HELOISE: She’ll ‘shadow’ service people

Dear Heloise: My son’s music player recently was stolen from my home by a person who entered to do a service. My son was away at camp, and the player was on his dresser. The person who took it was in my son’s room for only a couple of minutes to check his cable outlet.

I discussed this with my best friend, who said her son also had lost a music player, taken by the exterminator. And one of her friends found one missing after her washer/dryer deliveryman had been in her home. Please let your readers know to store these pricey objects well out of sight. I will be “shadowing” anybody who enters my home from now on.

Cindy from Springdale, Ark.

Cindy, most service people are honest, and you can trust them in your home. However, anytime an “unknown” person is there, it’s probably wise to stay with him or her. You also might learn something!

Heloise

Dear Heloise: We recently purchased a computer. Being a real novice, I began indiscriminately surfing the Web, and I logged onto a site that was offering a free computer. Upon noticing this, my wife told me to “get out of that website fast,” which I did. Just within those brief minutes, we had already received 389 spam messages! It took time to delete the messages, and now we have the spam blocked out. I would recommend that anyone without a spam filter not open any mail from someone he or she doesn’t know.

John in California

Good advice for all!

Heloise

Dear Heloise: When leaving a message on an answering machine or voice mail, I always state my name and phone number slowly and clearly at both the beginning and the end of the message. That way, if the person needs to replay it, he or she doesn’t have to listen to the entire message to get to my name and phone number.

Susi, Naples, Fla.

Dear Heloise: When my digital camera stopped working, tech support had me remove the batteries and hold down the power button for 30 seconds. The power button was released, the batteries were replaced and the camera turned on. I’ve used this on cell phones, PDAs and other devices. When all else fails, this hard reset often will work.

Chris, via e-mail

Send a money-saving or timesaving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, TX 78279-5000, fax it to 210-HELOISE or e-mail it to Heloise@Heloise.com.

King Features Syndicate