Or, you could be seriously sneaky and go to a computer store and pretend to be interested in purchasing a scanner.   This will make the salesman delighted.  Seem enthusiastic but, pretend that your [wife/husband] who is home will have to approve the purchase and ... "perhaps you could scan this picture for me so I can take it home to show him/her?"

I wouldn't exactly try this with your spouse standing next to you or, with more than one picture.  And of course, hauling your yearbook in there might look a tad suspicious.(G)

Just so you know, there are other formats like BMP, GIF, JPG and a few others.  These four, however, tend to be the most common.  GIF and JPG are the most preferred for use on the internet.  The reason you want it in TIF is that unlike the other three formats, TIF will allow you to enlarge or reduce the photograph WITHOUT losing clarity.  This is important.

If you've ever used your Microsoft paint program and tried to enlarge your drawing, you've noticed, I'm sure, that the squares seem to get bigger and if you reduce it after you've enlarged it -- the clarity is gone.  TIF retains the clarity and sharpness.   There are drawing programs, like Paint Shop Pro which allow you to convert from one type of format to another -- so no matter what format you get your picture in - you can convert it... if you don't mind playing with it for a few moments.

First things first -- practice safe computing.  ALWAYS run a virus scan on ANYTHING you have been given on disk.  I repeat -- ALWAYS run a virus scan on ANYTHING you have been given on disk.  Its not that people want to hurt you but sometimes, viruses do get transferred even from reputable companies -- so always protect yourself and your equipment.  Use a good virus program.

After you've run your virus scan on the disk they gave you, go into whatever mail program you have.  Let's take Microsoft's Outlook Express which is on Windows 95, as an example.  Click on Outlook and then in the pull-down menus go to "Compose" and then in the menu that drops down, click on "New Message." 

Address it the way you normally do.  If you're not sure about how that is done, let me know and I'll help you.  But, assuming you do, let's move on. 

Under the pull-down menus at the top, you should see a row of small pictures.  The first one should be an envelope with the words, "Send."  The next is an arrow (reverse or back-up button).  The next is a pair of scissors, then two pages, a clipboard, a face with a checkmark in front of it, a book and then ... what we've been looking for -- a "Paperclip."  This is rather standard with all windows programs and is the symbol for an attachment.  Click the paperclip.

A menu will appear which will allow you to type in the file name of your picture.   Near the bottom of the box are two long white rows.  In front of the first row it says, "File name" and the second says, "Files of type."  In the box that says "File name" type:   a:\ and press the Enter key.

Everything on your disk should now appear in the larger box on top.  Take your cursor and click the file you want to send.  And then, press the Enter key (or you may click the "Attach" key).

Your picture is now an attachment and it is now ready to send.

There are some problems with sending attachments from the "On Line" services, such as Prodigy, CompuServe and AOL to generic Internet Service Providers (ISPs).  This problem, however, can be defeated by obtaining an "Internet E-Mail Address" from a company such as Yahoo, Hot Mail, Juno, Bigfoot and several others. 

Many of them, like Yahoo, are free.

Then, using your on line service, simply access your Internet E-mail and send the attachment from there.

AOL, CompuServe and Prodigy are "On Line" services. 

In fact, up until a few years ago, none of them even offered internet access.   They are communities in and of themselves.  CompuServe has been around since 1969 -- long before anyone even heard of the Internet.  Because of the public fascination with the Internet, and the loss of business they were suffering because of it, they all decided to offer internet access.  They are not the internet, however.   You can access the internet through them, but, they are not the internet.

Sadly, the three have not kept up with the raging technology and as a result, their E-mail programs are not compatible with the others, which is why if you send files to someone who is not on the same On Line service as you, they sometimes don't get them or, if they do, they're nothing but a spasm of letters and symbols.

And -- you should NEVER give out your personal information over the Internet unless you are 100% sure of who you are writing to.

While you can never be completely sure of the writer, you are fortunate insomuch as you can always "test" out the person you are writing to make sure they are who they claim to be... and you have a lot of things to be able to quiz them on -- from the school colors, to teachers, to even favorite songs or sayings.  Face it, if someone doesn't know Allen Funt or what a "Henry J" is -- they just might be one of those adorable little scam artists.

Remember -- its your keyboard.  You give out as much or as little information as you want... but err on the side of caution. 

The E-mail you are receiving is probably -- you guessed it -- "Junk Mail."  On the Internet it is called "Spam."   You'll get messages about get rich quick schemes, sick people, urban legends, etc.   Some are legitimate but most, aren't.

Getting rid of it is easy.  Ignore it.

How spam worksis that your name and Internet address get picked up at various places on the internet.  If you are on the net - you're going to leave a trail.  So ... there are folks out there who make a living compiling lists of anyone they can find and SELLING these lists to companies or individuals who want to market whatever it is they have to peddle.  These companies and individuals then send out a mass mailing (or a spam) to all those people on the list, a/k/a - you.

Now there is one little thing that you need to be aware of...

...in the body of almost all these messages you'll see something to the effect of, "If you don't want any more of these mailings, send a return E-mail with the words REMOVE in the subject line."

DON'T DO IT!!!

Sending a return E-mail PROVES you are a valid E-mail address... and you will get lots and lots and lots more E-mail that you don't want.

If you ignore it -- unlike your drunken cousin - they will go away.

I delete my cookies on a regular basis.  I hate nosey people and nosey web sites, too!(G)

Whenever you log onto a site, the graphics and other information are downloaded to your computer.  They are stored in a place called a cache.   The reason for this is that if you are going back and forth between say, the Pershing home page and the picture page, you don't have to spend time reloading everything over and over again.  Your computer simply looks to itself first to see if it has the files or graphics in storage and if it does, it uses it.

Its clever.

That's all there is to it.

If you have a specific question though, and just can't seem to find the answer, I'd be delighted to try to help you.  Just send me an E-mail.

For anyone who has been on line for any length of time, they've come face to "face" with this weird little thing that looks like a typographical error run amok.  Generally, you just ignore it but after a while you begin to wonder...
... what IS this thing?

Its a smiley face.                  :)  

Turn your head to the left - put your left ear on your left shoulder.  See.   The colon are the eyes and the closed parenthesis is the mouth.

I know what you're thinking.  "How stupid?" 

Not really.  While E-mail is a delightful and fun way to keep in touch, deliver news and information, send jokes, etc., it is sorely lacking in being able to transmit emotion.  More times than not, people write E-mail the way that they "talk" versus concentrating on presenting their writing in a way that would deliver the appropriate emotion.  For example:
"Oh sure."

This small phrase delivered through E-mail can delight someone or reduce someone to a temperamental fit.  Why?  Because the way the reader reads it is not always how the writer wrote it. 

Take that phrase, "Oh sure" and then say it as sarcastically as possible.   To make it easier, your daughter comes up to you and says, "Mom, can I borrow the charge card - I want to get a new outfit at the store which costs $700.00."   Mom says, "Oh sure."  Which is "nice Mommy" for - "not on your life, you brat."

Then, this same daughter bounces into the house and says, "Mom!  Mom!  Some man was walking down the street and gave me a winning sixty million lottery ticket because he hates gambling.  Can I keep it?"  

This time you say "Oh sure" but not with negative or sarcastic overtones, but with enthusiasm and delight, as you immediately grab your coat and purse to drive her to the nearest Lottery retail office.

Yet, if your daughter were to send you those two requests via E-mail, instead of in person and you responded with the phrase "Oh sure" -- she could actually take your response to mean - Yes or No. 

In other words, you could have a $700.00 charge on your Hudson's charge card and a ripped up sixty million lottery ticket sitting on the dining room table.

Well, evidently there were enough of these semantic problems on line that someone came up with a clever plan to be able to deliver emotion in E-mail through little symbols or, as they are called in the on line community, icons.  So, since these are called "Emotion Icons" they simply got reduced to the single word...

Emoticon