Panic gripped Indian army officers over the last week after they were

unable to access salary details on the Principal Comptroller of

Defence Accounts (Officers) website which was allegedly hacked late

last month. All vital and sensitive data related to officers' service

and financial details are feared to have been stolen by suspected

Pakistani or Chinese hackers.



What most officers of all ranks are deeply aggrieved about is that

while PCDAO and army brass as well the defence ministry are aware of

the hacking, no measures had been taken to restore the website.



"It speaks of the lackadaisical attitude of the authorities. There is

no urgency on the part of the government to plug the massive hole and

retrieve the data," said a disgruntled officer with the Southern

Command venting his discontent at PCDAO authorities.



MoD and the Army have started investigation into the hacking, but the

issue has been kept under wraps for fear of an uproar among officers

some of whom apprehend that key components of their salary - provident

fund or travel allowance/dearness allowance --might have been swept

clean by the online miscreants.







"We have no clue what might have happened to our salary because we are

not being able to access our salary slips. The hackers have hit where

it hurts the officer corps the most," said a major general who did not

wish to be identified.



Indeed, the PCDAO website is central to an officer's finances. He or

she can not only access information on the salary, but also audit and

details on allowances, including leave travel allowance, receipt of

claims, proof of IT returns. Officers also apply for PF withdrawals

through the website.



Officers' individual accounts which can be accessed through a username

and password carry other details such as their exact areas of posting,

the units they belong to, PAN card numbers and bank account details

among other things.



Many officers claimed these constitute sensitive information that

foreign agencies might be interested in getting hold of. Preliminary

investigations revealed that all data of officers across regiments

have been "stolen from the Mumbai server through a remote login port."



Several officers TOI spoke to claimed that when they tried to log into

the accounts at pcdaopune.gov.in, they found that few elements of the

original website were intact, but at the bottom there were screaming

adverts on call girls. And now the website cannot be accessed at all -

a clear indication that PCDAO and MoD officials have displayed

lethargy to restore it or, for that matter, probe whether data had

been lost or online miscreants managed to transfer out money from

officers' accounts.



The defence establishment initially put up on the PCDAO website that

it would "resume shortly", saying "salary upload is in progress".

Subsequently, the website shut down completely. When approached for a

comment, a defence spokesperson claimed he had no information that the

PCDAO website had been hacked.



A PCDAO spokesperson, when contacted, admitted that several officers,

alarmed by the disruption, have been approaching officers in Pune to

make inquiries why they were not being able to access their salary

details. The spokesperson, however, claimed that the website had

crashed because of "modification of the computer system" which caused

an erroneous transfer of data.

I would like to watch online videos on my HDTV, but it doesn't support

Wi-Fi connections. I don't want to buy a new television yet. Is there

any way to add wireless functionality to my TV?



Rohan Fernandes, Kirit Mehta, Yashpal Singh







You can invest in a digital media player for your HDTV. Your set must

have a free HDMI port (and in some cases, a USB as well) to

accommodate the device. This set-up will let you wirelessly stream

content from the internet, or connected devices, and also has the

ability to play a wide range of digital formats. Now, depending on

your budget and specific needs, you can opt for any one of the two

types of players...



Ultra-portable: Google Chromecast (available online for Rs 2,999)

resembles a USB pen drive; connects to your TV via its HDMI and USB

port (for power), and is capable of streaming content — pictures,

music, videos — wirelessly from a PC, smartphone or tablet. You will

require the Chromecast app (available for Android and iOS) to help

with the initial set-up.



You can also consider the Roku 3500R Streaming Stick (Rs 5,000), which

can be controlled via the Roku app (for Android and iOS) as well as

the included remote control. While both devices will also let you

stream content from the web, they do not come with internal storage

that lets you store content.



Box-type: These devices also have to be connected to your TV via an

HDMI port. The added advantage is that they come with extra

connectivity options, including USB ports for flash and external

storage drives, Ethernet for a wired network, optical-out for digital

audio, a slot for SD cards, etc.



Here, you can opt for the WD TV Live (Rs 8,000), Roku 3 (Rs 8,500) or

the Amkette evoTV (MC, AC or XT) (with prices from Rs 6,000 to Rs

8,500).



The WD TV is ideal for personal multimedia content and to access

pre-loaded web services like YouTube and Flickr.



The Amkette players offer greater USB connectivity (four compared to

the two on the WD TV and one on Roku) and are Android-based systems,

giving you access to the apps on the Google Play Store.



The Roku includes a microSD card slot and a remote control that has a

convenient 3.5mm jack for earphones (these are also included). When in

use, audio is streamed wirelessly to it. However, it is handicapped by

a limited support for digital file formats.



It can play MP4, MKV, AAC, MP3, JPG and PNG, when compared to the WD

TV and Amkette players, which support a wider range of AV formats like

DVD (VOB files), high-def MT2S videos, Windows Media files and

high-quality audio standards like OGG and FLAC.

Finding a way out to avoid inconvenience to Members of Parliament at

toll plazas so that they don't have to pay the user fee, government

will provide two smart tags for their official vehicles. These tags

will be issued under the exempt category.



Sources said that the road transport ministry will start this exercise

soon since MPs in different parliamentary panels have claimed it's a

hassle in getting exemption from paying toll and also at certain

plazas they are made to pay. A couple of MPs raised this issue at the

subordinate legislation committee meeting on Tuesday. One of them said

while his vehicle gets exemption from paying toll when he is in the

car on his way to airport, his driver has to pay when he returns.



TOI on February 14 had first reported how MPs had raised concern over

the hassle that they face at toll plazas while showing their identity

cards to avail the exemption and the issue was included in the agenda

of House Committee. It was subsequently discussed at the meeting.



Road ministry officials said issuance of two tags to each legislator

will solve their problem. Sources said, the government had exempted

MPs from paying toll till 2008 but this concession was withdrawn.

Later in 2010, the facility was restored. So, there is no uniformity

across toll plazas on allowing free passage to MPs.



Sources said that some members of the subordinate committee also

raised the issue of providing some relief to the users of public

transport, particularly buses, from paying toll charges. They also

recommended that the agencies including NHAI must provide adequate

service road facility along the tolled highways for smooth flow of

local traffic.



TOI has learnt that some of the members raised the issue of truckers

bypassing toll plazas by taking village roads to avoid paying user

fee. They also quizzed officials about the steps being taken to end

this menace. "We raised this issue since all the future projects will

be built with 100% government funding. Any loss in toll collection

will impact the government's revenue," said Congress MP, T Subirami

Reddy, who is also chairman of the panel.

Facebook's Friend Finder works by looking for large groups of people you might want to become friends with. A common assumption is that you'll want to become friends with people you've gone to school with and worked with over the years. To find these people, follow these steps:

1. Click the Friends icon in the big blue bar on top.

   The Friend Requests menu appears.

2. At the top of the menu, click the Find Friends link.

   The Friend Finder page appears.

3. Click Other Tools (usually found at the bottom of the list of options).

   A menu of possibilities based on information you've filled out on your Timeline appears.

4. Click any of the Find Coworkers From or Find Classmates From links.

   All these links go to the same place, which is a page for browsing people on Facebook.

5. Use the check boxes on the left side of the page to look for people from your various jobs or schools.

   

   Selecting a check box displays people from that school or company. You can also look for people from your hometown, current city, or workplace by entering a mutual friend's name.

When you select more than one check box, it actually shows you fewerpeople because now Facebook is looking for people who both worked at Mom's Pizza and went to Hamilton High School. To find more people, select only one check box at a time.

You can actually browse for people in cities, companies, and colleges other than the ones you've listed on your Timeline. Look for the empty boxes that say Add Another, and type the school, city, or company where you think you know people.

Now that you have entered into the social world of Facebook, it's time to send some friend requests, and maybe even accept some pending ones. If you're new to Facebook, you probably have a list of people who are awaiting your friend request. Remember that as you type, Facebook tries to autocomplete what you're looking for, meaning search results will appear below the Search box as you type.

When you see the person you think you want to add, click on her face; this takes you to her Timeline. At the bottom-right corner of her cover photo is an Add Friend button. To add this person as a friend, all you need to do is click the Add Friend button. Clicking this button sends a Friend Request. When she accepts, you'll become friends.

You won't be friends with someone until she confirms your Friend Request. After she confirms, you're notified by a red flag appearing above the notifications icon in the blue bar on top.

So what does your potential friend see after you send a request? That depends on what you allow them to see.

You can always go back and change your privacy control settings as necessary, but consider what info you want your new friends to see about you before you send them a friend request.

In many ways, a Facebook Friend is the same as a real-life friend. These are the people you hang out with, keep in touch with, care about, and want to publicly acknowledge as friends. These aren't people you met on Facebook. Rather, they're the people you call on the phone; stop and catch up with if you cross paths; or invite over for parties, dinners, and general social gatherings.

In real life, there are lots of shades of friendship — think of the differences between acquaintances, a friend from work, an activity buddy, and best friends. Facebook gives you a few tools for negotiating these levels of friendship. But by default, most friendships are lumped into a blanket category of "friend."

Here are the basics of what it means to be friends with someone on Facebook, though you'll notice that each of them comes with a few caveats on how it can be adjusted by either person in the friendship.

• They can see all the stuff on your Timeline (like your posts and other information) that you have set to be visible to Friends.

  Remember, this is what happens by default. You can actually control which friends can see which posts more specifically by learning about your privacy options, and about Friend Lists.

• They see new posts you create in their News Feeds on their Home pages.

  Again, the information your friends see in their News Feed depends on the audience you've chosen to share each post with. It may also depend on your friends' News Feed settings.

• You can see their posts and other information on their Timelines.

  This, of course, depends on their own privacy settings, but in general, you'll be able to see more as a friend than you did before you became friends.

• You see new posts from them in your News Feed on your Home page.

  This depends on your friend's sharing settings, but more importantly, you can control whose posts you see in your News Feed through managing your own News Feed settings and preferences.

• You'll be listed as friends on one another's Timeline.

  This is a small detail, but it's important in understanding the difference between becoming friends with someone and simply subscribing to someone's posts. Lots of people, especially public figures or people who have a business, allow you to subscribe to their posts without becoming friends. In these cases, you see their posts on your Home page, but they won't see your posts unless they choose to subscribe to you.

Instead of creating a whole new address book for Facebook contacts, you can import an existing address book. If you're someone who uses adesktop e-mail client — a program on your local computer that manages your e-mail (such as Microsoft Outlook or Entourage), create a file of your contacts and import it so that Facebook can check it for friend matches.

The way to create your contact file depends on which e-mail client you use. Here's how to get the right instructions:

1. From the Friend Finder, select the Other Tools option.

   It's at the bottom of the list of Friend Finder options.

2. Click Upload Contact File, the first blue link.

   If you're using a Mac, you may see a blue button named Find my Mac Address Book Contacts. In addition, both Mac and PC users should see a blue Upload Contacts button below a gray Choose File button.

   At this point, unless you've already done so, you need to create a contact file. If you don't know how to do that, click the How to Create a Contact File link above the gray Choose File button. A list of different e-mail programs appears with instructions for most desktop e-mail programs, as well as a few websites.

3. Click Choose File.

   A window appears allowing you to select the file from your computer's hard drive.

4. Select a file and click Open.

   The upload begins automatically. After your contacts are compared with Facebook's records, you'll be taken to Step 2 of the Friend Finder, Add Friends.

5. Decide whether to

   • Add everyone as a friend.Make sure the Select All Friends check box is selected, and click the Add Friends button.

   • Not friend anyone. Make sure the Select All Friends check box is deselected, and click the Skip button.

   • Add specific people as friends. Click the faces or select the boxes to the left of the names of the people you want to be friends with. Make sure the people you want to add have selected boxes next to their names and the people you don't want to add have deselected boxes next to their names. After you select all the people you want, click Add Friends.

   Everyone you select receives a Friend Request from you.

   After you click either Add as Friends or Skip, you land on the Invite Friends portion of Friend Finder. Here you find a list of contact names and e-mail addresses. These e-mails or phone numbers are those that don't have matches on Facebook.

6. (Optional) Invite people to join Facebook and become your friends.

   Similar to adding friends, you can

   • Invite all these contacts.Make sure the Select All/None box is selected and click Send Invites.

   • Invite none of these contacts.Make sure the Select All/None box is deselected, and click Skip.

   • Invite some of these contacts. Select the Invite Some Friends option, and then use the check boxes to the left of their e-mail addresses to choose which ones you want to invite to join Facebook. Checked box = invite sent; unchecked box = no invite sent.

   After you make your selections, click Send Invites or Invite to Join. If you don't want to send any invitations, click Skip.

Facebook's Friend Finder is a great way to build your Friend List quickly without a lot of work. After you build it a bit, though, what if you find other people who may want to be your friends? Facebook Search offers you the capability to seek out certain friends by name.

The Search box in the blue bar on top lets you search a lot of things on Facebook: pages, groups, events, even things your friends have liked. Most often, you use it to search for people. It may be people you're already friends with and you just want to go to their Timelines. Sometimes it will be people you aren't friends with yet but whom you want to find.

Basic Search can be a little confusing because Facebook autocompletes the names that you type and assumes you're trying to get to your friends' Timelines. If you're the type of person who is used to pressing the Enter key to begin a search, this can lead you landing on friends' Timelines when you meant to search for someoneelse named James.

You'll wind up using Search two basic ways. The first way is if the name of the person you're looking for (or at least someone with the same name) appears in the autocomplete menu. You can accomplish that sort of search following these steps:

1. Begin typing the name you're looking for in the Search box.

   Pay attention to the people who appear in the autocomplete menu. Facebook displays first your friends and then friends of friends. There's a good chance that you may find the person you're looking for in this menu.

2. If you see the name in the autocomplete menu, use your mouse or arrow keys to highlight the person you're looking for.

3. Click the name or press Enter.

   This brings you to the person's Timeline, where you can verify that you know the person and add him as a friend.

If you don't see the person you're looking for, don't despair; you can get more results:

1. Type the person's full name in the search box.

2. Click See More at the bottom of the search menu.

   The search menu expands to reveal new options for search. So, if you type Jane Smith and then click See More, you can now either search People Named Jane Smith, Pages Named Jane Smith, or Places Named Jane Smith.

3. Click the People Named <Friend's Name> option.

   A blue friend icon is next to this option. A search results page appears with larger previews of people's profile pictures and Timeline info. The right side of the page also has options for narrowing your search using fields such as Gender, Employer, Current City, and so on.

4. Use the fields on the right side of the page to zero in on your actual friend.

   This might be information like where your friend works or where she's from.

5. When you find the person you're looking for, add her as a friend.

When someone adds you to a group, a notification is sent to your FacebookHome page. The next time you log in, you'll see a little red flag over the notifications icon. When you click, it will tell you what the group is and who added you; then you can go check out the group and make sure you want to be a part of it.

When looking at a group, you'll find a lot to pore over. Some pieces of the group will look familiar — for example, the Share box and the recent postsfrom group members in the center of the page. Other parts are unique to groups, such as the photos at the top of the page and the tabs for different sections of the groups.

You can get to any particular group from your Home page by clicking its name in the left sidebar. Groups you look at frequently should be in the top section; you may have to click the See More link to see a full list of your groups. Click the name of the group you want to visit.

When you first visit a group, before doing anything else, make sure you want to be a part of that group.

Although your notification may explain that you were invited to join the group, these invitations work by adding you to the group until you decide to leave it. It's sort of like saying "RSVP regrets only" on an invitation to a party.

The first thing you should look at when you join a group is the name of the group and who added you. Often, that is enough to determine if you want to stick around. If you're unsure about wanting to be a part of a group, check out the recent posts in the center of the page. These posts are ones that group members have shared directly with this group.

Looking at the recent posts tells you a lot about what to expect from a group in the future. Are posts relevant to the group or not? Is there a lot of discussion or not? Are you interested in the posts you're seeing?

If the group was created only recently, you may not find very many posts yet. You can still learn a bit about the group by checking out the About section. On the right side of the group's page (next to the recent posts) is a box labeled About.

The About section shows you some of the basics of the group to help you understand what it's for and how it will work:

• Privacy: At the top of the About section is information about the privacy of the group. There are three types of groups:

  • Open: Open groups are publicly visible and available for anyone to join. In other words, anyone who uses Facebook will be able to see the posts and the members of that group.

  • Closed: Closed groups are only partially visible. Anyone on Facebook can see the name of the group and its members but won't be able to see the posts until becoming a member of the group. People are added to closed groups by other members, or they can request to join it.

  • Secret: Secret groups are the most private groups. No one other than those who have been added to it can see that it exists, who its members are, and the posts that have been made. If you're invited to join a secret group and you choose to leave it, you won't be able to add yourself again later on, because you won't be able to find it.

• Info: Any information the group creator enters will appear in the Info section of the group. Usually people use the space to describe what the group is about and how people ought to use it.

• Members: Next to the word About is the member count. You can click it to be taken to the Members tab and peruse who belongs to the group. If it's a big group that's open and united around a big topic like a political cause, you may not know many members. If it's a smaller group united around a local activity, chances are you know more of them.

After you acquaint yourself with the group, you can decide whether you want to remain a member or leave the group. If you decide you want to leave, follow these steps:

1. Click the gear icon.

   It's located on the right side of the page, across from all the different tabs for the group. When you click it, a drop-down menu appears.

2. Select Leave Group from the drop-down menu.

   A pop-up window opens, asking if you are sure that you want to leave the group.

3. Decide whether you want to prevent members of the group from adding you again by selecting or deselecting the Prevent Other Members of This Group from Re-adding You check box.

   You can leave this check box selected, which means you'll never be able to be added to the group again; or if you think maybe in the future you might want to be part of the group, deselect this check box.

4. Click Leave Group.

More often than not, however, you'll usually decide to stay in the group, which actually brings you to the point of sharing and communicating with fellow group members.

If you're considering leaving a group because you're being inundated by notifications about new posts, you can instead just turn off notifications from that group. From the group, click the Notifications button at the top of the page. You can then select whether you want all notifications, notifications about friends' posts, or no notifications.

You have the option of adding a Follow button to your own FacebookTimeline to enable non-friends to receive your public updates in their News Feeds. Just follow these easy steps:

1. Open the Account menu by clicking the small down-pointing arrow in the big blue bar on top.

2. Select Settings from the menu that appears.

   The Settings page appears. Items on the left side of this page allow you to edit different types of settings.

3. Select Followers on the left side of the page.

   The Followers section of the Settings page appears.

4. Select the check box to Turn On Follow.

   A series of other settings related to being followed appear:

   • Follower Comments: Here you can control which people can comment on your posts.

   • Follower Notifications:Choose which people interacting with your posts generate notifications.

   • Username: Set up a username so people can quickly type a URL into their browsers and go straight to your Timeline.

   • Twitter: If you already use Twitter to post short updates, you can automatically import them into Facebook here.

If you had previously turned off the capability for your Facebook Timeline to be found via search engines like Google or Bing, you'll see an additional setting here called Follower Search. Checking this box turns back on your capability to be found in searches people do outside of Facebook.

Sometimes, especially in largerFacebook groups, you may find yourself a bit overwhelmed by all the notifications. To control them, you just need to get comfortable with the Notifications Settings menu, which you access by clicking the Notifications button from a group's Home page. Clicking Notifications (it's on the right side of the page under the member photos) reveals a drop-down menu with three options.

• All Posts: Because commentthreads can often become very long and rambling, this option allows you to see when a new post is created, but not see comments on those posts unless you follow the post.

• Friends' Posts: In especially large groups, you might not be official Facebook friends with everyone in the group, so a good way to filter down to the material you're most likely to care about is to pay attention only to the things your friends post.

• Off: Some people may want to read the posts only when they choose to look at the group and not receive any notifications from this group. Selecting Off gives you that silence.

If you're being inundated by e-mail notifications but still want the notifications to appear on Facebook, you can change your e-mail notification settings from the Account Settings page. To adjust this setting, follow these steps:

1. Click the upside-down triangle icon in the blue bar at top of any page.

   A drop-down menu appears.

2. Select Settings.

   The Settings page appears. You can choose different types of settings from the menu on the left side of the page.

3. Click Notifications on the left side of the page.

   This opens all notifications settings. Look for the Email line in the How You Get Notifications section.

4. Click Edit to the right of the Email option.

   This expands to three options for e-mail notifications: All Notifications, Important Notifications, and Only Notifications about Your Account Security and Privacy.

5. Select either Important Notifications, or Only Notifications about Your Account, Security and Privacy.

   This step limits how many e-mail notifications you receive from Facebook.

If, after you change this setting, you're still getting e-mails about activity happening in a group, scroll to the bottom of one of the offending e-mails and click the Unsubscribe link. You will be asked to confirm that you want to unsubscribe from that type of e-mail. After you confirm, you'll no longer see e-mails about groups.

Lots of photos you see on Facebookare added when people are nowhere near a computer. Instead, they're sent from an iPhone and are the photos of things that happen while you're out and about. Things that are beautiful (spring blossoms!), or weird (how did this person lose only one high heel?), or just emblematic of your day (another cute photo of the baby).

If you add the Facebook app to your phone, iPhones and Android phones try to make it as easy as possible to send photos from your phone right to Facebook.

Here's a simple way to share photos if you're using an iPhone:

1. From your photo gallery, tap the photo you want to share; then tap the Send icon at the bottom left of the photo.

   A menu of options appears, including things like e-mail or text messages. If you previously installed the Facebook app, you should see the Facebook icon among the other options.

2. Tap the Facebook icon.

   A Facebook window for sharing that photo appears.

   

3. (Optional) Use the keyboard to type any explanation the photo needs.

4. (Optional) Tap Add Location to use GPS to share where you're adding the photo from.

5. (Optional) Tap the Privacy menu to change who can see this post.

   Remember, by default, the audience you shared your last post with will be the people who can see this post.

6. Tap Post in the upper-right corner of the Facebook window.

   The photo is added to your Timeline as part of the Mobile Uploads album, and it may appear in your friends' News Feeds.

If you use an iPhone, you can download the Facebook Camera app specifically for taking and sharing photos. This app gives you tools like filters for your photos and makes it easy to look only at friends' photos.

While you can use Facebook's News Feed views to look at a different version, you can also influence what you see by hiding stories you don't like. Hiding stories (and subsequently hiding all stories from certain people) sends a signal to News Feed that it will try to learn from.

If you're constantly hiding stories about people checking in to locations, it will stop showing you so many of those stories. Hiding stories also comes in handy if there's a single story that you find annoying and you just don't want to look at anymore.

To hide a story, follow these steps:

1. Hover your mouse over the story you want to hide.

   A small gray downward-pointing arrow appears in the upper-right corner of that story.

2. Click the gray arrow.

   A menu of options appears: Hide, Report/Mark as Spam, FollowPost.

3. Select Hide.

   The story immediately disappears and is replaced with two lines of text. There are two links in bold: Unhide and Hide All Stories from<Friend Name>.

4. (Optional) If you realize you actually do want to see a story, click the Unhide link.

   The story reappears in your News Feed.

5. (Optional) If you never want to see this person's stories appear in your News Feed, click the link to Hide All Stories.

If you choose to hide people from your News Feed entirely, there may come a day when you want to unhide them. To do so, follow the preceding steps on any story in News Feed. After you have hidden all stories from a friend, a link appears to Edit News Feed Options.

Click this link to bring up a list of all the people and Pages you've hidden from News Feed. Scroll through the list and click the X next to any name you no longer want hidden (in other words, click X next to names you'd like to see in News Feed again). Click Save when you're done.

Occasionally, next to the Add Friend button on someone's FacebookTimeline, you'll see an additional button named Follow. Following people on Facebook is a way of getting updates from them in your News Feed without actually becoming their friend. Usually people follow people like journalists or public figures because they don't really want to expose their posts to someone who, let's face it, doesn't really know them.

Following someone is as easy as — actually, it's easier than — adding someone as a friend. Navigate to that person's Timeline and click the Follow button. To unfollow her, click that same button (it now says Following) to open a menu of options. Select the Unfollow option (the last item on the menu).

If you're someone who plans on posting lots of public updates or are a public figure (locally or nationally), you can allow people to follow you instead of becoming your friend (they'll also be able to add you as a friend, but you won't have to accept their requests for them to see your posts). Follow these steps to allow people to follow you:

1. Click the upside-down triangle in the upper-right corner of the big blue bar on top.

   A menu of options appears.

2. Select the Settings option.

   The Account Settings page appears, which has a menu running down the left-hand side.

3. Select Followers from the left menu.

   The Follower Settings page appears.

4. Check the box labeled Turn On Follow.

   Congrats! People can now follow your public posts. Once you opt into this feature, more settings appear on the page. These settings allow you to specify how followers can find and interact with your Timeline. This is also where you can connect a Twitter account so your tweets will also be imported to Facebook.

After you create and start using yourFacebook Friend lists, you can continuously add people to them at the same time you add them as friends. When you're the one sending a Friend Request, follow these steps to also add the person to a particular Friend List:

1. From his Timeline, after you've added him as a friend, click the Friend Request Sent button.

   A menu appears asking you if you want to add that person to any of your Friend Lists. By default, your most commonly used lists will appear at the top.

2. Click the list you want to add your friend to.

   You may need to select Add to Another List to see your full menu of lists.

If you're the one receiving the Friend Request, you can follow these steps to add someone to a list as you accept the request:

1. From the Friend Request menu, click Confirm.

   This adds the person as a friend. The Confirm button changes to a Friends button.

2. Click the Friends button that appears.

   A menu appears with some options about News Feed, in addition to lists you may want to add the friend to.

3. Click the list you want to add this person to.

   You may need to select Add to Another List to find the list you want.

If at any point you remember someone you meant to add to a list, but didn't, simply visit that person's Timeline and click the button that says Friends at the lower-right of the cover photo. The menu covered in the preceding steps appears, which you can use to add So-and-So to the right list.

After you create and start using yourFacebook Friend lists, you can continuously add people to them at the same time you add them as friends. When you're the one sending a Friend Request, follow these steps to also add the person to a particular Friend List:

1. From his Timeline, after you've added him as a friend, click the Friend Request Sent button.

   A menu appears asking you if you want to add that person to any of your Friend Lists. By default, your most commonly used lists will appear at the top.

2. Click the list you want to add your friend to.

   You may need to select Add to Another List to see your full menu of lists.

If you're the one receiving the Friend Request, you can follow these steps to add someone to a list as you accept the request:

1. From the Friend Request menu, click Confirm.

   This adds the person as a friend. The Confirm button changes to a Friends button.

2. Click the Friends button that appears.

   A menu appears with some options about News Feed, in addition to lists you may want to add the friend to.

3. Click the list you want to add this person to.

   You may need to select Add to Another List to find the list you want.

If at any point you remember someone you meant to add to a list, but didn't, simply visit that person's Timeline and click the button that says Friends at the lower-right of the cover photo. The menu covered in the preceding steps appears, which you can use to add So-and-So to the right list.

The first way you'll most likely find out about a Facebook event is through a notification. When a friend invites you to an event, a small red flag appears over the notifications icon in the big blue bar on top. Click the icon to open your notifications menu; then click the invitation to be taken to the event.

The event photo appears at the top of the page, much like the cover photo does on your Timeline. Beneath the event photo is the event's name, host (which can be a person, group, or page), and privacy info.

Events have three privacy settings:

• Public: Public events are just what they sound like: open to the public. Anyone can see the event with or without an invitation, view the guest list and posts, and join the event herself.

• Friends of Guests: Events with this privacy setting are slightly more private than Public events. Any friends of guests — whether or not they received an invitation — can view and join the event.

• Invite Only: These are the most private events. Only people who have been invited are able to see the event and join it.

The left side of the event page shows the progress of the RSVPs. Three categories are shown (although this may depend on the settings of the event, as decided by the event admin): Going, Maybe, and Invited.

The most important info about any event is in the center of the page: where, when, and what. There's a spot here for the date and time of the event, the location, and any info the event creator wants to share with guests. If the creator put in a specific address or location, a map may also appear so that you can easily get directions.

Below the event info is the Posts section of the event. The Posts section is where people can post messages and communicate with other guests (and potential guests) of that event. Event hosts use this section to post important updates — for example, a reminder to bring a sweater in case the weather is cold, or to let people know at which section of the park they'll be meeting.

Guests' RSVPs appear here as they come in, as do posts that people actively make to communicate with other guests. Depending on the event, the posts may be from people just saying how excited they are or from people coordinating rides or the food they'll bring to a potluck.

To post to an event, follow these steps:

1. Click in the Share box (where it reads Write Something).

   This is the same way you update your status or post to group.

2. Type your message in the Share box.

3. (Optional) Add tags, location information, or photos by clicking their respective icons at the bottom of the Share box.

4. Click Post.

   Your message is posted to the Posts section of the event. Depending on settings, guests may be notified about it or see a News Feed story about it.

Within the Posts section, you can click the link to View Declines, which will show you all the posts people left when they said they wouldn't be able to attend an event. Seeing all the declines in the Posts section can be a bit of a bummer, which is why Facebook sequesters them away from the more inviting and excited posts.

You actually can't post to an event until you've RSVPed. So make up your mind, and then you can start talking to the other guests.

Responding to an event is easy; just click the blue Join button if you plan on attending, the Decline button if you can't make it, or the Maybe button if you aren't sure.

After you RSVP to an event, the RSVP buttons are replaced with the following new buttons:

• Invite Friends: If you want some company at an event or know of someone who would really be interested, click this button to send him an invitation. (Some Invite Only events may not allow you to invite more friends.)

• RSVP status: If, for example, you join an event by clicking the blue Join button, it will be replaced by a gray button named Going. Click this button to change your RSVP at any time.

• Settings (gear icon): Click the gear icon to turn off event notifications, to share an event on your Timeline, or to export an event to your calendar or e-mail.

If you use a smarte, you can download the Facebook App for your phone, which allows you to use most Facebook features on the go, including Facebook Groups. To get to a Facebook group from your mobile or tablet app, follow these steps:

1. Tap the menu icon in the upper-left corner of the screen.

   This expands the left-hand menu. Scroll down to look at the list of groups.

2. Tap the name of the group you want to check out.

   This brings you to the group's mobile Home page. It's actually not all that different from the regular view of groups. You see all the group's recent posts.

When you're looking at a post, you can tap on the post or the gray text at the bottom listing the number ofcomments to see all the comments that have been made. You can tap the Like button to like the post, or the Comment button to add your own comment.

Tapping a photo focuses the screen on just the photo. You can then use your normal finger shortcuts to zoom in and out for a better view of that photo.

When you're looking at the group's recent posts, you can choose to add a post from your mobile phone by tapping the Post button at the top of the page. Tap the Photo button to post a photo from your phone. Just like creating a post anywhere on Facebook, you can add tags and location information.

If you're the creator of a Facebookgroup, you're automatically its admin,or administrator. Additionally, you can be added as an admin of someone else's group. After you have members in your group, you can use the group member list to remove (and even permanently ban) undesirable members, promote your most trusted members to administrators, or demote your existing administrators (if any) back to regular members.

To get started in your career as an admin, take a look at the Edit Group Settings page. You get to this page by clicking the gear icon on the right side of your group's page (under the member photos). This expands a drop-down menu with several options. Select Edit Group Settings from the menu, which takes you to the Edit Group Settings page.

The Edit Group Settings page allows you to revisit some of the decisions you made when you were first creating your group, as well as adjust some settings that tend to be relevant only for people who are admins of large, open groups.

• Name: Edit the group name here.

• Icon: You can change your icon at any time from here.

• Privacy: The privacy level of the group can change here. Changing a secret group to an open group might be a bad idea if people are sharing content they may feel is sensitive.

• Membership Approval: By default, any member of a group can add other members. You can change this option by requiring admins to approve new members.

• Group Address: If you want, you can create a group e-mail address and web address. Group addresses appear as something likegroupname@groups.facebook.comand web addresses appear as something likewww.facebook.com/groups/groupname. E-mails sent to the group e-mail address are added as posts to the group wall.

• Description: The description of your group appears in the About section of the group the first time new members visit your group page. So this is a good place to set expectations for what the group is for and how you expect to use it.

• Posting Permissions: By default, all members of a group can post to it. But if you're the admin of a large group, you may want to change this setting so that only administrators can post. Keep in mind that this can really limit discussion!

• Post Approval: Similarly, if you want to make sure the content of a group is appropriate and relevant, you can choose to have admins approve posts before all group members see them.

Click Save when you're done editing your group's information; otherwise, all your hard work will be lost.

As an admin, you can remove and ban members from the group, as well as create other admins to help shoulder the burden of admin-hood.

To edit members, follow these steps:

1. Next to the group's name, click the Members tab.

   This takes you to the Members section of the group, the bulk of which is taken up by images of group members. If you are an admin, below each group member's name is a little gear icon.

2. Click the gear icon below the name of the person you want to remove or make an admin.

   A menu with two options appears: Make Admin or Remove from Group.

   

3. To make someone an admin, click Make Admin.

   When someone is already an admin, you can remove her admin status by choosing Remove as Admin from this same menu.

4. To remove someone from the group, choose Remove from Group.

   You need to confirm this via a pop-up window that appears. If someone has been posting consistently offensive or abusive content, you can ban that person permanently by selecting the Ban Permanently check box; that person can never rejoin the group.

Occasionally, next to the Add Friend button on someone's FacebookTimeline, you'll see an additional button named Follow. Following people on Facebook is a way of getting updates from them in your News Feed without actually becoming their friend. Usually people follow people like journalists or public figures because they don't really want to expose their posts to someone who, let's face it, doesn't really know them.

Following someone is as easy as — actually, it's easier than — adding someone as a friend. Navigate to that person's Timeline and click the Follow button. To unfollow her, click that same button (it now says Following) to open a menu of options. Select the Unfollow option (the last item on the menu).

If you're someone who plans on posting lots of public updates or are a public figure (locally or nationally), you can allow people to follow you instead of becoming your friend (they'll also be able to add you as a friend, but you won't have to accept their requests for them to see your posts). Follow these steps to allow people to follow you:

1. Click the upside-down triangle in the upper-right corner of the big blue bar on top.

   A menu of options appears.

2. Select the Settings option.

   The Account Settings page appears, which has a menu running down the left-hand side.

3. Select Followers from the left menu.

   The Follower Settings page appears.

4. Check the box labeled Turn On Follow.

   Congrats! People can now follow your public posts. Once you opt into this feature, more settings appear on the page. These settings allow you to specify how followers can find and interact with your Timeline. This is also where you can connect a Twitter account so your tweets will also be imported to Facebook.