Since the last webDotWiz column there's been plenty happening in the computer world. Fortunately much of what's new is free.

Finding documents, photos, pictures and videos can be a time-consuming task. Even more frustrating can be trying to find a particular document that contains a snippet of information that we need right now! The MSN Toolbar Suite is a capable, free addition to your Windows XP system that indexes all your documents and photos so you can call up what you want at a moment's notice.

After downloading and installing the Toolbar Suite, it will spend some time going through all the documents it finds on your computer to build up its index. Once that job is finished you can search using a single word or phrase to bring up a list of folders, documents, photos and videos that are relevant.

That's how MSN Toolbar Suite works on your desktop. The other side is that the suite gives you search capabilities to find information on web sites, references in a dictionary or encyclopedia, news stories and the white and yellow pages. School students will particularly find the encyclopedia search feature handy for school projects - the Encarta online encylopedia is used and is an extension of Encarta which can purchased separately on CD.

On Windows XP you can set up accounts for each family member. Remember that one adult must take responsibility as administrator and all other users must only have limited accounts. Each user can have their own settings for features such as desktop and wallpaper. So for the younger children, help them set up their desktop with a larger font size than we adults can cope with. As well, choose a more colourful scheme and use larger icons so everything is clearer. It may be worthwhile shopping around for a more suitably sized mouse for their smaller hands.

One useful aspect of having so much space (250Mb) with a free Hotmail account is that it enables yu to mail documents to yourself and, in the process, you've got a backup of your important documents on another computer. Another little feature hidden away in Hotmail is on the Tools menu when you're composing a new message - there's a spellchecker on the dropdown list that works much the same way as in Word or other wordprocessors.

One of the nastiest types of fraud that's been around the Internet for some time but is becoming more prevalent has become known as "phishing". The technique entails a fraudster posting out emails that appear (emphasis on "appear") to come from your bank or financial institution asking you to click a link to check your account details such as account number and password. The link you click on takes you to a site that closely resembles your bank's (the pages have been copied from the bank's site) and there's form on there inviting you to give away your personal details.

You can avoid problems with this type of scam by following the webDotWiz Rule, "If you're not sure or you don't know, then don't!"

On a related them, the January Windows XP update included an antispyware program that ran automatically to check your computer. If at any stage in the future you want to check your computer, visit the Microsoft Malware Removal Tool page when you're online.