Technology Q&A

Questions on how to produce a quick line of dots, dashes or a border -- without leaving the keyboard and on how to recognize a safe program update invitation are answered. To create a thin line, type three dashes and press Enter. For a bold single line, type three underlines and Enter. For a double line, use three equal signs and Enter. And for a heavy dotted line, type three asterisks and Enter. Since each line is actually an entire paragraph, not a line of type, be sure you start at the left margin. The technique works equally well in Word 2007. For update invitations, if the pop-up balloon is directly over a small yellow shield icon in the taskbar, then it's coming from Microsoft, and it's safe. If you right-click on the shield icon, it will tell you how many updates it has for you to install. That screen will also give you options on how to install them.