78 Open..........................81
Date/Time..................78 Page Setup................82
DPI.............................78 Print...........................82
Drag and drop............42 Prologue.....................89
Duplex.......................79 Remote assistance... .64
Exit............................79 Replace......................82
File Sharing................53 S-Video......................34
Find............................79 Save...........................83
Find Next...................79 Save As......................83
Firewall......................54 Select All....................84
Geocaching................79 Selective Startup.......50
Goto...........................79 support request. . .61, 64
GUI.............................39 Undo..........................85
LCD............................38 Video card..................34

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Prologue
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my
book. I really did find it a joy writing it. Below is where
you can get information about my e-mail address and
my web page. Please feel free to go out and drop me
a line letting me know what you think about the book.
I will be sure to add any relevant content to the next
edition of my book.
If you are more comfortable, please use the following

page to send me your written comments.
Web site: www.thervitguy.com

E-mail address: thervitguy@ymail.com
I have a couple of other books in the works that you

may find of interest.
Managing your computer on the road - This

second book in the series takes over where the first
book 'Campin' and computin' leaves off. It is intended
for those that are somewhat computer saavey, but
would like to know more about how to better manager
their computer and gather what makes them tick. This
book is currently being written and should be released
in 2010.
Running your computer based business on the

road - I'm currently working on the outline for the

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third book in the series. It will discuss the in's and
out's of running a computer based business from your
RV. It will discuss some of the must haves for a RV
homed Computer based business as well as some
things to get informed about when it comes to the tax
implications of running a business from your rig. This
third book should be released in late 2010.
Now, go out and enjoy the open road and see all of
the wonderful places out there. Don't spend too much
time using your computer if you can be outside
exploring. But I'm hoping that with this new book as
your tool, you can get more out of your computer and
be more comfortable with it.
Remember: Chase your dreams today, for tomorrow;

they may not be there to chase!

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91

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Get back to me on that!!!

Hi there,
Please use the lower part of this page if there is some

comment you would like to send to me about the book
or if there is something that isn't quite clear to you.
Just cut out this page, fill it out, fold it in half and mail
it to me. I'll do my best to get back to you with an
answer within a week.
Thank you so much for giving my book a read!
Respectfully
Eric Lynn Anderson
Comment/Question:___________________________________
___
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
Name: __________________________________

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Address: __________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
Phone: _____________________
E-Mail Address: __________________________________
---------------------------- Fold Here

--------------------------------------------

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To: Eric Anderson

P.O. Box 552
Plymouth, Ca. 95669

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1

Campin' and Computin'

Surviving the Open road

With you and your PC Intact!

Create Space, Inc.

Campin' and Computin' -1-

Campin' and Computin'

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be

Requests should be sent to:

All the respective brands and company names

The use of company names should not be

Dell® is a registered trademark of Dell

Campin' and Computin' -2-

Campin' and Computin' -3-

Campin' and Computin' -4-

Campin' and Computin' -5-

Campin' and Computin' -6-

Topics to add to the second edition

• Correct information on security for internet

Campin' and Computin' -7-

This book is the first in what may become a series of

Carol has brought so much happiness to my life. She

But in all seriousness, I do love her more!

Campin' and Computin' -8-

Just as Recreational vehicles have evolved over the

For those like myself who have always found a calling

Though the traditional RV has been around since the

Campin' and Computin' -9-

Personal computers have only evolved over the last

My first exposure to a computer was when my dad

Campin' and Computin' - 10 -

From an RV'ing perspective, I cut my teeth on the

As many single red blooded American male finds in

Many of us use our computers on occasion to send

Campin' and Computin' - 11 -

This book is written to help you to better enjoy your

In the onset of this book, you need to keep an

At Volcano Communications® there were 130

Campin' and Computin' - 12 -

The other thing to keep in mind is as much as we

As I wrote this book, I came to the conclusion that this

But, I encourage you to not just read the index and

Campin' and Computin' - 13 -

Chapter 2: The Dang Hardware

For the consument RV'er however, the computer may

The Main components

Like an RV that might be new to you, even if it isn't

All personal computers have the same basic

Campin' and Computin' - 15 -

Campin' and Computin' - 16 -

The CPU or Computer:

Campin' and Computin' - 17 -

Some of you reading this book today may have a pet,

As we delve deeper into later sections of this chapter

Campin' and Computin' - 18 -

The key to a computer?

There are a couple of analogies to keep in mind when

Have you noticed how on a lot of equipment you buy

Campin' and Computin' - 19 -

Fig 2-1: This is what the on-off switch on my

I have another analogy that might be one that you

Campin' and Computin' - 20 -

By themselves, bits don't mean much to an average

NOTE When a key has multiple designations. Like