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Front Range PC Users Group Newsletter k-Byte |
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| v. 20, n. 11/12 November/December 2003 | Users Helping Users |
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Contents 1 State of the Group - Rick Mattingly 2 About k-Byte 3 Ask Your Computer For Help - Mick Topping 5 Address Books, Contact Managers, PIMs And All That Jazz! - Bryant Owen 7 Watch What You Eat - Humor 11 USB Cable Length - Keith Aleshire 12 Worker Dead At Desk For 5 Days 13 Welchia Worm Warning - R. Glenn York 13 A Senior Moment 14 Calendar of Events 16 December/January Calendars 18 Membership Application 19 Above The Clouds With Centrino - Christopher Sarson 20 Use Your CD Drive More Productively - Ira Wilsker 23 Holiday Fruitcake - Humor 24 The Value Of Removable Hard Drives - Allan Pogensky 26 MSCONFIG - Bruce Cramer 28 Governmentium 30 Trading Post 31 FRPCUG Contacts State of the Group by Rick Mattingly Seasons Greetings from FRPCUG! Wow, I can't believe that it is the holiday season already. Time is just moving too fast - but of course, that solid week of flat-on-my-back flu probably had something to do with that illusion! Sure am glad that I bothered going out of my way to get the flu shot. Now that all the venting is out of my system, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year-for real. And, in the spirit of the season, for the main program at the December Meeting we decided to have a Social Hour complete with refreshments provided. This should be great fun as we just don't get enough time to talk among ourselves at the meetings through the rest of the year. I am looking forward to it myself. And yes, I really am over the flu! Published bi-monthly, k-Byte is the official newsletter of the Front Range Personal Computer Users Group (FRPCUG): our mailing address is PMB 152, 305 W. Magnolia, Fort Collins, Colorado 80521. Opinions expressed in k-Byte are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the group or its members. Publication of information in k-Byte constitutes no guarantee of accuracy. Use of any information found in this publication is at the sole risk of the user. Neither k-Byte, nor its officers, nor k-Byte, nor its editors or contributors assume any liability for damages resulting from use of information in this publication. Submissions Articles, letters and short items of interest on computer-related topics are welcome and encouraged. All items submitted for publication are subject to editing. Send your contribution to the editor via e-mail attachment or submit on disk. If you have questions about a submission, please contact the editor for information. Copyright k-Byte is copyrighted ©2004 by the Front Range Personal Computer Users Group. Unless otherwise noted, other nonprofit users groups may reprint or quote from any articles appearing in k-Byte without prior permission, provided that proper author and publication credits are given and that a copy of the publication in which the article appears is sent at no cost to k-Byte at the above mailing address. User groups wishing to exchange newsletters with FRPCUG are invited to send a copy of their newsletter together with an exchange request. IBM PC, OS/2, Compaq, MS-DOS, UNIX, Windows and other trademarks occasionally mentioned in k-Byte are registered trademarks of International Business Machines, Inc., Compaq Corporation, Microsoft, Digital Research, AT&T or their owners respectively. Neither FRPCUG nor its newsletter k-Byte are connected in any way with any manufacturer or seller. We, however, gratefully acknowledge sponsorship of our group by Data Service Center, Jim Becker, owner. Advertising Classified advertising is free to members for non-business ads. See “Trading Post” for pricing for camera-ready display ads. Charges for ad makeup from sketches, etc., are available on request. Deadline for camera-ready and classified ads is listed in the Calendar of Upcoming Events. Deadline for ad-makeup is the same as for articles. About FRPCUG FRPCUG is an independent nonprofit computer society, so incorporated with the State of Colorado and open to anyone interested in MS-DOS, OS/2, or UNIX microcomputers. Its purpose is to provide an educational and scientific forum of mutual benefit for members of the micro-computer community. FRPCUG holds a monthly meeting and conducts various special interest groups (SIGS) and seminars. Members have voting privileges, subscription to k-Byte newsletter, SIGs and selected seminars. Annual dues are $25 for individual/family membership and $50 for corporate/group membership. by Mick Topping (Springfield Mo. Computer Clubs, Feb-02) Don't get me wrong, there is nothing immoral with the “poke-and-hope” method of computer use, I do a lot of it myself, and of course, many more advanced users greatly appreciate a chance to display their skills and help you out personally. Sometimes, there is no choice other than getting outside assistance, because the beginner may just not have the language to describe what he wants to the relatively stupid help program. And the help program is truly STUPID! It will present you with information, but frequently, it is either information you don't want, or that you can't understand (that language barrier again)-help programs are written by programmers after all, and they have little experience with English and users in general. But proper etiquette is to try to find out for yourself before asking. Which programs have help-You will rarely use a Windows application that does not have some help built in. The help files may be limited, and of minimal use, but frequently they are a virtual textbook on your application. Internet applications, such as the browser and the Email client (and many other recent programs) will not only have the built-in help, but will have an internet interface to the vendor company help database. MS Office applications (Excel, Word, PowerPoint etc) have a specialized little dancing icon (called the Office assistant) that makes some beginners feel more comfortable using the help feature, and makes most experienced users nauseous. But almost all applications will have medium sized built-in help document that can be accessed with similar means. The document usually contains an index, a table-of-contents (ToC), and a word-search function. It may also contain a bookmark function to allow quick return to favorite pages. The index and ToC work just as their paper book counterparts. How do you get to help-Like every other task in Windows, there are several ways to get help started. For most programs, the menu contains a help item, (as shown here) that causes a list of help choices to drop down. Probably the least helpful, but nice to know is the about choice--(1) on the menu. This selection displays the program's version number, and frequently other reference material, very useful when contacting technical support. Usually found at the bottom of the list. In the middle of the help drop-down list is a variety of choices (2)-perhaps an access to a web resident help function, perhaps a “what's this” button (click it, then click other items to get info on that item). Some programs have a debugging tool in this area, and Microsoft Office applications may have a special, transitional help tool to aid in migration from other vendor's programs. Features in this middle area can be any sort of useful tools, MS Office puts their incredibly irritating Office Assistant here-try it you may find it useful. (Gag, retch, barf…) But the nucleus of the help system, usually the top selection (3) goes under a variety of names. The most common are labels like Program help, or Help Topics, or Contents and Index, or Help and Support. Actually, anything that the program author decides is descriptive can be used to label the main help entry point. Here are some samples. What can you expect from Help-Well, don't plan on Help being your only source of knowledge on a program. It is usually the case that programs are written in a great hurry. The software marketplace is a cruel taskmaster, and usually as soon as a program is finished, it is hurriedly deployed. Something like “All right, we are done!-oops, hold it, we gotta stick some help stuff on there-OK, there, she's ready to go”. Well maybe it is not quite that bad, most Help files contain a lot of information. Help for Windows itself is found using the Start then Help or Help and Support buttons, depending on version. Here is a sample help tool, from Word 2000, showing basic functions. Shown, is the Contents list-the Index (self explanatory) and the Answer Wizard (a search tool which will take literal questions as input) are available by clicking page-tabs above the left pane. The table of contents display has a hierarchy of chapters, where sub-chapters or topic titles can be seen by clicking the “+” beside the little book. The icons at the top of the frame include ways to change the display of the help pane, print a topic, and go back to a topic just viewed. Unfortunately, Word Help is one of those that do not have a book-marking function. Note that there is no help-on-help button-Bad Microsoft! Well, there is some help-on-help several chapters into the table of contents--fairly common trick of lazy programmers. If you are having trouble using the Help feature, look down the Contents list, to check for advice on how to use help. Large applications such as Excel and Word will have Help that is equal to a several hundred-page book, and newer versions of the program have imbedded “tools” (buttons) that will “demonstrate” (go to that feature of the program and simulate running it) how to accomplish certain actions. Well written Help tools will always have many hot links that will quickly jump to internal and external references, or similar topics. Unfortunately, all applications have somewhat different help environments. Some have a simple two pane window, one containing ToC, or search result topics, and the other containing readable text and graphics. Other applications will have no useful help visible until the topic is selected, at which time the ToC and Search window vanishes. It can be re entered, but not too conveniently. This makes it impossible to give a step-by-step instruction help, you will have to work your way through it. But while it can be somewhat confusing the first time, there is no damage that will result from pressing the wrong button on the help menu. And it is well worth the effort to experiment. If you have one of the new High-Rez displays, you may find the fonts tiny, and no obvious way to adjust them, but many newer help programs are based on the web-browser, and fonts will respond to the same Shortcuts to help-Help can virtually always be obtained by pressing the Favorites, Printing, etc.-Most applications help tools have no way to mark areas for future reference, but at least Windows does. It is very worthwhile to skim down the list of top-level chapters, picking areas that look interesting, expanding those, and book-marking the topics in windows that you are interested in. Then when you get a slow minute, pop open help, look in your favorites, and learn how things work. Printing is something you should be careful with. Help can be so enormous, that printing can be very expensive. My recommendation is to print only those recovery tools that you may not be able to get on line, or lengthy step-by-step processes. And finally, the main and most important suggestion, is to practice it. Open an application, or just Windows, and help yourself…. - Mick The following versions of Microsoft Windows are no longer actively supported by Microsoft: Windows ME Windows 98 (incl. Second Edition) Windows 95 Windows for Workgroups 3.11 Windows 3.1 Self support for these versions is still available however through Microsoft's online Knowledgebase support documentation system. January 14, 2004 News Flash: Microsoft extends help for Windows programs Microsoft Corp. said it will extend phone and security support for Windows 98, 98 SE and ME programs through June 30, 2006, after customers complained. Support was scheduled to end this Friday, Microsoft said in an e-mailed statement. Since the release of the Windows 98 computer operating system, Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft has begun supporting products for seven years instead of four. by Bryant Owen Someone asked me the other day if I knew of any FREE PIMs (Personal Information Managers) Shortly after someone asked me about a FREE computerized “Rolodex”. I told them I'd do some research and get back to them. Little did I know what I was in for. First thing I found: there are a lot of PIMS out there. Download.com lists 524 shareware and freeware PIMs alone. SimTel lists 880 programs under PIMs. Second thing I found out: PIMs mean many things to many different people. I found everything from pricey “full feature” shareware “true” PIMs to little free telephone books. All are PIMs because they all “help you manage your personal information”, whether that info was used in running your business or simply cataloguing your CD collection. Why so many different products? Because there are so many unique needs. Each product seemed to be created to fill a special need. To deal with all this information I've decided to divide the topic up into two parts. Part one this month will deal with address books/contact managers and next month I'll look at PIMs. My criteria is that “true” PIMs have some kind of organizer/to-do feature that lets you schedule appointments or other events. Now don't expect a long review of a particular product. Instead I've selected a few products for your consideration. Remember I said that many of these products were created to fill unique needs. So I'm offering you some different samplings in the PIM world. When looking for a suitable PIM you should consider the type of info you want to organize, how you want to organize it, if/how you need to share this info with others; do you need to 'integrate' it with other programs i.e. use it to place phone calls or send email, how fast/accessible do you want it to be? Try out a few and review your criteria. There's something for everyone. Now you may already have the address book/contact manager you need if you use Internet Explorer. The IE address book, accessible through your accessories menu, can handle much more than email addresses. How about home and work phone or fax numbers? Full addresses, contact notes, and more? Netscape/Mozilla have similar features in their address book. Ditto Opera. Check it out. Running MS Works at home? It has a great database program and includes several varieties of customizable address books or contact managers in their templates and Wizards. Now lets look at a few address books/contact managers. First Contact: Here's a nice little surprise among the “herd” - and it may be all you want or need. It's only a 339KB download. First Contact offers “4 user definable datafields, multiple data search options, fully definable Color/Font schemes, ability to send emails at the touch of a button”. It also includes a simple timer and a Post It Note feature which can activate on timer. Best of all you can set First Contact up to sit in your Icon Tray until needed. It's quick, small and simple. I've used this litte guy for a bit and it fits into my use by providing me a simple way to get “first contact” info and store it. Great for those frequent phone/email stuff you may do. http://www.greatfreeware.com/Information_Management/ Contact_Management_Tools/3.html Custom Addressbook Now for something a little more full featured and, er, customizable. The freeware version is a good teaser for the shareware version ($17.95 USD). Either are small download (Freeware 315 - Kb, Shareware 421 Kb) and both can be run off a floppy, a feature of great value to those “roaming” computer workers like myself. Freeware features include the ability to create, print, delete, categorize and order address items. Nice. It also allows you to define attributes and categories. Very nice. And you can minimize it to the tray bar. Very, very nice. The shareware version is worth a look. For only a few bucks you get: auto-dial; active hyperlink fields to WWW, FTP, News, email; password protection and data encryption (yeah!!); data compression; search engine; import from and to CSV files (for programs such as MS Access, dBase, etc.); export to XML files and Text files; print address labels through 'export to text file' and standard label-printing programs; duplicate items; search function; the ability to copy/add data to clipboard. Believe me, these are great extra features for a low $. http://www.freebyte.com/addressbook/ A1 Visual Contact This one's at that top end of the contact manager scale. It's a popular free PIM recommended by such sites as Freewarefiles.com. It's also a small download (850KB) A1 includes a “People Finder” via the WWW search engines. You can have it as a browser add-on for Netscape, Internet Explorer. It saves bookmarks/favorites as well as email addresses. Useful if you frequently contact people or deal with companies online. It's also an email client add-on for Messenger, Outlook Express, Outlook, and Eudora. Handy if you work a lot online. How about Quick Keys that let you fast access most often used contacts with a single click? Here's another nice free feature; a phone dialer that lets you auto-redial too. If you do a lot of phoning this might be it's real selling point. Last but not least A1 Visual Contact has a MS-Word word processor add-on. Call it up and start that letter to Aunt Ruth. A1 puts all that address info at your fingertips. Your letter's almost written! http://www.softwarevirtuosity.com/visualcontact/ The above has been just a sample of what's out there. Try one or two. If you don't like them, there's lots more to choose from. Address Books, Contact Managers, PIMs and all that jazz - Part 2 For those of you who read my last column, I had some problems putting this column together. One problem was sorting through the many freeware/shareware PIMs to find some that had an organizer or to-do feature to schedule appointments, etc. My other problem lies in recommending PIMs. To take advantage of the features of even the simplest requires a fair bit of learning and set up beyond what many might want to do. And unless you commit to using it on a daily basis, you're not taking full advantage of the software. Many people, after trying out a PIM or two, find that what they really want is to find a good contact book and a separate scheduler or to-do program. Some people decide to just use a paper planner and address book. BTW - Looking for a simple To-Do program? Check out Quick To-Do Light by Capstan Australia (www.capstralia.com) Light is the freeware version. I've reviewed it in the past and liked it. Quick To-Do also comes in a Standard ($17.95) and a pro ($29.95) shareware version. They also have a nice shareware Contact Manager, Contact Expert ($34.95) A better bargain is the package of Quick To-Do Standard + Contact Expert at $42.95 or Pro package for only $49.95. All prices USD. And you can download all the software for a tryout. Kaboom Organizer 5.5 (Freeware) by Igosaur Software ( www.win4win.com/Kaboom/k_index.asp ) I admit that Kaboom's original color scheme is a bit gaudy for my liking. Thankfully, you can adjust some of the colors and fonts to make it more palatable. Too bad you didn't have full control over it. Layout is OK and clearly shows you the current date and time. Once you sort out the complexity of buttons everything starts to make more sense. The key here is the lower toolbar. Kaboom includes a “thumbed” address book that lets you go from a to z on your list - nice touch if you've got a lot of entries. Kaboom also includes a diary, a To-Do list, a shopping list (really!) and notes function. And there's a conversion chart and date calculator too - great if you need that kind of thing. It takes some time to get used to Kaboom but it certainly has the potential to give you everything you want - and more. Unfortunately the Planner portion, which includes use of the Diary, Scheduler, To-Do list and Journal, is awkward to set up and do entries and the display focuses on the Diary with click access to the other features. Since most users will want to see as much as possible at a glance, I suspect Kaboom will be found tried but wanting. Hey, it's free. Info Angel (Freeware)/ Info Angel Pro (Shareware $24.95 USD) by Angelic Software (www.angelicsoftware.com/infoangel.html) Info Angel gives us a different visual presentation of information. Both layout and use of graphics give it a nice, friendly look, something not to be sneezed at when you may be looking at it several times a day. It includes a Notebook, Contact Book, Organizer and, interestingly a Bookmark Manager. As for the Organizer, you get a good display. The directory tree at the left, like the directory tree in Windows Explorer lets you add/delete files, items, etc. to match your needs. Create numerous files if you have a busy work/social life or pare it down to just work with lots of subfiles to document projects. The centre window shows a monthly calendar and clicking on specific dates presents the info for that date. On the right is the window for creating/reading specific items. It's definitely a step ahead from Kaboom but frankly the Organizer feature is more a To-Do list than a scheduler. If you like the other features (Notebook, Contact Book, etc.) you might find this suits you. well have to delete the old info and add your own - but not everything is removable and it's very time consuming. Electronic Assistant Lite 4.1 (Shareware $20.00 US) by Dante Productions (www.danteproductions.com/) EA Lite has a lot to offer, Organizer, Journal, To-Do, Collections (Books, CDs etc.), Schedule, and several utility and add-on modules. I've tried out the Lite version in the past and have recently had a look at the Pro version ($32.00 US) I like the layout and access to features but one of the odd things I noticed was that EA Lite and Pro seem to prefer a res. setting of 1024 X 768 to really see the whole window. Language in PIMs is sometimes confusing. The Organizer in EA is actually the contact manager and the scheduler is where you set up your activities. It's relatively easy to set up and it's fairly intuitive. The learning curve is fairly short and straightforward. The Today function lets you see your Schedule, To-Do list and Journal entries. In the Pro version you get an Agenda function that gives you even more info. Both EA Lite and the Pro version give you 30 days to check out their software. You might want to check out their website for some other neat programs - some are free. Unforgiven Organizer (freeware) by Carmelo Faraci http://spazioinwind.libero.it/unforgiven/ Here's another free one - with a difference. This guy calls his program “sisterware”. You are supposed to send the author “information, photos or lingerie of your lovely sister! ;-)” That's a bit weird but his PIM is definitely worth checking out. The layout is simple and straightforward and you can tab to any of the features like Contact Manager (works with your e-mail client, Internet browser and Windows telephony!) and a nice Notes and To-Do features. You have to spend some time with it to really appreciate it and once again it's more of a To-Do scheduler than Planner. On the plus side, all the functions are tabbed giving you access to all functions with a simple click. I'd say if you're needs are modest this might be for you. And, no, you don't need to send Carmelo any info about your sister. Well there you have it. Which one is the best? The more I try out each one, the more I learn about and become more aware of what I do and don't like. They will all do the job and if not for free, then at a reasonable price. I'd have to say top marks for Electronic Assistant Pro, an honorable mention to Unforgiven, a “nice try but ..” to Kaboom and as for InfoAngel, lots of good stuff there but the Organizer is more challenging than it needs to be. Bryant Owen a consultant on home/small business computing and small business management. You can contact him at bryantowen@hotmail.com The Kawartha Computer Club Bits & Bytes newsletter Here's the final word on nutrition and health...It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting medical studies. 1) The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans. 2) The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans. 3) The Japanese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans. 4) The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans. 5) The Germans drink a lot of beer and eat lots of sausage and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans. CONCLUSION.........Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you. To women, nodding means you're listening. To men, nodding means you're in agreement with what's being said. This often causes men to be accused of not listening. FRPCUG Elections in December Election of Officers for 2004 will take place at the December meeting. Nominations at the November meeting resulted in the following nominees: Secretary-Jim Bragonier Vice President-Don Anderson President-Rick Mattingly There were no nominations noted for the Treasurer position. However, members Robert Clayton and Virginia Ferbinger have both indicated that they volunteer themselves for nomination in the selection of Treasurer. At the December meeting we will discuss this issue, and request further nominations, prior to the actual election. Please plan to attend the December Meeting to assist with the election. You Have Mail This guy is sitting outside on his lawn when he sees his blonde neighbor walk outside and check her mailbox. With a confused look on her face, she walks back inside. Five minutes later, the blonde walks outside again to check her mailbox. Seeing that there is nothing in it, she walks back inside her house. Another five minutes later, the blonde comes back outside to check her mailbox. After watching the blonde check her mailbox 3 times in a row, the guy is pretty curious. When she starts to walk back inside again, he asks, "What are you doing?" She says, "My computer keeps telling me that I've got mail." by Keith Aleshire Recently, I had to string a USB cable about 20 feet to reach an X-ray camera in a dentist's office. Unfortunately, USB cables are typically 6 to 10 feet. In practice, the USB specification limits the length of a cable between full-speed devices (e.g. a scanner) to 5 meters (a little under 16 feet 5 inches). For a low-speed device (a joystick or mouse) the limit is 3 meters (9 feet 10 inches). Why can't you use longer cables? The electrical design of USB doesn't allow it. When USB was designed, a decision was made to limit the electromagnetic fields on USB data lines in a way that limited the maximum length of a USB cable. Since USB was intended for a desktop environment, the limited range was considered acceptable. So, how far away from a PC can you put a USB device? With the maximum of 5 hubs connected with 14-foot cables and a 14-foot cable going to your full speed device, this will give you about 80 feet of cable. With a low-speed device, you will be able to get a range up to 80 feet, depending on how long the device's cable is. With a straightforward cable route, you will probably be able to reach out 75 feet or so from the PC. I you need to put a USB device a considerable distance from your PC, buy a bunch of USB hubs and connect them serially with 10-foot cables. If you need to go farther than that, put another PC, or maybe a laptop, out where you need the device to be and network it with the first PC using something that's intended to be a long-range connection, such as Ethernet or RS-485. If you need to use nothing but USB, consider using USB-based Ethernet adapters to hook the computers together. The New York Times Bosses of a publishing firm are trying to work out why no one noticed that one of their employees had been sitting dead at his desk for FIVE DAYS before anyone asked if he was feeling okay. George Turklebaum, 51, who had been employed as a proof-reader at a New York firm for 30 years, had a heart attack in the open-plan office he shared with 23 other workers. He quietly passed away on Monday, but nobody noticed until Saturday morning when an office cleaner asked why he was still working during the weekend. His boss Elliot Wachiaski said: "George was always the first guy in each morning and the last to leave at night, so no one found it unusual that he was in the same position all that time and didn't say anything. He was always absorbed in his work and kept much to himself." A postmortem examination revealed that he had been dead for five days after suffering a coronary. Ironically, George was proofreading manuscripts of medical textbooks when he died. You may want to give your co-workers a nudge occasionally. Moral of the story: Don't work too hard. Nobody notices anyway. by R. Glenn York I had a run in with the Welchia Worm this past weekend. Maybe some of what I learned will be helpful to others. As you may already know Welchia is designed to patch systems that are subject to the blaster worm. Welchia uses the same RPC hole to infect a system, but then it downloads and runs the M$ patch to fix the hole. It then continues to run and try to find other systems to patch. Welchia is not known to do anything destructive, but it does use a lot of resources. Sunday night my daughter told me she was having problems with her laptop (my old one) The system was running Windows 2000 with SP3 and Norton AntiVirus, but the AV had not been updated since 5/22/03. Her problem was when she connected via dialup she could only surf a few web pages then she would get "page not available/found" messages. The dial up connection was still active, but stopped receiving data. I connected the system and one of the first things I did was run liveupdate on the Norton AV. By the time the live update was finished the dial up stats showed that I had received a little over 1Mb, but had sent about 5Mb. That did not sound right when I knew most of the traffic should have been inbound. I could not access any web sites after completing the liveupdate. I then ran a complete scan on the system. Norton AV detected Welchia, but deleting and quarantine both failed. I had to download the Welchia fix program from Symantec. The fix successfully removed the worm. After this I downloaded and installed all the security and critical patches from M$. The system seems to work right now. Although I suspected a virus/worm, the first clue was the large volume of outgoing traffic. This may be something to mention at the next FRPCUG meeting. If a computer is acting funny look at the network connection stats. If the traffic does not match what is expected that should provide a clue to the problem. Glenn A Senior Moment... An elderly couple had dinner at another couple's house, and after eating, the wives left the table and went into the kitchen. The two elderly gentlemen were talking, and one said, "Last night we went out to a new restaurant, and it was really great. I would recommend it very highly." The other man said, "What is the name of the restaurant?" The first man thought and thought and finally said, "What is the name of that flower you give to someone you love? You know... the one that is red and has thorns." "Do you mean a rose?" "Yes," the man said. He turned toward the kitchen and yelled, "Rose, what's the name of that restaurant we went to last night?" - IMPORTANT NOTICE - FRPCUG meetings are held at the Fort Collins Senior Center. Check below for directions to the Senior Center. December General Forum Meeting We will meet at the Fort Collins Senior Center on Tuesday, December 2 at 7:00 pm. Meeting Agenda 7:00 - 7:15 Announcements 7:15 - 7:30 Election of Officers 7:30 - 7:45 SnagIt: Interactive demo of the latest release of the SnagIt screen capture utility by Techsmith. 7:45 - 8:00 Break 8:00 - 9:30 Social Hour with refreshments provided. Time to be merry! January General Forum Meeting We will meet at the Fort Collins Senior Center on Tuesday, January 6 at 7:00 pm. Meeting Agenda 7:00 - 7:30 Announcements 7:30 - 7:45 Break 7:45 - 9:00 DVD Writers: Using the new DVD Writers and related software. 9:00 - 9:30 Open Forum See you at the meetings! Directions The Fort Collins Senior Center is located at 1200 Raintree Drive. This site is situated at the northwest corner of the Shields and West Drake intersection, on the north side of the Raintree Shopping Center. Check the marquee at the main entrance for directions to the specific meeting room. Up-Coming SIG's, Seminars and Meetings Board Meeting FRPCUG's executive board meets on Wednesday of the week following the General Forum Meeting at 7:00 p.m. All members are welcome and are encouraged to attend. These meetings are held at the offices of JYM Information Systems: 1630 S College Avenue in Fort Collins. New Technology SIG The LINUX SIG and the Telecommunications SIG have been combined to form the new Advanced Systems Support SIG. This SIG provides advanced support for all PC-related operating system and telecommunication issues. The meetings are held at 7:00 PM on the third Thursday of each month at the offices of JYM Information Systems: 311 S College Avenue in Fort Collins. For more information contact Chuck McJilton at 493-2987 or email telecomsig@jymis.com. Northern Front Range Netware Users Group NFRNUG meets at 5:30 pm on the second Wednesday of each month at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife building, 2101 Oakridge Drive in Fort Collins. NFRNUG meetings are open to any users that are involved with Novell networking products and integration of other networking products into the Novell environment (Unix, NT, Mac, etc.). Contact Jim Stephens at 303-541-3376 or jcsteph@concentric.net or contact Chuck Kluko at 970-663-4770 or c.kluko@ix.netcom.com for further membership information. Yearly dues are $000.00 (yes, FREE) with pizza and pop served at 5:00 pm prior to meeting. Saturday labs and training sessions open to NRFNUG members only, space is limited. Rocky Mountain Internet Users Group Meets on the second Tuesday of 'odd' months at NCAR in Boulder. Meetings start at 7:00 pm, but members are encouraged to arrive at 6:30 pm for informal networking and refreshments. NCAR is located in Boulder at 1850 Table Mesa Drive. For more information see the RMIUG Web site at: http://www.rmiug.org/. Web Design SIG If you're an HTML author/WEB page designer, or would like to learn, contact SIG coordinator Doug Boicourt at 495-6949 or e-mail db@jymis.com for the date and location of the next SIG meeting. Upcoming FRPCUG Meetings Along with presentations of new hardware and software, we will certainly continue to present tips, hints, solutions, as well as what is new with Public Domain and Shareware offerings. If you have ideas for presentations which you would like to see at future General Forum meetings or seminars, please let us know. We would appreciate the input and opportunity to improve your meetings. Know of a another computer-related meeting in our area? Please let us know so we can post it here. 2 FRPCUG General Forum Meeting 7:00PM 10 FRPCUG Board Meeting 7:00PM 18 New Technology SIG 7:00PM 25 Christmas Day 31 New Years EveJanuary 2004 1 New Years Day 6 FRPCUG General Forum Meeting 7:00PM 14 FRPCUG Board Meeting 7:00PM 15 New Technology SIG 7:00PM by Christopher Sarson Well, here I am, above the clouds on flight AC 580, just about to land in Toronto, and life is good. Sure, I have a job I enjoy, and sure, I've been happily married for forty years, but that's not the focus of my present euphoria. Fact is, I'm writing this review on my new laptop, which is based on the Intel Centrino technology, and that makes me a happy little computer user. This morning I arrived at Denver airport at 6:30am, and spent 90 minutes checking my e-mail and sending back some replies using my built-in wireless Wi-Fi connection before the flight was called. On the plane I spent a couple of hours with my video editing program, reviewing scenes from the TV program I'm directing and composing some additional scenes. Now I'm landing, and my battery meter tells me that even after 3½ hours' work, I still have 40% of my battery charge left! Yikes! Short battery life was gripe #1 about my old laptop. Now -- at last -- my battery lasts the length of my journey! My next biggest gripe concerned power. My old laptop (a 500Mhz PIII) was fine for word processing and e-mail, but balked at heavy-duty chores like video editing. My new Centrino handles Adobe Premier with barely a hiccup! And even with its (nominal) 1.6-Ghz CPU, it's actually as fast as my 2.6-Ghz desktop! Bliss!! And the third magic of Centrino is the built-in WiFi connection. At most airports, hotels, Starbucks, there are hot-spots that enable WiFi-compliant 802.11b laptops to access the internet wirelessly at (on my machine) about seven megabits per second. (My Windows Update download of all the patches for Windows XP took 20 minutes on my laptop, about three hours on my desktop with a 52kbps connection! With Centrino, it's like being connected with a T1 line!) And no need to find a telephone line, remember a telephone number, and dial in! This Centrino technology that makes me so happy includes three components on a laptop: a Pentium M CPU, an 855 system-board chip set, and a Pro/Wireless 2100 Network connection, all made by Intel. The Pentium M chip is the first chip built from the ground up to be mobile (most laptop chips are reconfigured desktop parts); it completes more instructions per clock cycle; and it has a level 2 cache twice the size of the current P4 desktop chip - hence its great performance and long battery life. To help battery life even more, Intel has improved its SpeedStep technology, which adjusts the processor speed to match the needs of the current application; also, the new chips use less wattage. And the third component of the Centrino technology is the built-in Wi-Fi technology, which allows the easy wireless connection to the internet I mentioned above. But enough of the technology! The bottom line is that I'm more productive, and as a result I can spend my evenings in Toronto relaxing instead of working, and more time at home with family and friends! As I said earlier, I'm above the clouds with Centrino! Christopher Sarson is a past Secretary of the Association of PC User Groups (APCUG), past President, Windows on the Rockies User Group, Denver, CO, creator and first executive producer of Masterpiece Theatre, and is currently working on Roots of Empathy, a program designed to help young people understand empathy. When he's not above the clouds en route to or from Toronto he lives in Boulder, Colorado. by Ira Wilsker Golden Triangle PC Club Almost all newer computers come with a CD-RW drive, a CD drive that can write and rewrite compatible CD discs. For older computers, with a standard CD reader (play only, not write), the addition of a CD “burner” is a very popular and fairly inexpensive upgrade. A simple review of the Sunday sale books for the major electronics and office supply stores shows an abundance of CD-RW drives for between $30 and $100, often after rebate. These drives are typically easy to install, and may possibly be installed in addition to the existing CD reader (good for copying CDs), or as a simple replacement. If internal installation is not desired, there are several external CD-RW drives, advertised weekly, that connect to an available USB or firewire port. The external drives, typically the USB models, are also often a good choice for older notebook computers where internal installation is difficult or impossible. The Sunday ads often show the external USB drives for under $100, after rebates. Almost all CD-RW drives, whether factory installed, or after-market add- on, come with some CD burning software. The most widely distributed CD software provided with the drives is from Adaptec, or Adaptec's successor (Adaptec sold their CD writing software division), Roxio. Another common software package included with some drives is from Nero, while other drives come with a variety of lesser-known software titles. As the price of blank CD discs plunges, often “free after rebate”, burning (writing to) CDs has become very popular. Still, many PC (and Mac) users are not using their equipment to its potential; large number of users still only use their CD-RW drives in read mode to install other software, and not to burn discs. As had been stated many times here in previous columns, the three most important words in computing are “Backup, Backup, and Backup”. Remember that “Murphy's First law of Computing” states that “A properly backed-up hard drive will never fail; a hard drive that has not been recently backed up will always fail at the most inopportune time.” All too many users who have ready access to CD-RW drives have lost all of their important files to viruses or hard drive failures, despite the ease and low expense of copying important files to CD discs. The common blank discs hold from 660 to 700 megabytes of data, and are very inexpensive. Other than some time, there is no great investment to back up critical files at a minimum, or even better, entire hard drives. There are a variety of excellent utilities available to backup hard drives. Some CD-RW drives come with a “lite” or “limited” version of popular backup programs. While minimally functional, these “lite” versions often lack useful functions such as compression (getting more data on a CD disc than its native capacity), or incremental backup (only backing up new files or files modified since the previous backup). I have been using “BackUp MyPC” from Stomp Software (www.stompinc.com), which was formerly known as Backup Exec, by Veritas (Seagate). This program is probably one of the most full featured backup programs, and easy to use. BackUp MyPC can backup to almost any type of device from CD-RW drives, tape drives, Jazz and Zip drives, and other devices. Some competing products are Roxio's Go Back, Norton's Ghost, and NTI's BackUp Now (which I have also used). Since almost all computers can utilize some form of CD writer, and blank discs are cheap, there is absolutely no reason NOT to have at least critical data files backed up. The cliché “ounce of prevention…” is most apropos here. With over one in five PCs currently infected with at least one variety of the Klez worm, several versions of which are capable of destroying critical files on a hard drive, backups are imperative. The appearance and rapid spread of other destructive worms and viruses, such as the new “Hunch” worm which explicitly destroys the files in the Windows, My Programs, and My Documents directories, emphasizes the need for backing up hard drives. Still, probably the most damage is done by the old-fashioned hard drive crash. Remember Murphy's law, and always have a reasonably current backup of critical files. For long-term archival purposes, better quality CD discs are advertised as having a 100-year archival life. There are other popular uses of CD burners. One of the most popular and most controversial uses is burning music to blank CD discs. Often in the popular MP3 format, or in native commercial music CD format, studies show that this is the most popular use of CD burners. Provided that copyright laws are rigidly obeyed, and we all know that they always are (snicker), homemade music CDs are very widely created and used. Online music or swap services, ranging from the now defunct Napster, to the very much alive and controversial KazAa and Morpheus, as well as the legitimate commercial music sites such as Sony, are popular sources of such music. Another popular use is copying entire CD discs. Generally, it is considered “ok” to make a single archival backup of commercial CDs, provided that the copy is only used as a backup, and properly disposed of (destroyed) when the original software is no longer needed. With some software CDs, and an increasing number of commercial music CDs, this archival backup is becoming more difficult to create as sophisticated copy protection is being utilized more commonly. Many use their CD drive, often with rewriteable CD-RW discs, as an additional, but removable adjunct to their hard drive. This allows archival and portable storage of massive amounts of data, at minimal expense. CDs are often ideal for moving large files between computers. There are several other uses for the CD-RW drives now so common in our machines. Many other CD drive utilities are readily available for download, such as from tucows.exp.net/system/cdrutil95.html or tucows.exp.net/mmedia.html. Use the drives as they can be used, but make absolutely sure that critical data is frequently backed up. With the holidays coming, here's a fruitcake recipe that will help take the stress out of this normally stressful time. Ingredients: *1 cup water *1 cup sugar *4 large eggs *2 cups dried fruit *1 tsp salt *1 cup brown sugar *3 oz lemon juice *1 cup nuts *1 gallon Absolut Vodka First, sample the vodka to check for freshness. Take a large bowl. Check the vodka again to be sure it is of the highest quality. Pour 1 level cup of the vodka and drink it. Repeat. Repeat again. Turn on the electric mixer; beat 1 cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add water, eggs and 1 tsp sugar and beat again. Make surr the vodca is still OK. Cry another tup. Turn off mixers. Chuck in the cup of dried fruitt or something. Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets struck on the beaterers, pry it loose with a drewsciver. Sample the vodka to check for tonsistancity. Next, sniff two cups of salt. Or something. Who cares? Check the vodka. Now sniff the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table. Spoon. Of sugar or something . Whatever. Grease the oven. Turn the cake tin 350 degrees. Don't forget to beat off the turner. Whip the bowl out the window. Check the vidka again. Go to bed. Who the heck likes fruitcake anyway? by Allan Pogensky Las Vegas PC Users Group One of the most frequent topics on any newsgroup dealing with operating systems or when computer users get together, is what's the best strategy for backing up one's hard drive. Hardly a day goes by where you don't come across literally dozens, if not scores, of postings on the various newsgroups relating to this subject. The queries (and responses) invariably focus on the problems the user has encountered in using this or that software backup program - either some third-party program or whatever built-in backup program is included with the user's operating system. In my opinion, the best backup system for the average home user and even small business owner to employ in most cases is having his or her computer equipped with two removable hard drives. There are other advantages in having two removable hard drives on one's computer but the most significant one is providing a near fail-safe backup system. The speed, flexibility and peace of mind you get with this arrangement far outweighs (for most users) the relatively small additional cost of equipping one's computer with this hardware configuration. Using this setup, backing up your hard drive is simple, straightforward, fast, and most important of all -- effective. By easily and relatively quickly making a clone of your hard drive, using a software program like Symantec's Norton Ghost which is specifically designed for this purpose, you get, what seems to me, the ultimate backup solution given the present state of personal computer technology. Unlike backup programs that merely back up your data files - that is, the files you've created in the various programs and applications that you use - by cloning your hard drive you are making a bit for bit copy of the drive, in essence an exact duplicate of that drive. Thus, you are backing up your operating system, your registry, all your programs and applications, your configuration settings, your data files - in short, everything on the hard drive that you have cloned. And you're doing this in one fell swoop. And for added safety you can remove this newly-cloned hard drive from the premises, not to mention making another clone, if desired, for near-absolute security. So when the day comes - as it surely will - that your hard drive fails because of some mechanical or electrical defect, it's a wonderful feeling to know that you have a perfectly good copy of that failed hard drive that you simply shove in the computer, boot up, and you're off and running. Or if you ever get some miserable computer virus that plays havoc with your system, isn't it nice to know that you have at hand a perfectly good virus-free clone of your hard drive? And then simply clone that "good" previously cloned hard drive to the virus-infected one so that once again you now have two perfectly good hard drives. And in the case where the hard drive is kaput because of some mechanical/electronic failure, you purchase a new hard drive, plop it in the removable tray, make two simple connections, shove it in the computer and then simply clone your good hard drive to the new one. There's no need to partition and format the new drive; no need to reinstall your operating system on the new drive, no need to reinstall your programs and data files. None of this is necessary. You simply clone the previously-cloned hard drive to the new drive. And the added beauty of this arrangement is that you do all this from the comfort of your computer chair. There's no need to take apart your computer case in order to get into the guts of your computer and make complicated cable connections. Everything is done outside of your computer because each hard drive resides in a removable tray (caddy) that you simply slide into the computer's mobile rack. In my case I use the Lian Li RH-42 all-aluminum mobile racks which are generally available from a number of vendors on the net. I've purchased mine from an online vendor, Directron.com who sells them 2/$66 (plus shipping). I'm sure mobile racks from other manufacturers will serve the purpose just as well. I'm aware of many users who have been using inexpensive (about $10 each) plastic mobile racks without any problems whatsoever. As I've previously indicated, the cloning process itself is easy and fast. Using Symantec's Norton Ghost cloning program as an example, with the two removable hard drives connected to the computer, you simply boot up the computer with the floppy disk that contains the Ghost program and after a few key clicks the cloning process begins. My present computer has an Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz processor and I can clone one hard drive to another at the rate of nearly 1 GB per minute. The cloning process is practically automatic and you need not be in attendance during the actual cloning. I can virtually guarantee that once you begin working with two removable hard drives, you'll have but one regret and only one regret. And that is you didn't have this arrangement on your previous computer or computers. There is perhaps one negative to this arrangement and that is the additional cost involved in equipping your computer with the two mobile racks to house the hard drives, the second hard drive, and the software cloning program. I would estimate it adds roughly about $100 to $200 (as of June, 2003) to the cost of the computer depending upon the size of the second hard drive and the specific make and model of the two mobile racks. Naturally, your computer case should have available two 5 ¼" bays to house the mobile racks in addition to the 5 ¼" bays needed to house your other IDE devices (CD/DVD-ROM, CD-RW, etc.) that need 5 ¼" bays. Mobile racks come in two basic versions, depending upon whether the hard drive to be housed is an IDE/ATA or SCSI device. At this writing I'm not aware of any mobile racks designed to house the recently introduced SATA hard drives, however, I'm certain it won't be too long before they come on the market. The software program I use for the cloning process is Symantec's Norton Ghost 2003 which I've recently seen selling on the net for about $30 for the CD-only version (no retail box), which is really all you need. (There's an older 2002 version of Ghost available which is considerably cheaper than the 2002 version; in my experience the 2002 version works just fine for straight cloning one hard drive to another hard drive regardless of whether the file system is FAT32 or NTFS). The Norton Ghost program is also included in Symantec's Norton SystemWorks 2003 Professional Edition. There are other disk cloning programs available, e.g., Powerquest's Drive Image and Acronis' True Image among them, both of which seem to get favorable reviews, however, I've had little or no experience with these programs so I cannot speak to them. Another cloning tool is the installation disk that comes packaged with the retail boxed hard drives from several manufacturers, including Maxtor and Western Digital. When you consider the enormous advantages of having two removable hard drives on your computer, the additional cost in equipping your computer in this fashion pales into insignificance. by Bruce Cramer Alamo PC Organization, Inc., San Antonio, TX Secrets to your computer startup Do you ever wonder what takes your computer so long to start up? In most cases the reason for that is that computer manufacturers and software developers think you need or even want all those programs and accompanying little icons to startup every time that you turn your computer on. By the time Microsoft, Compaq or whoever your computer manufacturer is, and a few software companies are done with your computer you probably have 10 or more different programs running into each other every time your computer starts. Most of the programs that startup when your computer starts up are being shoved in there vying for room for no reason at all, but you can prevent that. I used to work as a computer technician at a national computer chain store where they charged a pretty penny for this little operation but you can do it at home armed with a little knowledge. First of all, MSCONFIG stands for Microsoft Configuration Utility. If you click on Start, run, then type MSCONFIG you will see 6 tabs. On the far right you will see Startup. Click on the startup tab and there you see what loads up when your computer starts. Many applications put items in your startup group that are absolutely unnecessary such as Real Player streaming audio, calendar birthday reminder, bill payer reminder to name a few. Even if you have 512 megabytes of RAM or more I don't recommend that you load any unnecessary applications on startup, hopefully you will know about aunt Jenny's birthday before your computer tells you. Its like the guy who is unpacking the family car at the beach, he dropped the family off near the water so they are there ready to have fun but dad has to go park the car ½ a mile a way then walk through the hot sand loaded down with the sun tan lotion, towels and ice chest. Do you really think he needs to carry any more? Even without the beach balls and rafts he's lucky if he doesn't fall and spill the sun tan lotion all over the towels - yes that would be a mess. After you turn your computer on it has to wake everything up (BIOS, network card, ports, etc.) load all its drivers, the bare essential applications, and the fonts. The only startup items you absolutely need are: ScanRegistry TaskMonitor SystemTray LoadPowerProfile Your antivirus software There is an extensive and regularly updated list of startup files and what they do here <http://www.pacs_portal.co.uk/startup_pages/startup_full.htm>. As of February 27, 2003, this guy had 2,277 files listed. I applaud his enthusiasm, but he really should get out more often. The general rule of thumb is - if in doubt leave it alone. After you uncheck the boxes of unneeded items and click Apply, OK, you will be asked if you want to restart or exit without restarting. You can do either, but you will not reap the benefits of unloading the items until after you restart. After you restart your computer Microsoft will give you a message that says you have run the MSCONFIG utility and wants to know if you are satisfied with the results. If you do not want to see this message again, check the box. You should notice an immediate improvement in performance and stability, all for free and you did it yourself the all natural way without adding more programs such as Ram Booster or an “optimizer” program which only leads to more memory use and possible software conflicts. MSCONFIG is not available for Windows 95, NT, or 2000. However there is a free "Startup Control Panel" at Mlin.net that will work just as well for Windows 95 and if you are using Windows NT or 2000, you can download the official, Windows XP version of MSCONFIG on the Tech Guide Web site. Bruce is recently retired from the Army and is a regular volunteer at the “Doctor is In” each Friday at the Learning Center. He is A+, Network+, I-Net, certified as well as a Microsoft Certified Professional in Windows XP, and provides on-site computer services to individuals and businesses. Composed by Anonymous, edited by Jim ODonnell A major research institution has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest chemical element yet known to science. The new element has been tentatively named Governmentium. Governmentium has 1 neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 11 assistant deputy neutrons, one proton, 2 electrons and 1 anti-electron giving it an atomic mass of 313. These 313 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons and is known to radiate numerous quarks as well as neutrinos. Governmentium is inert in its natural state unless the taxpaying proton is dislodged from the nucleus, in which case there is a violent chain reaction whereby it attacks the protons of all other elements within the proximity of 1 light year. However in its natural state, it can be detected easily as it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of Governmentium causes any chemical reaction to take over 10 to the 23rd times longer to complete then it would normally take. Governmentium has a normal half-life of infinity; it does not normally decay, but instead undergoes a transmutation every 2-4 years, which is called an elect-decay acceleration in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places and also dislodge some of the neutrons, and occasionally the proton and electrons. If the proton or one of the electrons is dislodged in this process, Governmentium can reach critical mass and begin the radiate a tremendous number of alpha, beta and gamma particles. In this state one milligram of Governmentium is capable of annialiting a mass about the size of the moon. Even in its natural state, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each transmutation will cause some morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron-promotion leads some scientists to speculate that Governmentium is formed in a complete vacuum whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as "Critical Morass". You will know it when you see it. Jim ODonnell CURIOUS FACTS In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. That's where the phrase, "Good night, sleep tight" came from. The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter in the alphabet. (Developed by Western Union to test telex/twx communications) The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable. The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building. FOR SALE: Viewsonic 17GA 17" monitor with speakers in bezel. Must see/hear this monitor to appreciate how wonderful it is. $100 or best offer. Paul, 484-7680 FOR SALE: Apple iPod 20MB MP3 player. Holds 4000 songs in a box the size of playing cards. Perfect, just a few months old. $500 new, sacrifice for $300. Contact John at (970) 226-6152 or email PII@jymis.com. FOR SALE: Gateway 800C Desktop w/Monitor, 20GB Hard Drive plus Epson Stylus Color 777 printer. Less than one year old. Only $600 complete. Contact Frances in Fort Collins at (970) 224-0776. Members: Place your FREE ad here! About Trading Post k-Byte runs classified ads in Trading Post for three consecutive issues. Trading Post ads up to 10 lines (or 70 words) long are free to FRPCUG members: $5 for non-members. To place an ad in Trading Post contact Rick Mattingly at 223-2154 or email rmatt@jymis.com. Commercial Advertising Specifications (Monthly rate) Full Page (8 1/2” X 7”) $30 Half Page (3 1/4” X 7”) $20 One Third Page (3” X 4”) $15 Business Card (2 3/4” X 1 1/2”) $ 5 We offer a substantial discount for repeat ads and continuing contracts. For additional charge, we will design your ad for you. Contact Will Horton for information on this service at 223-2154 or email whorton@willsigns.com. |