.ZIP file

How do I …. ?

J. Murray, a .TXT reader, wrote: “When I receive an e-mail that has moving characters, how can I forward the message with the moving character but exclude all the previous forwarded information?”

Murray is not able to forward the animated .gif files that came in the original message. Gifs are small image files, and some popular animated versions of gifs show a flag waving, or arms flapping or lips moving.

The solution depends on which e-mail system is used. With Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express, you can forward the gif if you create or reply to messages using HTML format, as opposed to plain text.

Some e-mail systems won’t allow HTML format for outgoing messages. In that case you can’t forward the gif. Online e-mail clients like Gmail or Hotmail strip the gifs and don’t allow forwarding of the animation.

Jargon 2.0

Spear-phishing: Phishing is the sending of bogus e-mail in order to grab someone’s personal information and misuse it. Spear-phishers target a few people but do so in a way to make the bogus message seem to come from someone personally familiar with the recipient.

Usually a sophisticated spear-phisher will add personal details to suggest he or she is on personal terms with the recipient.

Video challenge winner:

Robin Carpenter is the winner of the .TXT Video Challenge No. 20. The challenge was, in a YouTube train video, the initials “MLR” appeared. What do they stand for?

Carpenter was the first of 12 respondents to get the right answer: Montana Rail Link. She gets a $5 coffee card. Next challenge will be issued June 29.

Scorecard

For a year or more when it was first published, Stephen Hawking’s dense book, “A Brief History of Time,” sat near the top of many best-seller lists. People called it the best-selling book people never read.

Some things never change. The BitTorrent site Pirate Bay lists the top five “shared” e-books of the past week. Leading the pack: Hawking’s later title, “A Briefer History of Time.” The next four were: “Learn Spanish,” “Learn French with Michael Thomas,” “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” and “Getting Things Done Fast Audio Book.”

Reader feedback wanted:

We’re curious. After we went out and found a review unit of the Amazon Kindle, and reviewed it with three separate videos (all found at www.srtxt.com), we must wonder. Did anyone go out and buy one?

If you did, let us know. We’d like to get your comments or thoughts on the purchase. Please e-mail us at TXT@spokesman.com.