
Lincoln County IT Department Frequently Asked Questions - Lincoln County Montana
Lincoln County Information Technology Department


This page contains a list of answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about computers, email and cyber security. If you don't find the answer to your question here contact the IT Department.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I do when a computer freezes or locks up?

You must reboot the computer. To reboot a frozen computer, press and hold down the power button until the computer turns off. Once the computer is off, wait a few seconds, then turn the computer back on and let it start normally.

How do I open or move pictures from a digital camera to a computer?

  1. Open My Computer
  2. Connect the camera to the USB cable. You should notice a new drive letter added to the listing of available drives. The new drive letter is the last drive. For example, if your disc drive is drive letter E: it's likely your camera is letter F:
  3. Once the drive has been opened, you should see a DCIM folder. Open this folder to see each of the pictures that have been taken and saved to the camera.
  4. Finally, open these pictures like you would any other picture stored on the computer, by double-clicking it, then copy or move them. If you want to copy or move all the files, highlight all files by pressing CTRL+A, right-click a highlighted file, choose either copy or move, and paste the files where you'd like them to go.

What is Spam e-mail?

Most spam e-mails contain advertisements for services or products, and a link for obtaining more information or making a purchase. ‘Spammers’ are sales people earning a commission for every sale that is generated through those links, which are coded with their identification name or number.

Spam can also be used to transmit viruses or spyware, rather than directly selling something. Strange-looking spam (with no real text or advertising offer) is also often sent to confuse spam filters, as this makes it harder to distinguish what actually really constitutes a spam e-mail and therefore what the filters should block and what they should allow through.

Where do spammers get your mail address?

Sometimes they harvest it from unsecured systems (e.g. Mailing list databases for something legitimate that you’ve registered for). They can also search through websites to find anywhere you publicly list your email address (e.g. Your company website, ‘bulletin boards’ or forums and social sites like MySpace and Facebook, if your information is not marked private).

How do I clean the Cache in Internet Explorer?

As users browse the World Wide Web with Internet Explorer, files are stored in the Temporary Internet Files (or cache) folder. They contain Web page content that is stored on your hard disk for quick viewing. This cache permits Internet Explorer to download only the content that has changed since you last viewed a Web page, instead of downloading all the content for a page every time it is displayed. When most users had only dial-up connection to the Internet this could significantly speed up browsing. With higher speed connections, this cached Web content becomes less important and actually may lead to slower computer performance.

To delete the files in the Temporary Internet Files Folder, Follow these steps:

  1. QuitInternetExplorer,and quit any instances of Windows Explorer (My computer).
  2. Click start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Internet Options.
  3. On the general tab,click Delete files,under Temporary internet Files.
  4. In the Delete file dialog box,click to select the Delete all offline content check box, and then check OK.
  5. ClickOK.

The Temporary Internet Files folder contains a significant amount of web page content; this process may take several minutes to complete.

How Do I Scan a Thumb Drive and Why?

Thumb drives, also known as jump drives, pen drives, USB drives, memory sticks or flash drives, among other names, are becoming quite common used. They are portable storage devices that use flash memory and are lightweight. They can be used in place of a diskette, Zip drive, or CD. When they plug into a USB port, the computer will assign a drive letter which allows them to be browsed like any other drive. Because they are portable, thumb drives should be treated as if they are diskettes, i.e., users should assume they may have viruses and they must be scanned before they are used in a County computer.

Users must scan ALL software from outside sources, regardless of their origin.

Users must scan ALL media, if they have been used any place other than their own workstation.

Virus scanning software MUST be installed and used regularly on workstations and portable computers.


Whenever a virus is detected. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CLEAN THE VIRUS. Much of the damage attributed to viruses occurs through improper removal attempts. Users who have found a virus must immediately notify the IT Department.
